As Imo states goes to the poll on Saturday to elect a governor, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) says the current power outage in the state, a fallout of a strike action by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is beyond its control, reports Political Economist NG

Imo has been in darkness since the strike began and this means that the guber election barely 24 hours away will hold without electricity.

The EEDC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Emeka Ezeh, made the disclosure in statement issued in Owerri on Thursday and seen by Political Economist NG.

Political Economist NG recalls that organised labour in Imo, on Tuesday , Nov. 1, shut down Egbu Transmission Station, which is EEDC’s source of electricity supply, thereby leaving it with no energy to distribute to its customers, a development that has left  the whole of Imo in blackout.

Ezeh described the situation as unfortunate and explained that with EEDC’s source of power which is at Egbu Transmission Station shut down by the Labour Union, there was no way the company could get power to distribute to its customers in Imo.

“We can only distribute the power that we receive from stations operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and in this case, the station catering for our customers in Imo has been shut down by the Labour Union,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has urged Imo residents to ignore sit-at-home order on election day but to come out en-masse to cast their votes for any candidate of their choice.

Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, the President General Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, made the call in a statement made available to Political Economist NG.

Iwuanyanwu said he was told that some people had issued threats prohibiting Imo people from coming out to cast their votes by issuing a total sit-at-home order from Nov 9, to 12.

The Igbo leader said, “As the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, I wish to appeal to all the Imo people to turn out en-mass to cast their votes for any candidate of their choice.

“If Imo people should comply to this, there will be no election in Imo State and that will create chaos.

“I am therefore with every sense of responsibility and love appealing to the leader of this group to rescind his decision to order a sit-at-home,” he said