By CHARLES IWUOHA

A High Court of Ebonyi State sitting in Afikpo Judicial Division, presided over by Justice Nicholas Nwode, has sentenced Ikechukwu Esseh, Ikedinachi Uche, Ukpai Godwin and Uchenna Kalu to seven years imprisonment.

This followed a three-count charge of conspiracy, vandalism and stealing brought against the four convicts.

The convicts were arrested on November 28, 2023, for attacking and vandalizing a 7.5MVA Injection Substation belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) located at Education Board Road, Afikpo, in Afikpo LGA of Ebonyi State.

This development was made known to newsmen on Wednesday in Enugu by the Group Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh.

According to Ezeh, the presiding Judge, after carefully reviewing all evidence presented before him and considering the high incidence of vandalism and stealing of electrical installations in Afikpo, sentenced the accused to five years imprisonment on count one, seven years imprisonment on count two, and five years’ imprisonment on count three, to run concurrently without option of fine.

He said that the management of EEDC had commended the judiciary for the judgment and appealed for speedy trial of other pending similar matters.

“We commend the judiciary for the judgment, and hope that this will serve as a deterrent to others out there, who may engage in such criminal act," he said.

Ezeh said that the company equally appreciated the efforts of the General Youth President and Afikpo Task Force Team for mobilizing to apprehend the vandals, a clear indication of community support and collaboration in the protection of electricity infrastructure.

He appealed to customers to support efforts aimed at safeguarding installations in their neighborhood.

He lamented on how activities of vandals had negatively impacted the company’s operations and the quality of service delivered to its customers.

“As a result, we continue to commit scarce resources to restore vandalized equipment. Funds that would ordinarily be channeled to other areas of our operations that will benefit our customers,” Ezeh noted.

He urged customers to remain vigilant and protect electricity installations in their neighborhoods from vandalism, warning that such incidents inevitably lead to service failure and inconvenience.