Akingboye Joseph Oluwaseun
THE darkness still remains scary. This is the sad tale of the South Senatorial District of Ondo State since December 2014 as the six council areas and over 500 communities in the district are plunged into perpetual darkness by Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).
This interminable thick canopy of darkness, for more than 120 weeks and thirty months, has defied all efforts put in place by all stakeholders to destroy the behemoth and corporate punishment by BEDC, which assumes an air authority greater than even the Iroko Tree.
Unavoidably, the frustration, in a feat to actualizing the right to life and other social accompaniments, the youths gathered to smash the behemoth, but to no avail; leading to the Historical October 1, 2015 Protest in the district.
This Is Our Jerusalem.
The October 1, 2015, across the 36 states of the Federation, was a day set aside to celebrate the independence of Nigeria from the colonial master and as a sovereign nation, but in the south senatorial district of Ondo State, it was an orchestra of lamentations over perpetual blackout in the district.
As other 208 districts across the nation were in the mood of celebration, the youths, mainly from the coastal area, converged to lament the gory state of electricity in their cities, towns, communities and hamlets for the past 10 months, and an upward of ten years in the coastal line.
The protest, after previous ones were on hold, culminated into a police arrest in Odigbo Local Government Area, where the 
Nigeria Police Force (NPF) nabbed about 15 leaders of the youths, who championed and mobilized people for the peaceful protest under the aegis of National Revolutionary Vanguard (NRV).
There have been several agitations by Pelupelu group, which is an assembly of the traditional rulers in Ikale land, religious leaders, pressure groups, artisans and several youth groups like Save Ikale Youth Vanguard (SIYV), Ondo South Consultative Forum (OSCF), NRV and others; forming a parallel coalition to pressurize Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore light in the area.
For the record, the power outage in the six local councils, which constitute the south senatorial district and economic hub of the state since December 2014 was reportedly caused by some trees that accidentally fell on the power line in Odigbo LGA, the location of the power sub-station which served the whole of coastal areas.
The affected local government areas include: Okitipupa, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo, Odigbo, Irele, Ese-Odo and Ilaje, the coastal line and OSOPADEC mandate area which has been plunged, singularly, into perpetual darkness for the past ten years.
On that fateful day, when it appeared all efforts to restore light in the area proved abortive, NRV mobilized the youths and brandished placards bearing various inscriptions as they chanted solidarity and anti-government songs in rally that was billed to take off from Okitipupa to Ore, which is about 37km apart.
The inscriptions read: “Osibodu Restore Our Light,” “Reverse the Privatization of NEPA Now,” “Enough is Enough,” “People of the South are Suffering,” “10 Months of Blackout is Hell,” “No To Blackout in Our Land,” “Nigeria at 55, No Light for 10 months,” among others.
The youths blamed authorities of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) under the leadership of Mrs. Funke Osibodun, for the total blackout in the districts of the southern part, decrying its capitalist tendencies at the expense of the people for profit maximizing in other districts of the state.
They also lamented the indifference of their representatives at all levels of government for the hazard created by the blackout to their economic and social lives, which according to many of them, have grossly affected their businesses and well being.
Nevertheless, Ondo South Consultative Forum (OSCF), which is an array of the most intellectuals in the district, wrote a petition to the chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on August 5, 2015 lamenting with “dismay the systematic and consistent abandonment of the district’s core values in the area of electricity in all the towns and villages that form the local government areas of the district.”
It was signed by 27 prominent people from the south district: six paramount rulers, the four National Assembly members, the nine state Assembly members, the six LGA chairmen and Prince Eni Akinsola, the Chief Press Secretary to the immediate past governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
According to them: “We scrutinized the bills tendered by BEDC, and discovered several irregularities; jumbled figures and duplications of names and addresses. Indeed, BEDC bills clearly showed disjointed claims, bogus, fraudulent and unverifiable amounts.
“The attention of BEDC was drawn to our observations. This made BEDC to reverse itself and unilaterally reduced the dubious bills to over N700, 000,000. Yet, there were inaccuracies which BEDC did not want to discuss any longer.”
