The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on Sunday, November 13, 2016, was embarrassed with power outage at the 2016 Minna Choral Society and 8th annual festival of songs which held at the Idris Legbo Kutigi International conference centre.
With the incident, the vice president, who was the Special Guest at the event, had a first hand experience of the plight of residents of Minna, the Niger State capital, and its environs, who have been without electricity for a long time.
Vice President Osinbanjo, his wife, Dolapo; the state Governor, Sani Bello; and the former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Professor Jerry Gana, were among the guests present at the event.
Also present at the Minna Christmas carol were the state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), other prominent clerics from both the Islamic and Christian faith.
The darkness, which lasted for about five minutes however saw the security men attached to both the vice president and Governor Bello becoming more alert apparently to ward off any unwanted guest.
Power supply from the standby generator was however energized to supply light to the venue till the end of the event which immediately brought life back to the hall as the lead vocalist held the audience thrilled with special rendition.
A source at the Abuja Electricity Development Company (AEDC) blamed the power outage on the huge debt burden by customers in the state capital.
Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has admonished Nigerians on the need to have faith in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration as he remained resolute to solving the problems. He said, “The country would overcome the challenges faced in the past one year’.
On the theme of the festival, ‘‘We are more than conquerors,” Osinbajo said that with fervent prayer and hard work the country would come out of recession as he praised the Minna Choral group which he described as one of the best he has ever seen.
The state Governor, Alhaji Sani Bello, in his address, promised to encourage the annual event as one of the ways of ensuring religious harmony and building bridges of understanding among youths of different religions in the state.