The 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has mocked President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) following another collapse of Nigeria’s national electricity grid, which left much of the country in darkness.

Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, reminded Nigerians of Tinubu’s campaign pledge that citizens should not re-elect him if he failed to deliver stable electricity within four years.

In a statement titled “If I don’t give you constant electricity in the next 4 years, don’t vote for me for second term,” Obi said:

“The impact is too glaring for Nigerians to forget the promise of Mr. President while campaigning on 22nd December 2022 that: ‘If I don’t give you constant electricity in the next 4 years, don’t vote for me for second term.’”

He accused the APC-led government of presiding over more grid collapses than any other administration despite billions of dollars spent on the power sector.

Comparing Nigeria with other developing nations, Obi stated:

“Nigeria has spent more on power generation, with little or no increase in supply, than countries like Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. While they have doubled their electricity generation by adding tens of thousands of megawatts, Nigeria has barely crawled from 4,500MW to 5,000MW.”

Obi argued that raising power supply to at least 10,000MW could boost Nigeria’s GDP by nearly 50 percent, spur industrial growth, create millions of jobs, and ease the suffering of citizens.

He faulted the Tinubu administration for prioritizing coastal road projects over electricity, warning that factories are shutting down, jobs are vanishing, and businesses are collapsing because of inadequate power.

“Mr. President, it is time to prioritise electricity. A New Nigeria is Possible,” Obi urged, calling for urgent investment in power generation and distribution to support small and medium-scale enterprises.