Nigeria: AEDC Seeks Out-Of-Court Settlement In N200 Million Suit

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) in the Republic of Nigeria is seeking an out-of-court settlement in a suit filed against it by Musa Abdullahi Esq, a legal practitioner and resident of Suleja Local Government, on behalf of other residents over electricity supply in their area.

Counsel for the power distributor, Morayo Yedoni, according to nannews.ng, informed Justice Mariya Ismail of a High Court in Niger State sitting in Suleja, the decision of AEDC shortly after the case was called.

She told the court that her client would like to settle the matter out of court.

The plaintiff urged the court to look at the faces of the people who came to court for the proceedings to understand how the people of Suleja felt about AEDC’s activities.

Consequently, Justice Ismail adjourned the case to May 30, 2022.

It would be recalled that energynewsafrica.com reported that the plaintiff, Abdullahi, had filed a writ on March 4, 2022, demanding an N200 million($480,000)compensation over alleged poor services.

He also prayed the court to give an order, in the alternative, directing a six-month bill-free period for the plaintiff as compensation for all the period of unjustified power interruption.

The plaintiff posed six questions for the defendant to respond to and sought nine reliefs from the court.

Among the reliefs, the plaintiff is seeking is a declaration that the defendant, having failed in their basic duty of provision of power supply safely and reliably, without any tangible justification, the plaintiff is entitled to damages and compensation because the charges/rates are under the guise of bills are imposed by the defendant on the plaintiff which the plaintiff pays.

An order directing the Defendant to pay Plaintiff (1) general damages to the tune of two hundred million Naira only (N200,000,000) for the wrongful, unjustifiable and unwarranted power interruption or refusal of the defendant to supply adequate electricity to the plaintiff which act of the defendant has caused untold hardship on the Plaintiff Or (ii) in an alternative an Order directing six months free bill period for the Plaintiff as compensation for the all the period of unjustified power interruption.

And an Order directing Defendant to always notify Plaintiff of any prolonged power outage exceeding four hours on any of their entire social media platforms be it newspaper or electronic media.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com