Vigilante apprehends electricity vandal, as PHED decries menace of vandalism of power assets
Ani Bassey
A young electricity vandal simply identified as Moses Joel , has been apprehended.
The vandal was arrested in the process of stealing multi million naira worth of power assets belonging to the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Plc, PHED.
This event occurred on Saturday, March 15th, 2025 at about 3;30am in Eteo, Eleme Local Government Area, Rivers State which receives supply from Beta 1 Region.
The vandal who hails from Delta State and in his twenties, was ambushed by indigenes who have been keeping vigil due to the spike in criminal activities in the community.
The incident happened at a time company was undertaking the construction and stringing of electrical lines to the community.
The suspect pulled down some poles insulated with copper with a sinister motive to sell them in the unregulated/open market.
Head Corporate Communications of the PHED, Olubukola Ilevbare confirmed the incident.
She stated that the photographs of the stolen items were taken but that the vandal could not disclose how many times he has sabotaged the company.
Decrying the rising spate of vandalism, she said “the company suffers from vandalism almost on a daily basis.
“The replacement of these
critical power assets is capital intensive and faceless individuals are determined to threaten the operations of the company.
“The actions of the vandal has undermined the effort of the company in service delivery and has further deprived loyal customers their right to electricity supply”, she said.
She commended the indigenes for their action and urged members of the public to be vigilant around the company’s facilities in order to prevent blackout, financial losses
and prolonged downtime respectively.
She said that vandals have completely misconstrued the company’s benevolence as an
act of encouragement to continue their evil deeds and said that it is no longer business as usual.
“For the purpose of public
awareness, there are extant laws guiding the prosecution of electricity
offenders not limited to 21 years’ imprisonment” as the management is willing to institute litigations against offenders,” she said.
She further disclosed that the suspect has been handed over to the Onne Divisional Police for interrogation and will assist the law enforcement agency for a wider investigation as well as providing relevant information of his cohorts.
