By Mudapha Ilo, Maiduguri

The Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, has alleged that the power outage suffered by the people of Borno State is a result of sabotage by “individuals trying to score cheap political points.”

Wakil said on Sunday in a statement signed by his special adviser on media, Olawale Rasheed, that power lines in the state had been deliberately vandalised to ensure that the power outage continues.

“It was shocking that the blackout had been politicized by some individuals trying to score cheap political points, the minister stated, adding that there was “strong evidence suggesting that some disgruntled forces are deliberately vandalizing power lines as a weapon of blackmail against the federal government.”

“The blackout crisis has thus become politicized with those dark forces deriving joy in stopping power supply to Borno in order to score cheap political points,” he said further.

He described as uncharitable “systematic destruction of power lines and other utilities for political end”, adding that “public utilities in Borno or elsewhere should not become instrument of politics as the welfare of our people are at stake.”

Wakil, however, said that the federal government would not relent in efforts to reconnect the state and stop the sabotage, assuring the people that power outage experienced in the state over the last seven months would soon be a thing of the past.
He recalled that the government had made several attempts to reconnect the state since power supply was cut off after an on Damboa town which affected the power substation in the area.

“In the last seven months when the power lines and substation at Damboa were attacked, the ministry through the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has made at least seven attempts to rectify the problem but on each occasion the officials were attacked.”

He said that Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, was once reconnected and electricity supply restored to the city but that the effort was sabotaged within hours as the facilities were vandalised.

Wakil said further in the statement that the ministry had sought the help of the military to protect power lines in the state but noted that “power lines run several kilometres across the state’ and that “It is practically impossible to physically police the lines from Damboa to Maiduguri which is also widely known as an insurgency belt.”