The Minister of Power, Oloye Bayo Adelabu, has apologized for lashing out at Nigerians over poor energy management.

I hope Nigerians, especially our people from Oyo state, forgive and overlook his Freudian slip. Given that apology, I believe the minister has realized his mistakes and will subsequently act accordingly. In days that followed the minister’s vituperation, many otherwise cool-headed and easy-going observers quickly joined the band of critics and cynics. By the way, what BAND do you think those critics belonged to?

Plus, how best do you describe kicking someone who is down already? The flurry of condemnation that followed Oloye Adelabu’s ‘AC-Freezer’ sermon must have surprised and shocked him. Instead of sticking to his prepared speech, he decided to dash off by telling Nigerians some home truth. Quite amusingly, the truth, it turns out, is not the truth Nigerians want to hear. And as they say, ‘There is your truth, my truth, and the Truth.’ The fact is that Nigerians are angry at many things, the sudden hike in electricity tariff being one.

Perhaps the Minister’s press conference, an avenue to calm fraying nerves and address critical issues, quickly congealed into an arena for an intellectual dogfight – if you watch the video, you will hear the murmur that rented the air the moment that terse statement was uttered. While some influencers tried to downplay the minister’s jibe, they were instead flogged in their whitewashing game. Frankly, I am not interested in the minister and the energy management brouhaha. What I am indeed interested in is what the ministry and minister are doing to restore light in a country where darkness has permeated much of its landscape – don’t mind the confusion the minister and the ministry have created to disrupt the conversation around that vital sector of the economy.

‘Up NEPA’, Lol

Trust Nigerians. When the defunct National Electric Power Authority failed to end the perennial and persistent darkness in the country, it was ironically dubbed ‘Never Expect Power Always.’ And when the company morphed into PHCN, Nigerians berated the name change, saying the company would hold more power than it would release. True to that assumption, PHCN indeed held more power than it gave to the people.

Then, in 2013, Nigerians woke up to the news of DISCOs, GENCOS, GASCOs, and so on. DISCOs for distribution companies, GENCOs for generating companies, and Gascos for gas suppliers. Of all these critical value chains, only DISCOs were handed down to private enterprises. Think of IBEDC, AEDC, IEDC, BEDC, etc. Unfortunately, the privatization of the distribution chain hasn’t transformed the sector’s fortune for good. More interested in the money but less motivated to do the dirty work of revamping the infrastructure.

Like a typical Nigerian in a ‘band E’ environment, I grew up chanting the ‘Up NEPA’ mantra whenever power is restored at home – and I am not alone in this mass choir. As a rural boy, the ‘Up NEPA’ chant is etched into our skulls from time immemorial. Sometimes, you can’t even tell when you start to join the chorus; you only know that you say it automatically and auto-magisterially. Many years down the lane, the persistent power cuts, blackouts, and grid collapses have worsened. And under Minister Adelabu, power supply, based on my little experience, has never reached this depressing point in history.

As a content creator, I can tell you Oloye Adelabu may likely go down in history as the most inconsequential minister of power unless something drastic is done to restore people’s confidence and bring about a steady, stable, frequent, and regular power supply. You may have seen on social media how most Nigerians who migrated abroad often find it difficult to shed that ‘Up NEPA’ chant from themselves once a power cut is fixed in those countries. Like the rest of their countrymen, they have internalized that mantra. Only after they’ve acclimatized to their new environment would they become healed of that verbal virus ultimately.

‘Adelabu, end this chant’

This is a challenge. In my column welcoming Oloye Adelabu into the critical ministry of power, I asked a rhetorical question: Can Adelabu end the penkelemesi in the power sector? In Nigeria, is there any other economic sector troubled by multidimensional and multifaceted peculiar messes than the power sector? Adelabu’s grandfather, Adegoke Adelabu, was nicknamed Penkelemesi. History has it that the colonial masters, tired of that Ibadan politician, decided to describe him in the punchiest way possible: a peculiar mess. Quickly, a peculiar mess spread across like wildfire: the white men have described Adegoke as a peculiar mess. Translated to Yoruba, we have Penkelemesi. In retrospect, the minister must have realized the situation he met on the ground is better than what is obtainable now. He needs to own up, chin up, and take full responsibility for this total blackout.

