ADC tackles Tinubu, APC over ‘unfulfilled power supply pledge’

The ADC-PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan. Photo: ADC

The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council has challenged the All Progressives Congress to account for President Bola Tinubu’s failure to fulfil his 2023 campaign promise on electricity, insisting that no amount of political explanations can erase his commitment to Nigerians.

The opposition party recalled that the president had made an unequivocal pledge that Nigerians should not vote for him for a second term if he failed to deliver electricity during his first four-year tenure.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the ADC-PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the APC’s attempt to explain or reinterpret the President’s remarks through selective quotations was an afterthought aimed at escaping accountability.

According to him, Tinubu had told Nigerians during the 2023 presidential campaign, “Don’t vote for me for a second term if I fail to deliver electricity.”

Ologbondiyan said the statement was a clear commitment made by the President as a candidate seeking the nation’s mandate, adding that Nigerians were entitled to assess his administration against that promise.

“No amount of selective editing, additional paragraphs or grammatical gymnastics can erase that commitment from the consciousness of Nigerians,” the council said.

It argued that rather than improve electricity supply and bring relief to consumers, the Tinubu administration had overseen increased electricity tariffs, persistent outages and continued reliance on estimated billing.

The ADC-PCC also accused the government of introducing discriminatory tariff classifications under Bands A, B and C, among others, without ensuring that consumers received reliable power supply commensurate with the amounts they paid.

It further claimed that the rising cost of electricity had forced some businesses, particularly hospitality operators, to ration power supply to guests during daytime hours in a bid to reduce operating expenses.

The council said households, manufacturers and small businesses were bearing the consequences of higher electricity costs while struggling with an unreliable supply.

It also questioned the effectiveness of the Presidential Metering Initiative, alleging that its implementation had failed to meet expectations, with electricity distribution companies continuing to issue estimated bills to consumers.

Taking aim at the APC’s reliance on the Electricity Act and government bond programmes to defend the administration’s performance, the opposition campaign council said legislative reforms and financing arrangements could not substitute for actual electricity supply.

“An Act is not electricity. A bond prospectus does not power homes and factories. Nigerians cannot eat statutes. What Nigerians need is electricity that works, not another round of explanations and publicity,” it said.

The council maintained that the central issue was not the number of policies, laws or financing initiatives introduced by the government, but whether Nigerians now enjoyed more reliable and affordable electricity.

It therefore urged the APC to address the President’s campaign commitment directly rather than attempt to dilute the meaning of his words.

The ADC-PCC said the January 16, 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections would provide Nigerians with an opportunity to judge the administration’s record against its campaign promises.

The electricity controversy comes against the backdrop of longstanding challenges in Nigeria’s power sector, including inadequate generation, transmission constraints, distribution inefficiencies, liquidity problems and frequent collapses of the national grid.

Successive administrations have introduced reforms and made commitments to improve electricity supply, but unreliable power remains a major concern for households and businesses.

The Electricity Act 2023, signed by Tinubu in June 2023, introduced a framework that allows states to establish and regulate electricity markets within their territories, subject to constitutional and regulatory provisions.

The Federal Government has also pursued metering and financing initiatives aimed at addressing the sector’s infrastructure and revenue challenges.

However, the ADC-PCC argued that such measures should be judged by their impact on consumers, insisting that Nigerians should not be asked to accept policy announcements in place of tangible improvements in electricity supply.