By Our Reporter
The Residents of Ministerial Housing Estate, located in Mallum, Ardo Kola local government area of Taraba State
have accused the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) of illegally disconnecting them from the electricity supply without any prior notice.
Mr Markus Ayuba, Chairman of the residents, while briefing newsmen on Monday in Jalingo, complained that the blackout had caused an economic downturn as well as a security threat to the residents.
Ayuba said that the estate was located on the 33kv power line that emanated from the Taraba State University Jalingo down to Sunkani in Ardo Kola local government area of the state.
He recalled that the company earlier changed the residents from the 33KVA power line to 11KVA, reducing their supply from 20 hours a day to 4 hours without any reason.
He said that the leadership of the estate took their complaint to the YEDC office in Jalingo.
“We discovered a sharp change in electricity supply in our estate and by our investigation, we got to know that our supply line was changed from 33KVA to 11KVA power line.
“We lodged our complaint to the YEDC Jalingo office, and there was no response. It was when we went to the office for the second time that we were informed that their staff was assaulted.
“We made efforts to find out who might have assaulted him, but they didn’t mention anyone. Rather, they accused us of being complicit in the assault and then asked us to produce the person who attacked their staff.
“We went back for the third time to plead with them and to make them know that we did not have a hand in the beating of their staff but they sent us away.
“We want to tell the general public that we are law-abiding citizens fully metered, and we didn’t send anybody to beat up any of their staff.
“Incidentally, the said fight did not even take place neither within our estate nor neighbourhood, and we do not have any knowledge of such. For this, we cannot be held liable for a crime we did not commit.
“We expect the company if they are conscious of legal procedure, to have taken their matter up by involving security operatives who could have investigated the matter and brought the culprit to justice accordingly, he said.
The Chairman said that the community had already taken legal steps by serving the company with a Pre-Action Notice.
According to Ayuba, in the event they fail to respond, the community shall have no option but to proceed to court and seek redress.
“We have issued a pre-action notice to their regional office in Yola since April 15, 2025, and they have not responded up till now.
“Although the pre-action notice duration is 30 days, and if they fail to respond positively by restoring our electricity, we shall proceed to court.
“They should be mindful of the Customer’s Protection Law that says’ Three months notice shall be given to a customer before he or she shall be disconnected from power supply.
“Their decision to disconnect us without the requisite notice and the resulting damage the disconnection has caused our people amounts to a breach of contract on their part against us.
“And we are entitled to immediate restoration of power supply under 33KVA, apology and compensation.
“The YEDC should know that there is a contract between us and both parties are supposed to comply with contractual obligations, except where there is a supervening event that will make it difficult to perform the contract.
“And in our case, there is no justifiable reason for the breach, and they even did it with impunity, despite our efforts to seek a peaceful settlement.
“Since they acted in breach of contract and they are unwilling to restore our power supply despite our attempts for peaceful settlement.
“Since we are law-abiding and cannot take the law into our hands like them, we have decided to serve them with a Pre-Action Notice.
“Ours is for our electricity to be restored, and we want the public to know that the company has taken the public too much for granted to have unilaterally changed many communities from the 33KVA line power supply and outright disconnection due to a flimsy reason.
“Having said that, we have given the company another window to restore our electricity from now to Wednesday or we shall be left with no option than to proceed to court to seek redress,’ he said.
Communities affected by this illegal disconnection include; Ministerial Pilot Housing Estate, Phase 1 and 2, National Strategic Grain Reserve, Taraba Television
(TTV), Taraba State Investment (Cucumber),
College of Agriculture, Science and Technology,
Taraba State University, National Correctional Service,
Mallum community and Bakin Dutse community.
When contacted, Mrs Blessing Tunoh, Head of Information in the YEDC said that the company operate within the law and regulations.
“We operate with transparency and accountability, guided by regulatory and electricity laws.
“Our recent Jalingo town hall meeting educated customers on complaints resolution mechanisms and redress systems, which we will encourage them to utilize.” She stated.
