By Muhammad Mamman
Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) following yet another collapse of the national electricity grid, which left much of the country in darkness.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, reminded Nigerians of Tinubu’s campaign pledge that he should not seek re-election if he failed to deliver constant power within four years.
In a statement titled “If I don’t give you constant electricity in the next 4 years, don’t vote for me for second term”, Obi said:
“The impact is too glaring for Nigerians to forget the promise of Mr President while campaigning on 22 December 2022: ‘If I don’t give you constant electricity in the next 4 years, don’t vote for me for second term.’”
The opposition figure accused the APC-led administration of overseeing more national grid failures than any government in Nigeria’s history, despite billions of dollars pumped into the sector.
Drawing comparisons with other developing economies, Obi noted:
“Nigeria has spent more on power generation, with little or no increase in supply, than countries like Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. While they have doubled their electricity generation by adding tens of thousands of megawatts, Nigeria has barely crawled from 4,500MW to 5,000MW.”
He argued that raising electricity supply to at least 10,000MW could expand Nigeria’s GDP by 50 per cent, stimulate industrial growth, create millions of jobs, and ease the hardship faced by citizens.
Obi also criticised Tinubu’s priorities, accusing his administration of focusing on coastal road projects while neglecting urgent power investments.
“Factories are shutting down, jobs are disappearing, businesses are collapsing, and ordinary Nigerians live in darkness,” he lamented.
Calling on the president to urgently overhaul the power sector, Obi declared:
“Mr President, it is time to prioritise electricity. A New Nigeria is possible.”
