By Musa Tanimu Nasidi.
Divergent claims have trailed claims by the lawmaker representing Kogi/Koto Karfe state constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly, Honourable Zakari Osewu, on his efforts to reconnect towns in his constituency to the national grid to end the long-term power outage in the area.
Zakari Osewu had allegedly released a press statement detailing his efforts and series of meetings with officials of AEDC to ensure the re-connection of Kogi local government to the national grid once again.
He was quoted to have assured his constituents that he has secured assurances from relevant agencies that the re-connection will be effected before end of this week. He expressed concern over the power situation in the local government and gave assurances that he will act on the situation same way he intervened in power supply problems faced by the area in his early days in the Assembly.
But in his reaction, a leader in the area, Jibril Adazaki, wondered why politicians often claim glory where they did not deserve.
Adazaki asserted that no political office holder is solely responsible for the re-connection of Koton Karfe, Abaji/ Gwagwalada power supply. He listed politicians and leaders who contributed to the almost concluded job. They are: State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Hon Muhammed Lawal Imam; His Royal Highness, the Ohimege Egu of Koton Karfe, Alhaji Abdulrazak Isah Koto; Hon (Barr) Shaba Ibrahim; Danjuma Yahaya, a.k.a OMO; and Ishaq Bamba. He added that aside the listed personalities, no other politician came to their aid.
“It’s not that we are disconnected from Gwagwalada, but what happened was that our lines that connected us lost some poles, cross arms, and cross bar which we needed to install.
“The community wrote Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, of which the Ohimege Egu of Koton Karfe fueled the palace bus to enable us transport the items needed.
“About ten electric poles were needed to restored power to the community. For the ten electrical poles, we were changed fifteen thousand Naira (N15,000) per pole for transportation from Lokoja, including the cost of digging and installation
“The group contacted the Local Government but there was no positive response, so we resorted into begging, no any politician come to our aid.
“On reaching the headquarters of AEDC in Lokoja, we were told that due to our failure to meet the deadline, the electrical poles reserved for use has been given to Ajaokuta and Idah. But because we paid for the crane we chartered to convey the materials for the whole day, we resorted to uprooting some three electrical poles by the roadside censured by the Ministry of works, we came down and installed them.
“The fact that electricity is about to be restored in Kogi Local Government does not give room to every Tom, Dick and Harry to start talking about something they know nothing about.
Adazaki frowned at the manner in which some elected representative abandoned their responsibilities.
“That is why we are out to debunk any politician who tries or directly claim to be the brain child behind our electricity”, he concluded.