OSCF complained that Igbotako, Iju-Odo, Igbodigo, Ayeka Okunmo, Igodan and Ode Aye towns in Okitipupa LGA have experienced blackout from four to eight years; Ajagba, Iyansan, Akotogbo and other communities have had perpetual blackout for seven years.
The petition revealed that Ese-Odo LGA has suffered total blackout for five years, Ilaje LGA and many of its riverine communities have not enjoyed light since 2006. While Araromi-Obu and Ore in Odigbo LGA have been experiencing total blackout eight and three years respectively, and in Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo LGA: “even a project by BEDC to beef-up electricity supply in Ile-Oluji has not been completed for a long time.
“Aside from the economic waste, this disconnection endangers the health and agricultural life of the inhabitants; the environment is constantly polluted as a result of the fumes and wastes from several generating sets. Some of these sets are old and worn-out. Indeed, the noise pollution resulting from this can only be imagined than experienced,” the OSCF petition partly read.
Some of the protesters noted that the electricity company claimed that the cutting out of the communities from the national grid was due to the alleged vandalization of its infrastructures by miscreants in the areas.
The National Coordinator of NRV, Sayo Onukun, refuted the claim and bemoaned the unbearable hardship the situation has meted on the residents, lamenting that nearly all the socio-economic prospects of the communities have been adversely paralysed and they languish in silence.
“Our agitation boils down on the blackout which we have been experiencing here for the past one year and the infrastructural abandonment in the southern senatorial district of Ondo state which has now incapacitated our people.
“For the past one year, we have not been experiencing electricity here since the distributive aspect of power electricity supply was privatized. The woman in charge of this, Mrs. Funke Osinbodo said the area owes the electricity company the sum of N1.9 billion and as a result of this they disengaged us from the national grid,” Onukun said.
The revolutionist, Onukun, noted that the sale of the electricity company of the country was done by a set of anti-people rulers, who did not consider the interest of the masses. He pleaded to the Federal Government to rescue the district by ensuring electricity is immediately restored to the areas for the people to continue with their normal life.
Deji Oyewunmi, another youth leader and indigene of Erinje town, mentioned that the leaders from the district have failed the people and become insensitive to the plights of the whole masses, who voted for them during the elections to always represent their interests in government at all levels.
The Corporate Punishment for All.
BEDC management team explained the rationale behind the blackout in the Southern District of Ondo state, with claims that the people of the communities owed over N1.9 billion.
The Chief State Head of BEDC, Mr. Edgar Ernest, disclosed this at forum organized by the company to sensitize customers and provide information on the company’s proposed tariff review on August 26, 2015.
At the forum, after it had appeared before the state Assembly and declared that it would “isolate the chaffs from the grain over the N1.9 billion debts,” Edgar vowed that the indebted communities would remain in blackout until they settled their debt with the company.
He explained further that the money was part of the accumulated debt incurred from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), while nothing has been heard of the committee set up by the Assembly to redress the charges.
The BEDC boss added that the communities have refused to pay the debt since the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) took over the control of the power sector as a private firm.
“We divided the debt to two: pre-privatization and post-privatization and asked the communities to pay even if it is only the post-privatisation they could afford. But they did not pay, and we decided to cut their supply until they pay their debt. If you don’t pay your bill, how do you want the company to survive?
“We will not restore their light until they pay us. Any company that makes N1.9 billion monthly is a big company let alone losing such amount,” Edgar said.
The Prayer for Jerusalem by Stakeholders.
Earlier, the strictures of criticisms from the district would have led to a more fatal damage on the staff and properties of BEDC in the areas, but averted due to the timely interventions of Ondo State government.
The widely spread Tuesday August 18, 2015 protest, according to some people who spoke with The Polity, would have been the beginning of the end for Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in the area and escalated into wanton destruction that might inevitably lead to unquantifiable losses.
The President of Save Ikale Youth Vanguard (SIYV), Yemi Fafoluyi, confirmed the prompt intervention of Governor Mimiko by convoking a meeting with the army of youths from the area, and persuaded them to desist from such line of action.
