Residents of Irese, Aaye and Ikota in the Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo have decried the ten-month-old ‘total electricity blackout’ in the three towns. 

Residents, who are electricity consumers, have also threatened to shut down the office of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in Akure, to register their displeasure. 

The affected communities in Ondo have been without electricity since February 2022, Peoples Gazette learned.

The situation, it was gathered, has continued to paralyse the economic, commercial, and social activities in the town.  

The 10-month-old electricity blackout has also forced many business owners in the town to shut down their shops.

However, in a protest letter addressed to the Regional Manager of the BEDC, Akure, leaders of the affected towns complained vehemently that the blackout has heightened insecurity in the three towns. 

They noted that several efforts to ensure the BEDC address their plights 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. 

“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,” the letter obtained by The Gazette Friday afternoon read in parts. 

A spokesperson for the BEDC, Akure branch, Micheal Barnabas, did not immediately return a request by The Gazette seeking comments over the electricity blackout in the three affected Ondo towns.