Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
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Residents of Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State have staged a peaceful protest in the town to show their displeasure on the activites of the officials of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in the area
The protesters comprised of traders, artisans, students and other electricity consumers living in Similoluwa and Ori Apata areas of Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
They accused workers of BEDC of removing the cables of the transformers serving their areas to throw them into darkness and subject them to undue extortion.
Some of their placards read: “Give us our cable wire, we need light” “BEDC stop! Stop!! Marginalization,” “Return our cable” “It is over a month we have light” among other inscriptions.
The leader of the protesters, Mr Tope Ojo claimed that the only transformer serving the area is old and could no longer dispense electricity to the area as appropriate.
Ojo, while lamenting the arbitrary service and non-challant attitude of the staff of BEDC, in restoring electricity to the area, said that the development had crippled their businesses and thereby brought untold hardship to the residents of the area.
He explained that the removal of the cable from the transformer was responsible for the automatic disengagement of the area from the national grid, thereby, putting the residents of the area into to total blackout.
Ojo alleged that no individuals could remove the cable, except professional from the electricity company.
According to him, the people of the area resulted to protest after BEDC management in Ado Ekiti had decided to turn deaf ears to the series of complaints they made to them.
The leader of the protest claimed that the electricity distribution firm deliberately made pre-paid meters unavailable in order to continue billing the residents outrageously with out any service to show for it.
Ojo said, “Our area has been in total blackout for over a month and this was as a result of a cable which was removed from the only transformer serving our area down to Ori Apata.
“This transformer is even old. It has been there for over 46 years. It lacks the capacity to supply adequate power to our area.
“We have been to BEDC times without numbe. But they seem not to be forthcoming. That was why we decided to come to the deputy governor today, to help us intervene in this matter.”
Reacting to the protest, the Deputy Governor through a release by his press, Assistant on media, Mr Odunayo Ogunmola, appealed to the people to shun violence in protest against prolonged power outage which they linked to alleged sabotage.
Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, urged the protesting residents to toe the line of peace, while their complaints were being looked into.
He explained that the placard-carrying residents had earlier stormed the Deputy Governor’s Office, urging the state government to prevail on the BEDC to restore light to their areas.
Egbeyemi who was represented by the Special Assistant on Political Matters, Mr. Tokunbo Adeparusi, addressed the people and said government was concerned about their plight but appealed to them to eschew violence in the pursuit of their demands.
He said their message would be conveyed to appropriate organs of government for necessary action.
