{"id":18956,"date":"2024-06-03T15:30:28","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T14:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=18956"},"modified":"2024-06-03T15:30:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T14:30:32","slug":"true-okitipupa-has-not-had-electricity-for-over-ten-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/true-okitipupa-has-not-had-electricity-for-over-ten-years\/","title":{"rendered":"True, Okitipupa has not had electricity for over ten years!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Claim: An X user claimed it\u2019s been over ten years since they had electricity in Okitipupa, Ondo State, in the South West Region of Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"135\" height=\"57\" data-attachment-id=\"17982\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/seven-claims-on-herbert-wigwes-alleged-property-ownership-fact-checked\/true-1-10\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TRUE-1.png?fit=135%2C57&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"135,57\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"TRUE-1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TRUE-1.png?fit=135%2C57&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TRUE-1.png?resize=135%2C57\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17982\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify has-white-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-fe1c39198904b4ce97d5bdae9e8f881b wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#058a59\"><strong>Verdict: TRUE! According to DUBAWA&#8217;s findings, the Okitipupa community has not had electricity for over ten years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Full Text&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">On Feb 8, 2024, an X user <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iamgomez_?t=ljAiMb26ch5gb9cR5nn2JA&amp;s=09\">@Iamgomez<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iamgomez_\/status\/1755563089901072461?s=48\">posted<\/a> that it&#8217;s been over ten years since they had electricity in Okitipupa, Ondo State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The X user was reacting to a post from another X user, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Bookienotbukky?t=g83YQmkkKgQExcinhdVKcw&amp;s=09\">@Bookienotbukky<\/a>, who had asked in a post what \u201cseems like a lie but not actually a lie.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The claim that Okitipupa lacks light has gathered 1.2 million views, 4,721 reposts, 13.9k likes, and 495 quotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Reacting to the claim, another user, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Templecapalot?t=4VH6g-jF-2B7SvUhj_QmMQ&amp;s=09\">@Templecapalot<\/a>, said, \u201cIt&#8217;s a lie. I went to a burial there last December. They had steady light; they actually use federal light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, another user, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Omotohwunmi1?t=YEvbgSbBBBuhhJXuWJTd0g&amp;s=09\">@Omotohwunmi1<\/a>, also commented, \u201cI was surprised when I visited last year and was told they haven\u2019t had light for years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">DUBAWA decided to verify the claim due to its engagement on the post and the contrasting comments about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Verification<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">DUBAWA contacted the <a href=\"https:\/\/beninelectric.com\/#:~:text=BEDC%20is%20responsible%20for%20retail,coverage%20of%2057%2C353%20square%20kilometres.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Benin electricity distribution company<\/a> (BEDC) in charge of Ondo State under which Okitipupa falls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">In a conversation through BEDC&#8217;s official WhatsApp phone number, testbedc, a company official who identified himself as Mikel, confirmed that there has not been electricity in Okitipupa for over ten years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes, there&#8217;s an outage over there,\u201d he said, when asked whether the outage lasted over ten years as the X user claimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">When asked why there had been no light in the community, the official said, \u201cKindly visit our office in Ondo State for more information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, DUBAWA further decided to speak to residents to confirm the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">One of the residents of Okitipupa, Oluwadara Sedara, confirmed the claim that the community last had electricity in January 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We were cut off from the National grid in January 2014. The Benin electricity distribution company management said we were owing millions of naira. All efforts to reconnect our electricity to the national grid have been proved abortive. We have embarked on many protests, but they have not brought out any meaningful results. We are still grappling with our state of not having light for about a decade,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">While reacting to the claim, Itiolu Emmanuel, Personal Assistant to Oba Babatunde Faduyile, the Paramount ruler of Ikale-land under whose Kingdom Okitipupa is a community, said the blackout has lasted more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes, the lack of electricity was more than ten years ago. I remember it all started in 2012- Although the blackout in other parts of the Ikale land predates that of Okitipupa, which occurred on December 29, 2012,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Also, Oba Michael Adetoye Obatuga, the Jegun of Idepe Okitipupa, the traditional ruler of the Okitipupa community, confirmed that the blackout lasted more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI can&#8217;t really remember the number of years, but it&#8217;s more than ten years. However, that of some other communities was more than that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, DUBAWA discovered during its research that the federal government of Nigeria, through the <a href=\"https:\/\/nddc.gov.ng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Niger Delta Development Commission<\/a> on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/leadership.ng\/federal-govt-inaugurates-n8-1bn-transmission-line-132kv-33kv-substation-in-ondo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inaugurated<\/a> the N8.1 billion Ode-Erinje Electricity Project 132KV\/33KV. The project was sub-stationed in the Okitipupa council area of Ondo State to restore electricity to the community and, by extension, Ondo South Senatorial District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Several news media reported the project&#8217;s inauguration, which also ignited conflicting claims about the years in which the blackout lasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">While the Ondo State Radio Corporation news report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osrc.ng\/tinubu-commissions-okitipupa-electricity-project-amid-pomp\/posts\/31440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claimed<\/a> the restoration of electricity to the community through the commissioned project is taking place after 15 years, a radio station in Ondo, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frcnpositivefm1025.