Ondo Communities Threaten BEDC with Mass Protest over 10 Months Blackout

Fidelis David in Akure

Residents of Irese, Aaye and Ikota towns in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State yesterday threatened to shut down the office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in Akure over alleged 10-month-old blackout in the communities. 

The three towns claimed they had been in total blackout since February 2022, paralysing economic, commercial, and social activities of residents in the communities forcing many business owners in the three affected towns to shut down their shops while artisans who depend on electricity to ply their trades had continued to relocate from the communities. 

In a protest letter addressed to the Regional Manager of the BEDC, Akure, the residents complained that the power outage had heightened insecurity in the three towns and, several efforts to ensure the electricity company addressed their plight have been without luck. 

The letter, signed by the Olurese of Irese land, Oba Ahmed Destiny Saka, on behalf of the three towns, stated that the residents have no other choice than to stage a mass protest to express their grievances at the BEDC in Akure. 

The letter reads: “After exploiting all avenues of amity to bring sanity to our relationship by reinstalling electricity  supply to our communities with no success in view, we have no choice but to organise a procession spanning protests to let the world know of the parlous state of electricity supply to our towns.” 

Reacting,  the spokesperson of the BEDC, Mr. Micheal Barnabas, blamed the blackout to the activities of vandals but assured that power would be restored in the area before Christmas, saying the electricity company has been working round the clock to ensure power is restore in the three communities. 

He said, “I can assure you that power will be restored in the communities before Christmas. The power outage is due to the activities of vandals and we have taken some measures to check the development. We have been working to restore power in the area and very soon, at least before Christmas, the residents will smile, they should just exercise some little patient.”