Youths from the Ondo South Senatorial District on Wednesday blocked the ever busy Benin-Sagamu Expressway at Odigbo Local Government Area of the state, protesting over the 10 years power outage and neglect of the area by successive governments.
The road was backed as early as 7am by the protesters, with several vehicles and commuters trapped.
The protest also paralysed economic activities in the area.
The aggrieved youths from the five out of the six local government areas in the southern senatorial district of the state – Odigbo, Irele, Okitipupa, Ilaje and Ese Odo – under the umbrella of United Action for Democracy, carried placards such as Restore Light Back To Ondo South, Revoke BEDC License, 10 Years Darkness Wetin We Do, ODSG Has Failed Us, This Total Blackout Has Crumbled Our Business and Agboola Ajayi Is A Wicked Man.
They vowed to continue with the protest until the state government attends to their plight.
They said the Benin Electricity Distribution Company deliberately plunged the communities into total darkness, while some bad elements took the advantage of the blackout in the area to perpetrate crime.
The leader of the group, Kunle Ajayi, said the protest became necessary to press home their demands after all dialogue with the state and the federal governments had failed to yield any positive result.
Ajayi called for the revocation of the BEDC licences over its arbitrary billing, noting that the power outage in the area has sent many companies and small-scale entrepreneurs packing.
He said: “In fact, the current government in Ondo State under Governor Rotimi Akeredolu used this epileptic power supply for its campaign and nothing has been done since he assumed office in February last year.
“But it is unfortunate, and rather for them to address the issue, same government was paying people to attack us since we have refused to back down in our agitation for the restoration of light to the areas.
“So, our demand is that we want the licence of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company to be immediately revoked by the Federal Government.
“We also want the government under Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and his Deputy Agboola Ajayi to immediately step down because they have failed us completely and failed to keep their promise
“We are also asking the government to immediately restore electricity to these affected local government areas in the senatorial district of the state because this suffering is now enough for our people.
“Although, some of our members who were to join this protest were earlier arrested, but they have been freed and now we are giving this same government another 14 days to address our plight hence we will return to the street.”