Pecohub Four persons have been convicted in Ebonyi State for vandalising electricity infrastructure belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC), the company announced on Thursday.
In a statement issued, the EEDC Group Head, Corporate Communications, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, said the convictions were secured in separate judgments delivered by the High Court of Ebonyi State, Ohaukwu Judicial Division, sitting in Ezzangbo.
According to the statement, on 12th November 2025, Justice John Igboji sentenced Chukwuma Onwe to four years’ imprisonment after finding him guilty on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, unlawful disconnection and damage of transformer armoured cables, and stealing.
The offences contravened the Ebonyi State Criminal Code, Cap 33, Laws of Ebonyi State 2009.
Onwe received three years for conspiracy and four years each for vandalism and stealing, with all sentences to run concurrently.
He was arrested by police operatives in September 2023 for vandalising an EEDC transformer at Ntsulakpa, Ezzangbo Community.
In a separate ruling on 7 November 2025, the same court sentenced three others — Okefe Stanley, Aleke Kingsley, and Egba Friday — to four years in prison each for vandalism, unlawful disconnection, and removal of aluminium conductors belonging to the company.
The convicts were arrested on 5 June 2023 by members of the Oshituma Community vigilante group in Ohaukwu Local Government Area.
The trio were handed three-year terms for conspiracy and four years each for vandalism and stealing, with the court ordering that the sentences run concurrently.
Ezeh noted that the latest convictions follow a similar judgment delivered in August 2025, in which four vandals — Ikechukwu Esseh, Ikedinachi Uche, Ukpai Godwin, and Uchenna Kalu — were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by Justice Nicholas E. Nwode for attacking a 7.5MVA injection substation at Education Board Road, Afikpo.
Commending the judiciary, the Nigerian Police, and local vigilante groups for their collaboration, EEDC urged for the speedy trial of other pending vandalism cases.
“We are pleased with these judgements and hope they serve as a deterrent to those engaging in such criminal acts,” Ezeh said.
He warned that persistent attacks on electricity infrastructure continue to drain the company’s limited resources, which could have been deployed to improve power supply.
EEDC called on customers and communities to remain vigilant and protect electricity installations, noting that vandalism results in prolonged outages and widespread inconvenience
