TMSG to Nigerians: Demand explanation from Atiku on abandoned electricity equipment containers at Lagos Port
Now that the federal government has begun clearing some abandoned containers filled with electricity equipment, the Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has urged Nigerians to use the campaign period to demand explanations from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on why the equipment was allowed to rot in the ports.
According to the group, this is because the former Vice President has been promising steady electricity supply as Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) if elected President in the January 2027 election.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG noted that the containers abandoned for about 20 years reflected the clueless, wasteful and incompetent administration he served as vice president between 1999 and 2007.
The statement read in part: “Like many Nigerians, we were shocked at the news that over 300 containers filled with electricity equipment were found abandoned at the Apapa Ports in Lagos for more than 20 years.
“A deep look at the situation showed that the containers were imported under major electricity expansion frameworks, especially the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“We consider it ironic that it is coming at a time when the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has been making bogus promises to Nigerians that he will improve power supply if elected President.
“It is, however, surprising that several days after President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate clearance of the containers, a candidate whose media team issues statements on every mundane national issue has suddenly gone quiet over the revelation that many of the containers were from the era he served as Vice President
“For the avoidance of doubt, the content of the abandoned containers includes critical grid infrastructure, especially high-capacity transformers, cables, switchgear and other transmission equipment meant to strengthen the national grid.
“We recall how Nigerians have been told several times by Atiku Abubakar’s handlers that he was the brain box of the Obasanjo administration, so the former Vice President should be able to explain why equipment purchased with taxpayers’ money was left uncleared and abandoned to rot away before they left office.
“Many Nigerians would want to know if that equipment was part of the contracts that the former Vice President claimed were fully paid for yet were not delivered in an interview on National TV in 2018.
“There are, however, indications that many of the containers are indeed linked to contracts approved by the Obasanjo administration under the NIPP in 2004 to companies which either did not have the capacity to deliver or to companies which were not fully paid for jobs done.
“We believe that members of the public who have, over the years, been denied constant electricity supply deserve answers on the reasons equipment that could have improved or addressed the national power challenge was left idle for years at the nation’s ports.”
The group added that it would not be out of place for the authorities to involve anti-graft agencies with a view to investigating the matter.