Fafoluyi stressed that Mimiko promised the delegates from the district, under Ondo South Consultative Forum, the larger group and mother of all other groups, that he would wade exigently into the matter and alongside other governors of the Federation, would discuss with President Muhammadu Buhari on how to find a lasting solutions to the power problems across board.
The SIYV leader and State Assembly candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the last election, Fafoluyi, noted that OSCF, which is the larger organisation that cut across all the six LGAs heeded the persuasion of former Governor Mimiko and decided to await the outcome of the meeting with the President, as declared by the state governor.
Equivocally, he pointed out that the protest was apolitical and driven towards the general welfare of the people in the district, and since the state government had come out with pragmatic approaches and dialectics to the common problem, there was no need for what would have been the Red Tuesday protest.
However, the SIYV President flayed the management of BEDC, emphasising that the private company is a capitalist venture, and as alleged by Ondo State Assembly members, is not concerned about the welfare of the people but mischievously concentrating on giving industrialised areas electricity at the expense of other areas.
The Iyaloja of Igbekebo town, the of headquarter of Ese-Odo LGA, Chief Mrs Oyekanmi Florence lamented that since the former caretaker chairman of the LGA, Festus Dabo was appointed in December 2013, the whole coastal communities in Apoi and Arogbo land have not had light.
Oyekanmi told our correspondent that Apoi National Movement had met severally with Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC), as one of the mandate areas, but to no avail. She lamented the mass exodus of people out of the community to other local government areas across and outside the state for power alternatives.
Oba Lebi, the Olofun of Irele, an ancient town in Irele Local Government Area mentioned that it is a sad experience to the people of the area, revealing that he sent for BEDC staff five times but they refused to honour his call.
The aged monarch recounted that the last time the town had light was December 2014, before the January incident that happened in the Odigbo power substation occurred. He groaned that he spent N3, 000 daily on diesel to power his generator set.
The Jegun of Idepe-Okitipupa, Oba Michael Obatuga remarked that it is a disheartening situation for the people as the moves to seek alternatives through rarely available Automobile Gasoline Oil (AGO) and Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), at an alarming rate, unavoidably result into high cost of living for the people.
Obatuga confirmed that there was no light in circulation before the January 2015 incident happened, when there was a cut-off from the national grid through the trees that were felled on the power lines at Odigbo LGA.
He flayed the BEDC for their inhumane actions, firstly by still bringing bills to the people after several months of power outage and the subsequent withdrawal of the power distribution company’s staff from the south senatorial districts to other parts of the state.
The Okitipupa monarch wondered why the area still got their power source from Osogbo through the bushy and thorny routes, always susceptible to all sorts of disasters, when Omotosho Integrated Power Plant is at the people’s backyard.
HRM Oba Isaac Idepefo, the Majuwa of Ilutitun Moribodo Kingdom revealed that the Pelupelu held several meetings with the executive director of the new substations Phases I and II in Omotosho so that the Ikale people and their environs could benefit from the mega power source on their land, but to no avail.
He mentioned that for the past three years, Ilutitun and other neighbouring communities in Okitipupa LGA have not had electricity, listing the numerous efforts made by the sons and daughters of the town, which often times included communal contributions to fix BEDC infrastructures.
The Bishop of the Anglican Communion Church, Diocese on the Coast, Rt. Rev. Joshua Ogunele submitted that the total blackout has multiplier effects on the people in the area, leading to alarming rate of criminality hence crime thrives more in darkness and the culprits are offered easy sway in the pervaded darkness of the night.
The Anglican Bishop noted that those that are worst hit by the infrastructural and social breakdown are the artisans, who resulted into other menial means of survival since the industries in the areas have collapsed and moribund, leaving them with no other means of livelihood.
The clergy was quick to point out that since the power problem defies all logical attempt to restore light in the area, some of those people, especially the youths, who could not withstand hunger and lack, have inevitably resulted into theft, burglary, stealing and other societal vices.
A young Juju maestro from Irele LGA, Ademola Ogunsusi, a.k.a. Demola Suzi, in one of his latest albums released in August 2015, titled: “Okunkun E Ye Wa,” meaning: “darkness does not do us well,” expressed the excruciating pains and agony of the people living in the six affected councils of the state.
