Politics

ADC Calls Out Tinubu: Nigerians Still in Darkness Despite Promise of 24/7 Power

Published by Tope Fakinlede on July 21st, 2025.

ADC Calls Out Tinubu: Nigerians Still in Darkness Despite Promise of 24/7 Power

President Bola Tinu

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s administration for failing to fulfill its campaign pledge to provide Nigerians with uninterrupted electricity within four years.

In a firm message shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Bolaji Abdullahi, the interim spokesperson for ADC, reminded the president about his 2023 campaign promise to deliver round-the-clock power. Abdullahi also recalled Tinubu’s own warning that Nigerians should not vote for him again if he didn’t meet this commitment.

“Today, we want to remind President Tinubu of his promise to deliver 24/7 electricity to Nigerians—all by himself,” Abdullahi wrote.

He went further to accuse the current administration of worsening Nigeria’s power challenges, highlighting steep electricity tariff hikes of about 240% since Tinubu took office and noting that the national power grid has collapsed 12 times within this period.

Abdullahi stressed that more than 90 million Nigerians still lack regular electricity access, with many only getting between 4 to 6 hours of power daily under the controversial Band A–E tariff system. He added that in rural communities, most of the estimated 50 million households remain completely off the grid.

“In the last 26 months, there has been no significant reform in the power sector, no clear strategy, and no urgency,” Abdullahi lamented, pointing out that millions of Nigerians continue to depend on generators and small mobile power providers to meet their energy needs.

Closing his statement, Abdullahi reminded the president of his own words: “You once said, ‘If I don’t give you electricity, don’t vote for me.’ Nigerians are paying attention—and in 2027, we will hold you to that promise.”

During his 2023 campaign, Tinubu pledged to reform the power sector by modernizing infrastructure, decentralizing management, and boosting electricity generation capacity. However, critics and civil society organizations have repeatedly expressed frustration over the slow progress and rising costs amid unreliable power supply.