A top official of the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria, Mr. Omololu Gabriel, has been arrested by the
Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission for
allegedly collecting bribe.
Omololu, the Principal Manager, PHCN
Abuja Distribution Company, Wuse Zone 4, was arrested by the commission
following a petition by a customer.
A statement by the ICPC Head of Media,
Folu Olamiti, said he allegedly demanded a bribe of N100,000 from a
customer to install two transformers– a 100 KVA/33/0.415 KV and a 50
KVA/33/0.415 KV.
ICPC said the petitioner had formally
applied to purchase and install the two transformers through Omololu,
who on receiving the application demanded a bribe of N100, 000 and had
subsequently taken N50, 000 from the petitioner.
According to the statement, infuriated
by Omololu’s insistence on collecting the balance of N50,000 as a
condition for releasing the second transformer, the petitioner turn to
ICPC for succour after which Omololu was arrested with marked money paid
to him as balance.
The statement added that, “Mr Omololu’s
schedule of duties as a public officer are protection of PHCN
installations, testing of electrical equipment and preparation of
permission letter for release of transformers, none of which required
him to demand a fee from customers.
“The ICPC operatives were able to
establish that the petitioner, indeed, submitted two applications for
permission to purchase and install two specification of transformers and
that the petitioner collected one of the approvals upon payment of N50,
000.00 demanded by the suspect. And that the petitioner was denied the
second approval for his inability to provide the balance of N50,000.00.
“The PHCN official would be facing prosecution for allegedly contravening section 8 and 10 of the ICPC Act 2000.”
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