By Alltimepost.com
Members of The Legal Vanguard For Rules Of Law And Democracy, and Edo Civil Society Organisations have accused the All progressives Congress-ruling administration of President Mohammadu Buhari of disobeying court order, stopping electricity tariff hike until the determination of the case against such increase.
The accusation was contained in a joint press statements signed by Principal Officers of the organizations, Toluwani Yemi Adebiyi Esq of The Legal Vanguard For Rules Of Law And Democracy, and Comrade Omobude Agho of Edo Civil Society Organisations in their reaction to a recent statement credited to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola that there was “No going back” on the Electricity Tariff Hike.
They said it was unfortunate that the Minister made the statement at a time when the concerned parties and the whole Nation were awaiting final judgment on the issue as instituted by the Activist Lawyer, Toluwani Yemi Adebiyi, on May 25, 2015.
The organizations regretted that the rule of law was disrespected in a democratic dispensation, where the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister for Power, Works and Housing are both Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), adding that tariff increase against court order was contemptuous of the integrity of the Court.
Below is full text of the statement:
Members of the Groups read with utter dismay on pages of Newspapers (page 6 Daily Sun 1st June, 2016) the comments of the power minister, saying the increment in Electricity Tariff cannot be reversed, it’s quite disappointing that a Senior member of the Bar (SAN) who should be helping this Government to respect the rules of Law is found doing the contrary, we are taken aback that he is making such public boastings when final judgment on the matter before the court is just waiting to be delivered, he cannot do that to intimidate the court, neither can he pre-empt the mind of the court or dictate to the Court; such reasoning is nothing but jungle reasoning and attitude, it is not a fit and proper attitude.
By now, he should have realized that Nigerians are not stupid, consumers are paying for light but getting gross darkness in return, particularly the victims of the fraudulent Estimated billings, our contention is that people must get value for what they are paying for, increment must be balanced with good service delivery, no one is contesting with NERC’s power to increase, but due process must be followed, due process was not followed in the recent hike.
The increment is in violation of the enabling Act, for instance Section 76(2) which allows only licensees (GENCOS DISCOs…) who are efficient to recover capital loss/bring Increment. Has the licensees, the GENCOs, the DISCOs been efficient? When megawatts have been rising and falling, even to as low as zero megawatt, just in May alone, it falls below zero MW on 6 occasions (reported by Sunday Punch of 5th June, 2016), yet the Honorable Power Minister is shamelessly boasting of an increment of which due process was not followed. It has never gone beyond 5megawatts for a nation of 170 million people compared to South Africa of just about 50 million, yet with over 44,000 megawatts; In spite of about $20Billion invested by the Government between 2005 till date, with no significant improvement.
This is the 4th time since 2005 that increment will be brought, all on the ground of need to improve, yet no improvement is visible, the last one was in 1st February 2016. (In defiance to a binding and subsisting Court order) in the name of improvement.
This is June, about five months thereafter, yet no improvement can be seen. Court order not to increase tariff until matter in court is decided was flagrantly disobeyed, the rule of law was disrespected in a democratic dispensation, where the Vice President and the Minister for Power are both SANs, out of insubordination, that tariff was increased, An act that is contemptuous of the integrity of the Court, we served NERC forms 48 and 49, they used Security men to chase out the Court Bailiff out of their premises, the Benin Distribution Company in the peak of all these were using Policemen and Military to disconnect light for not paying bill and embracing increment flowing out of insubordination to court order, even in the most barbaric manner, turning Nigeria into Animal Kingdom by those trusted with power yet turning into area fathers.
In spite of NERCs notorious failure to live up to its statutory responsibility after ten (10) years of inception, yet imposing electricity slavery upon Nigerians, so bad that the president in his Inaugural speech on 29th May, 2015 described it as “National Shame” that the Senate in their reasonable findings and Conclusion described as “Unfair Trade Practices”, which was also buttressed by the picketing of 28th February by Labor Groups and Civil Societies after issuing a communiqué that due process was not followed in bringing the Increment.
Between 25th May, 2015 when the matter was instituted till that 26thMay, 2016 we have attended court for nothing less than 20 times and we can’t boast of a day, meeting that court completely running on electricity, it has always been on generator, I remember a day while the matter was going on as We were asking rhetorically if the power sector is efficient, the answer came from blackout, it was the blackout that gave the answer and the whole court burst into laughter, what a shame! When one gets to the Court’s generating house, one will be left in no doubt, that the court is depending so much on generator, what an agonizing shame! This is a real evidence of their inefficiency, it speaks for itself everywhere and no one needs any further proof.
One of us once saw a group of consumers trying to resist and attack some staff of IKEDC when trying to disconnect their lines, I rushed there to save them from being attacked, an old man passing by saw me and laughed, he said “Lawyer, if you can protect them from this physical attack, can you protect them from Spiritual attack? Let me tell you, every money most Nigerians pay for electricity are cursed money, I take mine before my family shrine to curse before taking to their office to pay, because I don’t want my light disconnected; many a times I sleep in darkness with my family, unless they give me value for what I pay for, that the curse will not work against them”.
We have discovered from various findings that eight (8) out of every ten (10) Nigerians paying Electricity Bills to DISCOs are paying with cursed money, the people are angry and you can achieve nothing with such cursed money.
Unless the power sector reverses that tariff of “Bitter Pills” and meter the people, the problem will persist and if those receiving such money make the mistake of spending same on their families or invest in their future, they are only investing public curses and everlasting sorrow and the harvest is imminent, may not be now but certainly later.
This privatization of power sector has failed already, the Government should be thinking of something else, during PHCN era, the light was more stable in spite of more reported cases of pipeline vandalization, any Nigerian waiting for improvement may wait forever. God is only visiting the sins of their unfair trade practices upon them, so it will be difficult to see any improvement.
The old man assertion quoted above, may sound unbelievable, but it is true and real, no wonder they have been striving to bring result, but no result is in view, no matter their excuses, it’s just natural that nature and Satanic forces may militate against their good intention, because the foundation is faulty; it would have been a different thing if people are metered before increment, then one will only be paying for what he consumes.
Will the agony and curses of the victims of estimated billings allow any visible result? No policy of change can change that, but time will tell.
The Public outburst of the power Minister amidst all these confronting failures and inefficiency of his Ministry is nothing but “Executive Class Hypocrisy” by this, he can never intimidate the court, he cannot dictate to the court nor pre-empt the mind of the court, he should wait till the judgment is out, enough of this anti-people attitude, enough of his “bitter pills”, NERC & DISCOs respected court order until he assumed Power as minister.
The Minister should go and conduct public poll to know those who are still his friends, he will be shocked with the result, he will be shocked to discover that indeed too many people are angry with him, this he may never realize until he has left public office. Nigerians know their true Leaders, they know those who are truly and sincerely representing their interest.
Aluta continua! Victoria ascerta
Signed:
Toluwani Yemi Adebiyi Esq
The Legal Vanguard For Rules Of Law And Democracy
Comrade Omobude Agho
Edo Civil Society Organisations
