Residents of Ado Ekiti, capital of Ekiti state, on Friday protested prolonged power blackout in some areas of the city which they linked to alleged sabotage.
The protesters included traders, artisans, students and other electricity consumers living in Similoluwa and Ori Apata areas of 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!! Marginalisation,” “Return our cable” “It is over a month we have light” among other inscriptions.
Leader of the protesters, Mr. Tope Ojo, disclosed the only transformer serving the area is old and could no longer dispense electricity to the area as appropriate.
Ojo lamented the arbitrary service and non-challant attitude of the staff of BEDC in restoring electricity to the area.
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He said the development has paralysed their businesses and thereby brought untold hardship to the residents of the area.
He explained 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 professionals from the electricity company.
According to him, the people of the area resulted to protest after BEDC management in Ado Ekiti turned deaf ears to series of complaint to them.
He claimed the electricity distribution firm deliberately made pre-paid meters unavailable to continue billing residents outrageously without 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 number but they seem not to be coming forth, that was why we decided to come to the deputy governor today, to help us intervene in this matter.”
In expressing their grievances, the placard-carrying residents stormed the Deputy Governor’s Office, urging the state government to prevail on Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore light to their areas.
The Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, urged the protesting residents to exercise patience while their complaints are being looked into.
