Sola Oyeniran
A group of women stormed the Ibafo, Ogun State office of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company on Friday, to protest erratic supply after the town just came out of years of darkness.
For about three years, electricity supply was practically zero as infrastructure broke down while a contractor that handled a major project in the area also delayed the job.
On completion of the project, the IBEDC management in the area made a rotational arrangement of one night on, one afternoon off – and vice versa – with the people.
While the promise was kept for a few weeks, the Ibafo office soon reneged, with the suspicion that light was being diverted to some businesses and other powerful forces in the area.
Residents said some Chinese companies were especially benefiting from the deal.
The people were particularly irked by the fact that the IBEDC kept bombarding them with bills, when light was not being supplied, with regular disconnection greeting failure to pay up.
In a move that surprised many, women – old and young – stormed the office, chanting war songs.
They demanded supply at least as initially arranged, and threatened the manager that they would undress and show him their breasts if he failed to rectify the situation.
Some taboo is associated with the kind of sight the women threatened to project.
It was gathered that the management of the place pleaded with the protesters and promised to do the needful.
“Since that day, we have been enjoying the one noon on and off as they promised,” a resident, Najeem Olugbade, told phenomenal.com.ng.
He added, “We don’t know how the women did it. We don’t know when they planned it.”
Electricity supply crisis in Ibafo is worsened by the fact that many of the areas there secured their transformers themselves.
Indeed, there are those who bought everything – transformers, wires, poles – and paid every kobo for installation. Yet, the IBEDC took over the property immediately the areas were connected to the national grid.
Among them is Liberty Estate, in the Asiwaju area of the town. A landlord in the estate, who does not want to be identified for fear of molestation, said, “They immediately took over what we struggled to build, which took us about seven or more years to achieve. We contributed and struggled and fought one another in the process. Can you believe that immediately they connected our light, they started giving us bills the following month? Yet, the light is not regular. There is too much injustice in this country,” he added.
