NIGERIA: The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of failing to fulfil his 2023 campaign promise to deliver electricity, insisting that Nigerians have yet to see the reliable power supply he pledged before the presidential election.
The council also faulted the All Progressives Congress (APC) for attempting to reinterpret Tinubu’s statement that Nigerians should not re-elect him if he failed to deliver electricity during his first tenure.
Reacting to comments by Dele Alake, spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, ADC-PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the President’s original commitment was clear and could not be explained away through selective quotations.
According to Ologbondiyan, Tinubu had told Nigerians in 2023: “Don’t vote for me for second term if I fail to deliver electricity.”
He said the statement remained firmly in the consciousness of Nigerians, adding that no amount of selective editing or elaborate explanations could erase the commitment.
The ADC-PCC argued that instead of ending estimated billing, the Tinubu administration had overseen increases in electricity bills, leaving households struggling to pay for power.
It also cited the situation in the hospitality industry, alleging that some businesses had resorted to rationing electricity by switching off power for guests during daytime hours to reduce operating costs.
The council further criticised the introduction of differentiated electricity tariff bands, including Bands A, B and C, arguing that consumers were paying more without corresponding improvements in the reliability of supply.
It said Nigerians continued to experience prolonged power outages, repeated national grid collapses and inadequate electricity supply more than three years after Tinubu made the pledge.
The opposition campaign council also questioned the implementation of the Presidential Metering Initiative, alleging that the programme had fallen short of expectations while electricity distribution companies continued to issue estimated bills to consumers.
Dismissing the APC’s reliance on the Electricity Act and bond programmes to defend the administration’s performance, the ADC-PCC said such initiatives did not answer the fundamental question of whether Nigerians now enjoyed affordable and reliable electricity.
“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,” the statement said.
The council added that rising electricity tariffs, amid unreliable supply, had increased the financial burden on households, manufacturers and small businesses already contending with high operating costs.
It maintained that Tinubu’s 2023 campaign statement had established a condition for seeking a second term: delivering electricity or foregoing another mandate.
The ADC-PCC consequently challenged the APC to address the President’s electricity pledge directly rather than attempt to dilute his publicly stated commitment.
It said the January 16, 2027 presidential election would provide Nigerians an opportunity to assess the administration’s performance against its campaign promises.
