Death Threat in Oyo: IBEDC Officials Flee, Leave Ibadan Communities in Darkness

• The Ibadan Distribution Company (IBEDC) shut down its offices and electricity supply to Apete and Ajibode communities of Ido and Akinyele local government areas of Oyo state over an alleged death threat to its officials
• IBEDC regional communication officer, Mrs Regina Adelokun, said until dialogue is held and the safety of the officials is assured, the disco’s offices in the axis will not be opened
• However, in a swift reaction, the community leaders in the said areas stated that the youths only staged a peaceful protest and neither harassed nor threatened to kill anyone

Ibadan, Oyo state - For over a month, residents of Apete and Awotan in Ido local government and their counterparts from Ajibode in Akinyele local government areas of Oyo state have lived in darkness.

This is as the Ibadan Distribution Company (IBEDC) refused to restore electricity to the helpless communities.

Genesis of dayslong darkness in Ibadan communities

Previously, Apete, Awotan, Ajibode and environs are on Band E, which presupposes that they will be supplied with four hours of electricity per day. However, they could not get four hours due to the infrastructural deficit on the part of the distribution company.

The situation prompted a protest by the youths in Apete area, calling on the IBEDC to give them value for their money.

The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as 'Return our sold light', 'We are tired of Apete blackout', 'Return our sold light to Apete community', among others.

A video obtained by the Legit.ng's correspondent in Oyo state showed the youths on a peaceful protest, with some of them chanting, “No light, no payment” and “Ole ni NEPA”, meaning NEPA (IBEDC) is a thief.

Alleged death threats and IBEDC's reaction

Speaking with Legit.ng, IBEDC's regional communication officer, Mrs Regina Adelokun, disclosed that in some of the events that led to the protest, the company’s officials were issued death threats by the angry residents.

According to her, IBEDC had to relocate its officials from 'the danger zone' because safety is no longer guaranteed.

Adelokun explained:

“We need safety to operate, and when they are issuing death threats to our officials. We need to leave the place.

“We have been calling for dialogue, but they are not responding to us."

Electricity challenge: Apete and Ajibode’s 'grace to grass'

Stakeholders, including the IBEDC, disclosed that the power supply to Apete and Ajibode is the opposite of past experience. Both the landlords and the IBEDC officials believed that the current Band E they have placed Apete-Ajibode is not even sustained.

IBEDC's Adelokun explained:

“Apete used to be on Band A because they are on 33KV, but the supply that goes there, the feeder is overloaded, and we have to downgrade the supply because they don’t get the hours of Band A.”

Mrs Adelokun added that the power infrastructural challenge that made the supply to be downgraded to Band E is also responsible for the company's inability to supply four hours of Band E to the affected areas.

Landlords frown at IBEDC

Meanwhile, in their submissions, the landlords expressed disappointment over a public communication issued by the IBEDC that they were requesting Band 'A'. The landlords submitted that the IBEDC is not open to telling the truth, as nobody has proposed such a request.

Sina Awolola, chairman of the landlord association, Lakoto Zone 1, Ajibode, asserted:

“Nobody requested Band A. Even Band E which they told us is four hours is not even supplied.”

Awolola wondered why people do not complain when they are not getting value for what they pay.

He said:

“You are giving us one hour per day and you want us to keep quiet.

“Whenever they give us three hours today, it will be another four days or a week before they will give us light. They give us an average of one hour per day.”

Ibadan stakeholder tackles IBEDC

In what appears a rebuttal to the allegation of attack on IBEDC officials, Razaq Fabayo, the chairman of Awotan, Apete community, called on the electricity distribution company to 'stop blackmailing residents'.

Fabayo reacted to the alleged shutdown of IBEDC offices by the Apete youths who protested the non-supply of power to their community.

His words:

“The allegations are not true. IBEDC has only two offices in our community, not three. Nobody shut down any office.

The youths took permission from the commissioner of police before embarking on the protest, and the protest was carried out under police and civil defence monitoring. No office was locked, because we had a meeting with IBEDC staff a week after the protest, and we met them in the office, chatting with each other.”

On the claim that the community wanted Band 'A', Fabayo dismissed the statement credited to the IBEDC, describing it as blackmail.

“Nobody ever asks for band A. Are we daft when IBEDC is currently shedding us, and we are struggling with that? IBEDC doesn't have the equipment for now to supply the whole community at once because the feeder is overloaded.

“They need to divide us into two, Ajibode and Awotan. If Ajibode was giving light today, Awotan will have it tomorrow. How can people of such a community be asking for 24-hour supply? What we are asking is 'give us 4 hours, even if its not everyday, but every two days, that each area will not be under shedding. Please, let us ask their spokesperson who made the request? Is it in writing or verbally?” Fabayo queried.

Fabayo, who expressed displeasure over the way IBEDC treated the affected communities, however, suggested a way out of the problem.

He said:

“Our requests are very simple: We are in band E, which we are supposed to have light for 4 to 8 hours. We need this every day. We want our energy consumption to be measured. We are supposed to have three meters on our network, which includes the feeder meter, which measures the overall energy sent through the feeder to our entire community, and the DT meter, which measures the energy passing through each transformer."

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Respected Oyo elder Adefope dies

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Ambassador Ibironke Adefope died aged 73.

The deceased was a former Nigerian high commissioner to Zambia and Malawi. She is also a respected member of the Oyo State Elders’ Council.

Source: Legit.ng