by Segun Giwa
Residents of Irese, Aaye and Ikota towns in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State have threatened to shut down the office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in Akure.
This is contained in a letter addressed to the Regional Manager, BEDC, Akure, on Friday and signed by traditional ruler of the area, the Olurese of Irese land, Oba Ahmed Destiny Saka.
According to the traditional ruler, the protest letter is due to the continued power outage in the communities for 10 months now.
The residents complained that the power outage had heightened insecurity in the three towns.
Residents said that the three towns had been in ‘total blackout’ since February 2022, adding that this had paralysed the economic, commercial and social activities of the communities.
They stated that they had no other choice than to stage a mass protest to express their grievances at the BEDC office in Akure.
“With the 10 months blackout, many business owners in the three affected towns have closed shops while artisans who depend on electricity for their trades have continued to relocate out of the communities.
“After exploiting all avenues of amity to bring sanity to our relationship for BEDC to restore electricity supply to our communities with no success; we have no choice but to organise a protest to let the world know our plight,” they said. (NAN)
