Power Outage: Rev. Father Leads 5,000-man Protest In Sapele

[caption id="attachment_15051" align="alignnone" width="678"]Rev Fr Christopher Ekibo addressing protesters in Sapele[/caption]

Angered by incessant power outages and outrageous billings by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), a Catholic priest of Saint Patricks Church, Sapele, Rev. Father Christopher Ekibo, on Wednesday led over 5, 000 residents of Sapele on a protest.

The protesters gave the BEDC a seven-day ultimatum to restore power to the community or shut down its operations completely.

Bearing placards with various inscriptions such as “BEDC must go,” “Sapele needs Line 33 too,” “No light, no payment of bills,” and “Disconnect all the leaders from line 33,” said they were tired of living in darkness while a privileged few had constant power supply.

Advertisement

Ekibo, who spoke during the protest, said Sapele indigenes were tired of living in darkness while waving his electricity bills, told BEDC officials that Sapele had lived for a long time with the painful reality of three-hour electricity supply a day, and sometimes no power supply at all.

He lamented that many companies had shut down, especially Eternit Nigeria Limited, and relocated to Enugu because of poor power supply, lamenting that artisans and small scale businessmen were going through pains to sustain their businesses.

Cyprian Anyanwu and Mike Egbune, who also spoke, demanded immediate supply of prepaid metres to consumers and reiterated that the residents would not relent in advocating for their rights.

A former chairman of Sapele Local Government Area and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Felix Anirah said: “Sapele residents are tired of incessant power failure.”

Advertisement

He called on BEDC to listen to the people’s plight, saying: “You can see they are angry. Only God knows what will happen, if they return.”

Responding, Head, Corporate Affairs, BEDC Plc, Mr. Adekunle Tayo, said the low supply was due to low generation of power to the national grid.

Leave a comment

Advertisement