ONDO SOUTH: LET THERE BE LIGHT
The city remains in darkness daily and the government buries its head under the sand. The good people of Ondo South spoke with distress, grief and annoyance because the government has failed in its responsibilities to the citizenry and has left them to suffer severe punishment in the hands of darkness. This is the plight of the good people of Ondo South made up of Odigbo, Okitipupa, Irele, Ilaje, Ese-Odo and Okeigbo in Ondo State.
It is unfortunate to imagine that Ondo South that was once the jewel of the entire Ondo State has now been sentenced to life in darkness by the activities of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) despite its intellectual richness and natural resource which serve as the engine room of the Ondo State Government. As we speak, economic activities in the concerned local governments in the geo -political zone are now grounded and the people now console themselves with the Nigerian popular slogan “one day e go better”.
As a concerned citizen of the state and the region, I have taken my time to study the entire situation and came to the logical conclusion that the action of BEDC to the people of Ondo South is an impunity that has put the discipline and solidarity of the entire Ondo South to test in the hope that if the test is severe enough, that solidarity may crack to their evil delight.
However, one may be tempted to ask all manner of questions as to whether there are elders in the land, particularly at a period like this when the region is facing the toughest of challenges between darkness and light. It is a shame to note that with the intellectual and natural arsenal at our disposal in the region, we could be tossed like a coin to the delight of few persons.
The argument by the management of BEDC for the total disconnect of a full geopolitical zone was based on huge debts by the region inherited from the defunct PHCN and vandalism of its infrastructure by some hoodlums. This argument is flimsy, baseless, laughable and does not hold water because evidence abound of people who are up- to- date with their payment and yet are also victims of the blackout declared on the region for the past 11 months in some areas and two years in other areas.
I made bold to say that this is an attack on the people of the region. This is an attempt to cut the entire Ondo South off civilisation because the management of BEDC cannot substantiate these allegations of indebtedness and vandalism against the region compared to what is obtainable in other regions within the same state. Or are they saying Ondo South is the poorest in the entire Ondo State and Nigeria in general that got its debts transferred by the PHCN? We all know that PHCN rolls out bills on a monthly basis as a routine exercise not because the people consumed electricity amounting to the alleged huge debts. This is a story for the gods! Comrade Abiodun Aladetan, Marxiam activist of contemporary society