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Positive FM of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frcnpositivefm1025.com\/2024\/05\/22\/tinubu-inaugurates-electricity-transmission-substation-in-ondo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> that the power was being restored after 12 years of blackout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Following the inauguration of the power project, Hope Newspaper, an Ondo State-based newspaper, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehopenewspaper.com\/ondo-communities-get-electricity-after-15-years-blackout\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> that light had been restored to some streets of Okitipupa.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">According to DUBAWA\u2019s findings, the claim about the lack of electricity in Okitipupa, Ondo State, for over ten years is true. However, there is no sufficient evidence to confirm how many years the blackouts lasted in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>This report was produced for DUBAWA 2024 Kwame KariKari Fellowship in partnership with The Informant247 to facilitate the ethos of &#8220;truth&#8221; in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Claim: An X user claimed it\u2019s been over ten years since they had electricity in Okitipupa, Ondo State, in the South West Region of Nigeria. Verdict: TRUE! According to DUBAWA&#8217;s findings, the Okitipupa community has not had electricity for over ten years. Full Text&nbsp; On Feb 8, 2024, an X user @Iamgomez, posted that it&#8217;s been over ten years since they had electricity in Okitipupa, Ondo State. The X user was reacting to a post from another X user, @Bookienotbukky, who had asked in a post what \u201cseems like a lie but not actually a lie.&#8221; The claim that Okitipupa lacks light has gathered 1.2 million views, 4,721 reposts, 13.9k likes, and 495 quotes. Reacting to the claim, another user, @Templecapalot, said, \u201cIt&#8217;s a lie. I went to a burial there last December. They had steady light; they actually use federal light.\u201d Meanwhile, another user, @Omotohwunmi1, also commented, \u201cI was surprised when I visited last year and was told they haven\u2019t had light for years.\u201d DUBAWA decided to verify the claim due to its engagement on the post and the contrasting comments about it. Verification DUBAWA contacted the Benin electricity distribution company (BEDC) in charge of Ondo State under which Okitipupa falls. In a conversation through BEDC&#8217;s official WhatsApp phone number, testbedc, a company official who identified himself as Mikel, confirmed that there has not been electricity in Okitipupa for over ten years.&nbsp; \u201cYes, there&#8217;s an outage over there,\u201d he said, when asked whether the outage lasted over ten years as the X user claimed.\u00a0 When asked why there had been no light in the community, the official said, \u201cKindly visit our office in Ondo State for more information.\u201d However, DUBAWA further decided to speak to residents to confirm the claim. One of the residents of Okitipupa, Oluwadara Sedara, confirmed the claim that the community last had electricity in January 2014. &#8220;We were cut off from the National grid in January 2014. The Benin electricity distribution company management said we were owing millions of naira. All efforts to reconnect our electricity to the national grid have been proved abortive. We have embarked on many protests, but they have not brought out any meaningful results. We are still grappling with our state of not having light for about a decade,\u201d he said.\u00a0 While reacting to the claim, Itiolu Emmanuel, Personal Assistant to Oba Babatunde Faduyile, the Paramount ruler of Ikale-land under whose Kingdom Okitipupa is a community, said the blackout has lasted more than a decade. \u201cYes, the lack of electricity was more than ten years ago. I remember it all started in 2012- Although the blackout in other parts of the Ikale land predates that of Okitipupa, which occurred on December 29, 2012,\u201d he said. Also, Oba Michael Adetoye Obatuga, the Jegun of Idepe Okitipupa, the traditional ruler of the Okitipupa community, confirmed that the blackout lasted more than a decade. \u201cI can&#8217;t really remember the number of years, but it&#8217;s more than ten years. However, that of some other communities was more than that.&nbsp; Meanwhile, DUBAWA discovered during its research that the federal government of Nigeria, through the Niger Delta Development Commission on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, inaugurated the N8.1 billion Ode-Erinje Electricity Project 132KV\/33KV. The project was sub-stationed in the Okitipupa council area of Ondo State to restore electricity to the community and, by extension, Ondo South Senatorial District. Several news media reported the project&#8217;s inauguration, which also ignited conflicting claims about the years in which the blackout lasted. While the Ondo State Radio Corporation news report claimed the restoration of electricity to the community through the commissioned project is taking place after 15 years, a radio station in Ondo, Positive FM of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, reported that the power was being restored after 12 years of blackout. Following the inauguration of the power project, Hope Newspaper, an Ondo State-based newspaper, reported that light had been restored to some streets of Okitipupa.&nbsp;&nbsp; Conclusion According to DUBAWA\u2019s findings, the claim about the lack of electricity in Okitipupa, Ondo State, for over ten years is true. However, there is no sufficient evidence to confirm how many years the blackouts lasted in the community. This report was produced for DUBAWA 2024 Kwame KariKari Fellowship in partnership with The Informant247 to facilitate the ethos of &#8220;truth&#8221; in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[3812,120,1571,3815],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[4073],"class_list":["post-18956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headline","category-economy","category-fact-check","category-homepage"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-4VK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":4073,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"yemi-sodeeq","display_name":"Yemi Sodeeq","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/electricity-pole.jpg?fit=739%2C415&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18958,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18956\/revisions\/18958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18956"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=18956"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=18956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}