Human and vehicular movement were brought to a standstill for several hours on Monday after residents of Idokpa Community in Aduduwawa blocked a major highway linking Benin City to other parts of Edo State.
The protest, triggered by weeks of persistent power outage, saw residents barricade the bypass road, leading to heavy traffic congestion and leaving many commuters stranded.
Travellers heading towards northern parts of the country were among those affected, as protesters insisted the road would remain blocked until government officials and the media showed up to address their concerns.
A resident, Doris, said the prolonged blackout had severely affected businesses in the community and pushed residents to take drastic action to draw attention to their situation.
She accused the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) of diverting electricity meant for Idokpa to neighbouring communities.
“What pains us the most is that the next community has steady power supply while we are in total darkness,” she said.
According to her, the lack of electricity has made living conditions unbearable, urging BEDC to urgently restore power to the area.
“Our businesses have suffered badly. Blocking the road is the only way we believe our voices will be heard. We know the power meant for us has been diverted, and that is unacceptable,” she added.
Another resident, Gideon, said the protest would continue until senior government officials visited the community and their complaints received public attention.
“We cannot continue to live in darkness while others enjoy electricity,” he said.
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Meanwhile, a traveller identified as Hassan, who was on his way to Kaduna, said he had been stuck on the road all day.
He described the protest as ill-timed and appealed to the residents to consider the plight of travellers by reopening the road.
Responding to the situation, a BEDC official explained that the outage was not intentional, attributing it to a shortage of gas required for electricity generation.
“The power disruption being experienced in some parts of Edo State is due to gas supply challenges, not a deliberate action,” the official said.
