Human and vehicular movements were halted for several hours on Monday as residents of Idokpa Community in Aduduwawa blocked a major highway leading into and out of Benin, Edo State capital.

The residents, protesting several weeks of power outage in the community, barricaded the bypass, causing hours of gridlock.

Travellers heading to various parts of the North were also stranded, as the protesters said they would not clear the road until government officials and media representatives came to address them.

A resident, who gave her name as Doris, told The PUNCH that the outage had negatively impacted their businesses and that the protest aimed to draw attention to their plight.

She accused the Benin Electricity Distribution Company of diverting power meant for the community to another area. “What is most painful is that the next community has a steady power supply,” she said.

She called on BEDC to restore electricity, noting that the suffering of residents was becoming unbearable.

“We are protesting because of the power outage that has crippled our businesses. We are sure that blocking the road will bring attention to our plight.

“We are aware that the power supposed to be given to our community has been diverted to other places, and this is not acceptable. We call on BEDC to reverse this,” she said.

Another resident, who gave his name as Gideon, said the road would remain blocked until top government officials addressed the community and the media covered their grievances.

“We cannot continue to live in darkness while others enjoy electricity,” he noted.

A traveller, Hassan, who was heading to Kaduna, said he had been stranded on the road the entire day.

He described the timing of the protest as inappropriate, appealing to residents to open the road so that long-distance travellers could continue their journey.

A BEDC official, who spoke to The PUNCH by phone, said the outage was not deliberate.

The official explained that a shortage of gas used to generate electricity had caused the disruption.

“The power outage being experienced in some parts of Edo is not deliberate; it is due to a shortage of gas used to generate power,” the official said. (The PUNCH)

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