Suzi, in his revolutionary song, wails that the area which is the economic hub and power source of the nation through its Omotosho power station ought not to be experiencing such tough times. Alongside other people, he implored the government and other concerned authorities to intervene speedily and put an end to the suffering of the district.
The title of his album: “Okunkun E Ye Wa” which was the latest hit in town then, became the maxim for NRV protest across the six local councils of the district on October 1, 2015.
The social critic, in a well-spelt out Ikale dialect, motivates the people in his inspirational lyrics and urges them not to give up in the herculean efforts to restore light in the area. He sang: “Abi angh ti gbuna b’ughmale,” asking if the people have sworn by the gods never to use light again?
The Intervention of the Mace.
In August 2015, Ondo State House of Assembly (ODHA) summoned BEDC to a public hearing on the power problem in the affected areas, demanding answers for the protracted blackout and the N1.9 billion debt claim at the floor of the House.
Officials of BEDC that appeared before the Assembly included: Abu Ejoor, the Executive Director, Commercial Department of BEDC, Ernest Edgar, the Chief State Head, Ondo and Ekiti States, Lucky Ajomoto, the Chief Legal Officer, BEDC, Yohanna Auta, the Business Manager, Ondo Business Unit (BU).
Others were: Mrs Iyabo Adefemi, Ojo Ayeni, Damola Danmoye, the Business Managers of Akure, Igbara-Oke and Owo Business Units respectively and Kayode Brown, the Public Relations Officer of Ondo and Ekiti states.
During the session, all the lawmakers who were at the sitting expressed their dissatisfaction over the poor services, erratic power supply in the state at large and inappropriate billing system, which they termed “crazy bills and paying for darkness.”
The Minority Leader, Musa Mukaila, from Owo Constituency II faulted the claims of the company by analyzing the amount paid by BEDC monthly, the customers, which according to the management was estimated at 700,000 consumers, and the amount owed by the district.
He noted that “the people cannot be made to pay for the services not rendered,” stating categorically, without mincing words, that “the company has been defrauding the general public for a long time: the people do not owe BEDC.”
Premising on his analysis, Mukaila said that it was the power company that has to pay the people for the tariff they charged them without rendering any justifiable services to them.
Fasogbon Akinyele, the lawmaker representing Odigbo II, refuted the N1.9 billion debt profile of the district, asking how the company arrived at such whooping amount since there has been power outage in the district for the past eight months.
The lawmaker, who revealed that he stays in Ore town and conversant with the activities of the people in the commercial hub of the state, accused BEDC staff of conniving with rogues and submitted that they should be held responsible for the crimes and vandalisation of the company’s properties in the area.
Without mincing words, the Assembly member representing the people of Okitipupa Constituency 1, Mr. Sola Ebiwonjumi, remarked that the BEDC staff had come to the floor of the House to deceive the people of the state and feed them with fibs.
Ebiwonjumi, alongside other lawmakers like Olusegun Ajimatokin, remarked that the company has failed the people and accused them of selective charges and distribution of prepaid metres, which according to them, was not distributed in the coastal area.
While Malachi Coker, reacting to the asset and debt acquisition by BEDC after the privatisation of the sector in 2013, decried the arbitrary charges meted on the people by the company, revealing that they cannot substantiate the debt profile of the area.
The lawmaker, Coker, representing Ilaje II, said the company did not include Ilaje in the list of the debtors during the first meeting with the community, but surprised that in the second meeting with the stakeholders and other communities, Ilaje was listed among the debtors.
He noted that the whole of Ilaje local government area has not had electricity since 2006, and surprised at how the company arrived at the figure which they imputed for the riverine communities without providing them any service for the past nine years.
The ousted Speaker of the House, Jumoke Akindele, narrated the ordeals of the people of the district for the past eight months since there has been complete power outage due to frivolous debt claim, which appropriated 241 million naira for Okitipupa town alone.
Akindele described the socio-economic implications of the incident, and flayed the company for its insensitive actions towards the welfare and well-being of the people by evacuating their staff from the district.
According to her: “You cannot continue to do business in this land if you do not care what becomes of the people,” she said, expressing disappointment over the several meetings with the communities, traditional rulers, youths, BEDC and other stakeholders that yielded no efforts.
