By: Titus Oise, Benin.
The management of Ossiomo Power Company has raised an alarm over what it described as an unjustified arrest of 10 of its private security personnel safeguarding its multi-billion naira property at Ologbo in Ikpo-Okha local government area of Edo State.
Ossiomo Power Company stated that the unwanted arrest was carried out by the Divisional Police Officer at Ologbo police station on Friday at the premises of the company.
It was gathered that an influential Itsekiri Chief in Ologbo community had allegedly gone to the company premises with the mobile policemen from MOPOL 5 (Benin City) and ordered all the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) being used as security out of their duty posts, and arrested 10 of them in the process.
Recently, some alleged itsekiri youths from the community prevented the Ossiomo Power Company attempt to restart electricity supply to Benin City and its environs.
The youths believed to be fronting for a Chinese firm known as Jiangsu Communication Clean Energy Technology Co. Ltd (CCETC), have since early November, 2025, forcefully and illegally disrupted the operations of the company’s gas plant, thereby preventing the Ossiomo Power Company from providing electricity power to its teeming customers.
It was further alleged that the policemen also drove away the bricklayers employed by the Ossiomo Power to work at its shopping mall.
Efforts made to contact the Ologbo divisional police officer (DPO) proved abortive.However, police public relations officer, Edo State Police Command, ASP Eno Ekoedom, said the Ologbo DPO, Mr. Gideon Azuwonu, had received information from members of the community that some civilians with guns were in that location, prompting him to quickly mobilize to the place.
She disclosed that on getting to the location in company of some members of the community, they recovered some arms including a pump action gun, saying about nine of the men who claimed to be OPC operatives were arrested.
On the demolition of the Ossiomo Power Company’s gate house, she disclosed that no member of the police force could do that without any court orders, insisting that the DPO and his men did not destroy any property.
