Youths from the southern senatorial district of Ondo state on Wednesday protested lack of electricity supply in their areas.

The protest disrupted vehicular movements and paralyzed commercial activities along Benin-Ore-Lagos expressway for more than five hours.

There have been a blackout in the six local government areas of Odigbo, Irele, Okitipupa, Ilaje, Ese-Odo and some parts of Odigbo in the last 10 years.

The prolonged outage has crippled business activities in the senatorial district.

The angry youth under the aegis of United Action Democracy (UAD) gathered as early as 7 am and blocked all the routes leading to Benin-Ore-Lagos road.

They were armed with placards bearing various inscriptions such as “Restore Light Back To Ondo South”, “Revoke BEDC License”, “10 Years Darkness, Wetin We Do”, “ODSG Has Failed Us”, “This Total Blackout Has Crumble Our Business” and “Agboola Ajayi Is A Wicked Man”.

The protesters accused Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) of plunging the communities into total darkness.

Kunle Ajayi, leader of the group, said the youths decided to shut down the road after efforts to restore electricity to all the affected areas failed.

“For over ten years, our people have been living in perpetual darkness and this government has kept mute over our plight despite several appeals.

“In fact, the current government in Ondo State under Governor Rotimi Akeredolu used this epileptic power supply for its campaign and nothing has been done till today.

“It is unfortunate. Rather than addressing the issue, the government was paying people to attack us since we have refused to back down in our agitation.

“So, Our demand is that we want the license of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to be immediately revoked by the Federal Government.

“We want the government under Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and his Deputy, Agboola Ajayi, to immediately step down because they have failed us completely.

“We are also asking the government to immediately restore electricity to these affected local government areas because this suffering is enough for our people.

“Some of our members who were to join this protest were earlier arrested. But they have been freed and now we are giving this same government another 14 days to address our plight. Hence, we will return to the street,” he said.