Jumoke, who hails from Okitipupa, one of the six LGAs in the district, said the ugly situation has caused the House huge psychological pains as lawmakers and loss of credibility among the people as their representatives in the second arm of government.
Slightly temperamental, she remarked that if any lawmaker had spoken harshly to them, it was as a result of the pressure on them from their people, whom they had prevailed countless times upon to maintain peace and dissuaded from taking laws into their hands.
Her words: “Your story in Ondo State is that of failure: you have failed us 80 percent. You are taking us for a ride, you are taking us for granted,” the Speaker noted, condemning the collective retributive system of shutting the whole area out of power over some few defaulters.
Meanwhile, the BEDC Chief State Head, in charge of Ondo and Ekiti states, Edgar, attributed the power outage to the huge debt profile of the communities, which he said, “believe power is free.”
He explained that the high theft and vandalisation of BEDC properties by the communities foisted a lot of difficulties on the smooth operation of the company in the area.
The BEDC chief also complained that provision of power to the military, police and other government security agencies, whom he remarked always argue that they deserve preferential treatment, which he said the company provides at a “material loss while the government is not doing anything about it.”
He noted that the safety and security of the company’s staff is paramount, saying that underlined the reasons they asked their personnel to leave the areas hence the series of negotiations with the communities were to no avail and the people resorted to hostility and blatant animosity towards the staff.
Edgar reacted stiffly to the debt management of the N1.9 billion debt, arguing that no business thrives under such condition or waiver for its customers; but the Executive Director, Commercial BEDC, Mr Abu Ejoor waded into the matter and a compromise was reached between the Assembly and the company.
Ejoor promptly mentioned apropos the N1.9 billion frivolous charges and debts, as alleged by the lawmakers, that the company would set a motion in force to separate the chaffs from the grains.
A 6-man Adhoc committee comprising of Ajimatokin Olusegun from Irele, Akindiose Siji from Ondo East, Musa Mukaila from Owo II, Ernest Edgar, Yohanna Auta and Iyabo Adefemi was instituted to resolve the power crisis in the district and the improvement of power supply in Ondo State at large.
While speaking with journalists, Ejoor, explained that the chaffs that the committee would separate from the grains represent the “crazy bills,” arbitrary tariffs and frivolous debt profile of N1.9 billion, which will be critically examined by the committee.
The former Chairman of House Committee on Public Utilities, Bamidele Oleyelogun, who is now the Speaker, told newsmen that, “today’s meeting is very fruitful and we gave them our own mandate that they should restore light in the district, and they agreed,” assuring the people of the district that they would have light as soon as possible.
In a related development, the Business Manager of Akure Business Unit (BEDC) and member of the Adhoc Committee set up in the Assembly, Mrs Iyabo Obafemi, complained some weeks after that BEDC still awaited the Assembly members of the committee to bring their report.
The Seed of Discord.
Like waiting tirelessly for goddoth; distrust, enmity and lack of faith tore Ondo South Consultative Forum apart. NRV gathered some army of youths, hurling salvoes of allegations against SIYV and other delegates that appeared before Governor Olusegun Mimiko, while the delegates decried the political twist, which they decried characterized the October 1 protest by NRV.
The former caretaker chairman of Okitipupa LGA, Mr Solomon Bitire, who led the delegation to meet Mimiko in Akure and others were accused of collecting N50 million from the governor, hence that stopped the August 18 protest and the failure to restore light in the district.
Bitire affirmed that he had been in the forefront to restore light in the area before his appointment, stating that the allegation “is credited to some mischievous elements trying to rub mud on the name of the chairman, in an attempt to score cheap political point.”
The erstwhile caretaker chairman explained that “three days after swearing-in, the office of the chairman was given security report, that a group of concerned citizen are planning to stage a protest, which will start in Okitipupa through Ode-aye to Shagamu-Benin Express Way at Ore.”
He disclosed that he swung into action by inviting the stakeholders to a meeting, where it was agreed that the governor should be acquainted with their plights, leading a delegation of traditional, religious and pressure group leaders to meet Mimiko.
