By Ankel Emmanuel, Sokoto
Consumers of electricity in parts of Sokoto have expressed frustration, anger and disastification over what they discribed as deliberate poor treatment meted on them by the Kaduna Electric Company (KAEDCO).
The consumers, who gathered in their hundreds for separate meetings ahead of the planned protest in Danbuwa, Tamaje, Old Airport, Sabaru, Mabera and Kwanawa bitterly reiterated that KAEDCO must stop exploiting them, adding they are forced to pay estimated bills for darkness.
According to them, the poor electricity situation has gone beyond what they can continue to tolerate especially that other areas in Sokoto still enjoy minimum of 10 or 15 hours of electricity supply daily, while they hardly get 2 hours in a whole week.
Speaking ahead of the joint planned protest, Malam Ibrahim from Danbuwa, Kabiru, Old Airport, and Magori representing aggrieved Mebera customers said protest notification letters have been sent to the relevant authorities to avoid glitches.
“We have send letters to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), National Human Rights Commission, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), The Nigeria Police Force, the NSCDC, the Department of State Security, KAEDCO and the Sokoto State Government on the planned protest.
“This protest is to tell KAEDCO that enough is enough. And the protest might likely resonate in other parts of Nigeria. It is simply to tell the world that we cannot continue to tolerate the inhumane treatment again.
“For us, it is either they migrate us to a band that will give us stable power supply or stop giving us bills for darkness. We will not pay any of such bills henceforth. And their staff should not try our patience with their disconnection drive. We will ensure that, they get the desired treatment if they come around”.
Though, efforts to get the actual date for the protest was greeted with mix reactions, as the agrrived KAEDCO costumers said it is already contained in their letters to the relevant authorities.
