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APC, ADC Bicker Over Tinubu’s Stable Electricity Promise
APC, ADC Bicker Over Tinubu’s Stable Electricity Promise
November 2, () – The presidential campaign councils of the All Progressives Congress and the opposition African Democratic Congress, ADC, on Sunday tore at each other over the content and context of the electricity campaign pledge made by President Bola Tinubu as APC candidate in 2022.
Appearing before the Organised Private Sector during a business luncheon and campaign meeting in Lagos in December 2022, Tinubu said, among others,“Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. If I don’t keep the promise and I come for a second term, don’t vote for me, unless I give you adequate reasons why I couldn’t deliver.”
In the light of the worsened electricity supply, especially on October 16, 2026 when about 29 power plants shutdown nationwide, following a massive electricity generation outage from 3,840 MW to 230.30 MW, leaving businesses and households stranded, electricity supply has become a major campaign issue, with Nigerians referencing the election promise made by the President, while seeking office three years ago.
Spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Dele Alake, on Sunday urged discerning Nigerians to pay attention to the concluding qualification in Tinubu’s campaign pledge.
According to him, the qualification was “ that should he fall short, he would owe Nigerians an adequate explanation before seeking their support for a second term. A fair assessment of the pledge should consider the full statement alongside the administration’s record since 2023. This record should be assessed against measurable improvements in electricity supply, metering, infrastructure and market stability.”
Alake explained that while fixing the power sector crisis remains unfinished, the President is working consistently to deliver on his promise to Nigerians, and his commitment to face the challenges head-on has never diminished.
The impact of the President’s measures on the power sector, said Alake, include the Electricity Act, 2023, which effectively liberalised and deregulated the power sector, moving it away from the Exclusive List so that the states, as subnationals, can participate in power generation, distribution, and transmission. Others are, the liquidation of the N6 trillion legacy debt accumulated from 2015 to 2025, the Presidential Metering Initiative to close the over 7 million metering gap under which the Rural Electricity Agency has connected universities, hospitals and rural communities to solar power and the creation of a N4 trillion bond programme to settle verified legacy debts to 21 power generating companies (Gencos) and gas companies (Gascos).
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“President Tinubu inherited many power-sector initiatives, including the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), which his predecessor, late President Muhammadu Buhari, started. Upon assuming office, President Tinubu reviewed the existing agreement and signed an Acceleration Agreement in December 2023 to enable FGN’s PPI and the German partners to move quickly to execute projects in the transmission network grid,” Alake said, adding: “ by December 2024, FEC approved the contract for the first batch of 5 TCN substations in key load centres to be upgraded to enhance electricity supply to industrial and private consumers in the areas. These projects are now being completed and will be commissioned before the end of the administration’s first term.”
He further stated that the government created service bands with cost-effective tariffs to resolve commercial challenges in the power sector, which has enabled distribution companies to improve cash flow.
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He said, “Fixing the electricity market and power sector is ongoing work. President Tinubu has not deviated an inch from his commitment. As he seeks Nigerians’ mandate for a second term in office, he will proudly present his scorecard in the power sector and clearly tell Nigerians what remains to be done.”
Reacting to Alake’s statement, presidential campaign spokesperson of the ADC, Mr Kola Ologbodinyan, said that the APC-PPC was rewriting President Tinubu’s, “categorical 2022 electricity pledge through selective quotations and elaborate explanations.”
Ologbondiyan maintained that President Tinubu was unequivocal when he told Nigerians not to vote for him for a second term if he failed to deliver electricity during his first tenure. He said, “No amount of selective editing, additional paragraphs or grammatical gymnastics could erase that commitment from the consciousness of Nigerians.”
Ologbondiyan added that rather than end estimated billing, the Bola Tinubu administration had presided over increased electricity bills, leaving many households struggling to afford power supply.
The ADC-PCC spokesperson further observed that businesses, including hospitality facilities, have been forced to ration electricity by switching off power for guests during daytime hours to contain operating costs.
He also criticised the introduction of discriminatory tariff classification under Bands A, B, C and others, arguing that consumers continue to pay more without receiving reliable electricity supply.
“The council said that more than three years after the promise was made, Nigerians were still grappling with persistent power outages, repeated national grid collapses and inadequate electricity supply,” he said and claimed that the implementation of the Presidential Metering Initiative had fallen short of expectations while electricity distribution companies continued to impose estimated bills on consumers.
According to the ADC-PCC, the APC’s reliance on the Electricity Act and bond programmes in defending the administration’s record does not address the fundamental question of whether Nigerians enjoy reliable and affordable electricity.
“An Act is not electricity. A bond prospectus does not power homes and factories. Nigerians cannot eat statutes. What Nigerians need is electricity that works, not another round of explanation and publicity.”
The council further argued that electricity tariffs have increased substantially while supply remains unreliable, placing additional pressure on households, manufacturers and small businesses already battling rising operating costs.
It maintained that the President’s own condition for seeking a second term was straightforward: deliver electricity or do not ask Nigerians for another mandate.
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