‘Minister Fashola’

Babatunde Fashola, SAN is a clever man. For four years as minister of power, he avoided cutting controversy. But long before he was appointed, he had stirred quite an expectation around fixing the rot in the sector. He had jokingly said his party, the APC, would resolve the crisis of perennial blackout in one fell swoop. He categorically gave a timeline of when Nigerians in the cities and villages will start to enjoy regular power supply: six months. After four years of setbacks, Minister Fashola was forced to eat his vomit: the power crisis in Nigeria is deep-seated and chaotic. Oloye Adelabu has made more enemies than friends in less than a year. The minister may survey his performance among Nigerians to test this hypothesis. The truth is the truth. The mismatch between the minister’s area of competence and his assigned portfolio hasn’t helped matters as well. And this is a cavity many of his critics and traducers are banking on.

For the first time in decades, Adelabu stands on the threshold of history: will he end this generational ‘UP NEPA’ chant once and for all? Time will tell.

OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion about issues affecting the Oyo state. He can be reached via @muftaugbade on X, muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com, and 09065176850.

As voters in Oyo state warm up to exercise their franchise in the local government council election slated for this Saturday, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over an alleged fresh plot by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to compromise the electoral process and manipulate results in favour of its candidates as against the expectations of the whole world.

The Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) had indicated its readiness to conclude all arrangements for the emergence (through the ballots) of a new set of elected officials into the 33 local government councils with the conduct of election for the candidates of all registered political parties this Saturday and all hands appear to be on deck for the exercise.

But in a statement issued today and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC berated the ruling PDP and some individuals with vested interest “over their refusal to learn democratic culture and decency as they live in the past where force, intimidation and fraudulent practices determined winners of elections.

“Political watchers and patriots in the society are worried about the shameless conduct of most PDP elements in the state who move around to boast about the plans of their leaders and powers-that-be in the state to write results rather than allow votes to count in this Saturday council election. This set of anti-democratic elements tells whoever that cared to listen they owned OYSIEC and that nobody including security agents, journalists, and accredited observers could stop them from declaring the PDP candidates as the winners in any of the Wards and local government councils.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we have uncovered some fresh plots by a cartel of desperados in the Agodi Government House to rig the poll in favor of the PDP. This, according to an impeccable source, would afford Gov. Seyi Makinde the opportunity of sustaining his hold on the PDP ahead of the 2027 general elections. One of the plots is to influence most of the Electoral Officers in all the 33 LGAs to work with voter registers which have been doctored in such a way that most voters perceived to be either independent-minded or APC supporters would not find their names on Saturday and thereby disenfranchised.

“Also, we have it on good authority that some characters recruited from the Park Management System (PMS) are to be deployed to each Polling Unit where they would aid vote buying and intimidate voters and agents of the opposition parties at the same time. Moreover, many PDP members have been forced on OYSIEC as Ward Collation Officers and the task given to them is to frustrate the seamless collation of results in most of the 351 Wards with a view to paving the way for the submission of fake results already prepared in favour of the ruling party candidates.

“As it stands now, all eyes are on our dear state and Gov. Makinde cannot afford to renege on his promise to deliver free, fair, and credible poll this time round. Another fact to consider is that any attempt to prevent the good people of the state from voting their conscience and rescue the third tier of government from total collapse this Saturday would not augur well for democracy in the country. Therefore, we appeal to all stakeholders particularly OYSIEC and security agents to be alive to their responsibility before, during, and after the Saturday poll since it means so much to the entire citizenry.” APC stated.

Forty communities in Ogun State have been plunged into darkness following a rainstorm on Sunday.

The downpour, which began midday, destroyed electricity facilities in some parts of the state, leading to a blackout.

“Due to broken poles occasioned by the heavy downpour at Ota and Mowe, customers in the following communities: lyana lyesi, Osuke Town, Egan Road, lyana Ilogbo, Ijaba, Ijagba, Itele, Lafenwa, Singer, Joju, Alishiba, Oju Ore, Tollgate, Eledi, Akeja, Abebi, Osi Round About, Ota Town, Ota Industrial Estate, Igberen, lju, Atan, Onipanu, Obasanjo, Lusada, Arigba, Odugbe, Ado-Odo, Igbesa, Owode,” the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) said in a statement late Sunday.

“Olokuta, Hanushi, Bamtish Camp Lufiwape, Eltees Farm, August Engineering, Spark Cear Soap Ayetoro, Amazing Grace Oil, Christopher University, Royal Garden Estate, Pentagon Estate, and environs are experiencing power outages”.

It called on residents of the areas to avoid “contact with the broken poles, saggy wires or any other electrical installation affected by the rain.

“Our technical team is working to clear and replace the broken poles and installations to ensure power supply is restored as soon as possible,” IBEDC said.

A video circulating on social media showed fallen electricity poles on vehicles in a flooded Sango-Ota area of the state.