A community rights advocate in Imo State, says he narrowly escaped being whisked away by armed men in police uniform, brought to his home by staff of an electricity distribution company he has been accusing of unlawful practices.
The incident happened as Ohohia Town in Mbieri, Mbaitoli Local Government Area, entered its second month without power.
Princewill Okorie, National President of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Center, said two staff of Transpower Electricity Distribution Limited (TEDL), a subsidiary of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), arrived at his country home at about 6:30 a.m. on 24th September 2026 with seven uniformed men.
In a petition to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 9, Umuahia, he described the visit as an “attempt made by two staff of Transpower Electricity Company to use seven-armed men in uniform to kidnap me.”
Okorie said four of the men, led by a man who described himself as the company’s Chief Security Officer, walked into his sitting room while he was with six kinsmen who had come to commiserate with him over the burial of his brother-in-law the previous day. They ordered him to follow them to the Zone 9 headquarters.
“I inquired why I should be taken to Police Zone 9 headquarters without a prior invitation or warrant of arrest,” he stated in the petition.
He also asked to see the petition against him, along with their names and force numbers, which he said were covered, “unlike official Policemen on duty who display their names and force numbers on their uniforms.”
He said none of the men produced any identification or document. His kinsmen and neighbours resisted and began recording the encounter on camera.
The team then wrote an invitation on Zone 9 letterhead accusing him of assault, defamation and stealing, handed it over and left.
Okorie said checks at the Imo State Police Command, directed by the Commissioner of Police, showed the Command had not been told of any visit by a Zone 9 team.
“As it stands now, we are not aware of the truth that they came from Zone 9,” he said. “This is a puzzle that should unfold.”
The timing, he noted, was striking. A five-member investigative panel set up by the Commissioner and headed by ACP Linus of the X Squad was scheduled to meet the parties at noon the same day.
In a separate complaint to Governor Hope Uzodinma, Okorie said the company’s intention was to “take me out of circulation as a strategy to stop the investigation on their unlawful activities.”
He said the company later stayed away from the panel’s meeting, claiming it had lost confidence in the Imo State Police Command.
The row began after Okorie helped police at Mbieri Division arrest three TEDL staff on 24th August 2026.
They were allegedly caught in Ohohia collecting money with POS machines and disconnecting customers without bills or disconnection notices.
The Division charged them with conduct capable of causing a breach of public peace and transferred the case to the State Command. TEDL then disconnected the entire town.
The Imo State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ISERC) has since ruled against the company. Its Chairman, Engr. Bode Opara, said the town wide disconnection “is therefore unlawful” and a “direct contempt of the Commission.”
ISERC said “no customer shall make payment without a bill” and warned that it “will not tolerate the use of disconnection as a weapon to intimidate consumers for exercising their statutory right to complain.”
The regulator ordered that supply be restored within 48 hours on 18th September and again within 24 hours on 28th September. Residents say the company has obeyed neither.
On 2nd October 2026, ISERC convened a meeting between the community and the company. Okorie said two company staff rushed into the hall and tried to physically assault him in front of regulatory officers, and that his people prevented it.
The Commissioner for Consumer Affairs adjourned the meeting and directed the community to return with an undertaking guaranteeing the safety of company staff.
Okorie has asked the AIG to investigate “the Policemen that came on this unlawful assignment” so that adequate punishment can be meted out, and to allow the Imo State Command to continue its probe.
He has asked Governor Uzodinma to provide security for him and to direct the company to surrender its staff for investigation.
“Is there justice in this?” the community asks, as Ohohia remains in darkness.
