The Aba Landlord Protection and Development Association has requested that the Transmission Company of Nigeria lift the disconnection order of Aba Power Limited Electrical from the national grid immediately.
This was revealed in a letter accessed by The Punch, where the group alleged that the TCN is not complying with the provisions of market rules of the electricity operation.
According to a letter signed by the chairman, Board of Trustees, ALPADA, Leo Okoye, and President, Alphonsus Udeigbo, if the TCN fails to lift the order, electricity consumers in Aba will embark on a peaceful protest against the company.
Udeigbo also claimed that households and business owners in Aba have lost over N30 billion since the city was thrown into darkness, and that many individuals have lost their lives as a result of power failure in hospitals in the city. He also criticized the TCN for not considering the human impact of their decision.
The statement partly read, “It has come to our notice that your company disconnected power supplies to Aba and its environs by the Electricity Company Limited (APL) Electrical via a disconnection order MO-DO/TCN/002/2023, on alleged grounds of non-compliance with the provisions of the market rules.
“First, a suspension notice dated April 19, 2023 was issued the APL Electrical requiring the company to remedy a default with 30 business days from the date of the suspension notice in line with sub rules 46.3.3 and 4 of the electricity industry market rules 2010.
“But curiously on the same date of the suspension notice, the market operator wrote the executive director, TCN, notifying the said executive director that market operator hereby issues a disconnection Order for APL Electric for non compliance without copying or addressing the said disconnect the entire Aba and its environs from power supply.
“In the circumstances, we the Aba Landlord Protection and Development Association on behalf of electricity consumers within Aba and its environs hereby demand that you lift the said disconnection order MO-DO/TCN/002/2023, within 24 hours from the date of receipt of these demand letters having failed to comply by the market rules as well as the content of your suspension notice.
“Take note that in the event of your refusal to lift the order within the stipulated period as Electricity consumers who are now being made to suffer the consequences of your action by throwing us into darkness over one week now, we shall have no option than to embark on a peaceful protest to your office at Alaoji Aba and also inform the world through the media.”