“This meeting stands as the first meeting where stakeholders from Ondo south spoke in one voice to place demands before the governor on things they felt should be in place in the district. Among others issues discussed were: electricity, OSUSTECH and Okitipupa/Irele road,” the chairman said.
He iterated that the meeting with the governor yielded several results whereby BEDC was summoned to the state Assembly, the outrageous bills and charges have been reviewed as the bills were released to each council in the district for authentication.
“At the level of Okitipupa a committee has been constituted, headed by Elder S.A. Aderehinwo, former Marketing Director of NEPA, which is currently ongoing in Okitipupa LGA. We agreed that after analysis we will seat down again to discuss whatever we arrived at from the analysis,” Bitire said.
He said that it was agreed that the billing system should be done individually rather than the collective analysis put forward by the company, which he also mentioned that they told categorically that they have lost confidence in their services to their teeming customers in the area.
“After all the above has been said, we deliberated on how payment of outstanding debts will be paid. We agreed that it should be spread over a period of time,” the chairman disclosed, revealing further that the August 18 protest was suspended so as to consolidate strongly on the successful consultation earlier made with BEDC and the arms of government.
According to him: “Thus far, we have consulted the appropriate Authorities. We are in second stage, which is consolidation. I doubt if confrontation is the next when the time frame given hasn’t been exceeded.
“Moreover, since Mr Governor has helped in fast-tracking the meeting with BEDC and the processes are ongoing, it is unwise for anybody to stage protest. In addition, a party radio programme has been channelled to champion the course on a radio station in the state, which they have instigated the public against the stakeholders involved in the negotiation.”
He pointed out that NRV members said among other things that, “The chairman collected 20 million naira, the religious leaders collected 5 million naira and that the kabiyesis collected 5million naira each. These mischievous elements have been boasting around that a seating Senator is backing them to do whatever they doing the south senatorial district.
“What they intend to achieve with the protest are; looting, disruption of vehicular movement and to create problem in the south senatorial district” Bitire said, asserting his innocence and lamenting the politicizing of the plights of the people by some powerful politicians in the state.
Despite the vistas of assurances from Oleyelogun, ODHA and the BEDC to fix the electricity in the south, the people of the district still celebrated the last Christmas, making it the second of its kind in 13 months in utter darkness without any reprieve in view.
The Polity learnt that through a source from the BEDC headquarter in Edo State that the people of the south senatorial districts have finalized their own part of the agreement reached but still waiting on Ondo State Government to play its own part.
In a telephone conversation with the former caretaker chairman of Okitipupa, Bitire, he disclosed that the BEDC boss assured him that the electricity would be fixed in the area before Christmas.
Bitire, who is at the forefront of the struggle, however, mentioned that the electricity company affirmed that only Odigbo LGA would have light and Okitipupa with its environs would subsequently have theirs after the moribund infrastructures must have been put in proper shape to avoid power disasters.
He lamented in 2016 saying, “to my absolute dismay, there was neither electricity in any council in the south during Christmas nor any BEDC staff on site in Okitipupa to fix the fallen poles and moribund cables. It is darkness as usual, but there will still be light soon,” he said, optimistic and never to give up the struggle.
Egregious as the situation is, especially in Okitipupa LGA, our correspondent on a visit to the town and many of its neighbouring communities found many of the poles fallen on the ground, the cables sprawling lifeless and decimated on the floor, the power station and transformers outgrown with grasses and in squalid states.
The State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Adeyinka Fasiu reported the arrests of 20 suspected vandals and recovered 16 prepaid metres, 330 metres of BEDC cables among others things in the south senatorial district. These leave the hope for electricity in the district more precarious than ever.
The Way Forward
Now that Oloyelogun mans the affairs of the Assembly, will he not finish the work he started in 2015? And Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), who shoulders the responsibility of the state, will he abandon the district where his mother hails from, though she now enjoys the coziness of affluence in the north; will he allow her pride to dwell endlessly in thick darkness?
“Okunkun ko ye wa, e ba wa tan yi ooo (darkness does not do us well, help us restore the light),” the indigenes chorused to government at all levels and the authority of BEDC.
