BETWEEN GOVERNOR WAMAKKO AND PHCN

It was with bewilderment that we woke up to the news that the Governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko has allegedly flogged one of the staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN. The story was that Governor Wamakko summoned one Mr. Moses Osigwe who is the Business Manager Gwiwa unit and two other staff to his office and personally flogged them with a horsewhip for failing to provide stable power supply in the State.

Another version of the story was that the Governor gave Mr. Moses Osigwe and his accomplices the sum of N17 million to purchase a transformer and fix in his hometown of Wamakko, but that the latter could neither provide the transformer nor the money given to him after a long period of time. So in a true emperor fashion, the Governor whipped him to his satisfaction before handing him over to the Mobile Police.

This situation led to the National Union of Electricity Employers NUEE to issue a 48hrs ultimatum to the Governor to apologize to their colleague over the alleged assault and foot his medical bill, or they would shut down power supply to the entire Sokoto State.

The governor in turn released a statement through his Special Adviser on media, one Umar Sani saying he does not owe anybody an apology, thus drawing the battle line with the Electricity Union, who in turn made their threat real by shutting down power supply to the state.

While this seemingly unending imbroglio between the Governor and the Electricity union continues, the questions on my mind now are, ‘What about the people?’ does the Electricity Union have the right to deny an entire State of power supply, even though the people pay for it?  What happens to all the small businesses that depend on power to survive, or the patients that will loose lives as a result of this total power outage? It is not as if the power supply is as regular as people would want it to be, but the little that is available is what people are making do with in their lives. For instance, I know that power supply in Sokoto town is rationed for 12hrs, which are broken into two among neighbourhoods, so if you are lucky to have light from 12 noon to 6pm you may not need to put on your generator throughout the daytime for your business.

I am not a fan of the Governor or his alleged primitive style of dealing with the PHCN staff, but I do not also support the method the Electricity Union is using in ensuring justice for their colleague.They should ask themselves how throwing the entire Sokoto state into darkness would affect Governor Wamakko, who can afford to buy diesel everyday of the year for as long as he remains governor – even if with public money? How do they think that the ordinary person, that cares less about who the Governor is will survive in this kind of situation? The barber who used to have at least 6hrs of electricity will now have to power his generator throughout the day – that is if he is lucky to find petrol which has become a scarce commodity throughout the country now.

The electricity Union should please reconsider its action and restore power supply to the state so as not to add to the hardship of the ordinary people in their bid to settle scores with the State Governor. I know the Governor enjoys immunity and therefore cannot be sued but surely, there must be other ways they can explore in resolving this issue without bringing untold hardship to the people of Sokoto State.