In January 2022, Ossiomo Power inaugurated a 40-megawatt independent power plant at Ologbo, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, to provide electricity to the Benin Industrial and Enterprise Park and surrounding communities.
The project, which followed an earlier 55MW facility, was expected to provide an alternative to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and help address the persistent electricity challenges in the state. Three years down the line, the operations of the power company were disrupted as a result of an ownership dispute with its Chinese partner, CCETC, and the activities of the community’s youths.
For Esosa Monday (not real name), a computer operator in the Edo State civil service, irregular electricity supply is more than an inconvenience. It has become a workplace challenge with consequences for his productivity and professional reputation. Before the emergence of Ossiomo Power, Monday often had to contend with incomplete assignments whenever power supply failed. His inability to deliver some jobs within deadlines earned him queries from his director and, on occasions, affected his chances of being recognised among the best-performing workers in his ministry.
The problem also extended beyond his workplace
His colleagues, friends and family members sometimes struggled to reach him when his services were needed because his phone battery would run down. His power bank provided little relief because there was often no electricity to recharge it.
Monday was not alone
Thousands of workers and residents across Edo State faced similar difficulties in the years when electricity supply remained unreliable. Government offices and private businesses increasingly depended on generators, whose frequent use came with high maintenance and fuel costs.
In January 2022, Ossiomo Power inaugurated a 40-megawatt independent power plant at Ologbo, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, to provide electricity to the Benin Industrial and Enterprise Park and surrounding communities.
The project, which followed an earlier 55MW facility, was expected to provide an alternative to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and help address the persistent electricity challenges in the state.
The then Edo State Government under Governor Godwin Obaseki also backed the project, with several government institutions subsequently connected to the power network.
For Monday and many other beneficiaries, the difference was immediate
His office became more productive, his phone was regularly charged and the constant anxiety over electricity supply eased. Other institutions, including the Edo State Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, were also among the over 1000 beneficiaries of the power company.
But the gains have since been interrupted
The Ossiomo Power project has become embroiled in a protracted dispute involving its Nigerian promoters, its former Chinese business partner, Jiangsu Communication Clean Energy Technology Company Limited (CCETC), and, increasingly, members of the host Ologbo community.
The dispute has not only affected the ownership and management of the power infrastructure but has also raised questions over who controls customers, revenue and the facilities used to generate and distribute electricity.
A dispute over ownership and revenue
CCETC, through a senior director who simply identified himself only as Mr W, maintains that it entered into a joint venture agreement with Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company in 2018.
According to him, the arrangement allegedly gave Ossiomo 25 percent equity, representing its contribution of land and licences, while CCETC held 75 percent.
He alleged that CCETC provided about $20 million for the project, including the construction of distribution lines and other infrastructure.
The Chinese company also alleged that some customers connected to its 33KV network paid their electricity bills into an account belonging to Ossiomo E-Technology rather than the account of the joint venture company, CCETC Ossiomo Power Company Limited (COPC).
Mr W claimed that the arrangement left the company generating electricity without adequate visibility over its customers or receiving full payment for the electricity supplied.
‘We generate over four million kilowatts per month but collect payment for less than two million kilowatts,’ he said.
He further alleged that the Ologbo community was receiving electricity from the company’s network without payment and that outstanding obligations involving the community exceeded N1.4 billion.
He alleged that the decision to shut down the plant was driven by mounting losses, which have to do with ‘an internal issue,’ insisting that the Edo State Government and other customers were not responsible for the dispute.
But Ossiomo Power disputes virtually all of the major claims
Francis Ekwe, deputy general manager of Ossiomo Power, said CCETC was not a co-owner of the power company but a contractor engaged to supply and install engines for the independent power project.
He said the 2018 contract did not transfer ownership of the power plant, transmission network or gas infrastructure to the Chinese company.
Ekwe posited that Ossiomo Power had held rights to the gas and power infrastructure since 2008 and had obtained the relevant statutory licences and approvals for power generation and transmission within Edo State.
He argued that CCETC’s recent attempt to assert ownership amounted to an effort to influence state authorities and create uncertainty around the operation of the facility.
He also warned that sidelining an indigenous operator in favour of a foreign contractor could have implications for Nigeria’s local content policy and energy security.
Festus Evbuomwan, a representative of Ossiomo Power, also rejected the claim that CCETC had invested $20 million in the project in the manner alleged.
He said the Chinese partners had received more than N2 billion for power generated by their machines since operations began. ‘When they generate power, we sell and pay them,’ he said.
Evbuomwan added that the company operated a joint account through which payments were made, and investments were accounted for. He said the initial 55MW plant commenced operations in 2020, while another 40MW facility was commissioned in December 2021, bringing the plant’s installed capacity to 95MW.
He said the plant supplied government offices, the Edo State Government House, the NUJ secretariat, private organisations and streetlights before the shutdown on September 1, 2025.
Court intervention
As the disagreement escalated, Ossiomo Power approached the Edo State High Court in Benin.
In an ex parte order in suit number B/242/2025, Justice Mary Itsueli restrained CCETC from entering the land of Ossiomo Power and interfering with its infrastructure pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The September 11, 2025 order specifically restrained the defendant and its privies from accessing or using the claimants’ infrastructure, including the 33KV lines, gas engines and gas infrastructure used in generating and supplying electricity.
Ossiomo Power later accused its estranged partner of violating the order by taking possession of parts of its facilities and preventing its management from accessing the infrastructure.
The company subsequently threatened contempt proceedings. But the dispute did not end at the boardroom or courtroom.
It spilled into the community where the power plant is located.
Besides the legal tussle in Edo State High Court, the warring parties have also headed to the Singapore International Centre for Arbitration on the dispute.
Ologbo enters the dispute
Ossiomo Power has accused some youths in Ologbo of repeatedly disrupting its operations and vandalising its facilities.
The company also alleged that some of the youths were working with CCETC and had helped the Chinese company gain access to its gas plant at the Ossiomo Industrial Park.
Josephine Oike, representing Ossiomo Investment Limited, alleged that the Okaon’re Eguae of Ologbo Dukedom, Emma Iyase, trespassed on the company’s property.
She said the company acquired the land in 2008 from the late Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa.
Oike alleged that Iyase used bulldozers and pay loaders to gain access to the company’s premises on October 29, 2025.
The company also said it had spent more than N182 million on corporate social responsibility projects in the Ologbo community in 2025 alone. He said that since commenced operations the company had been spending on CSR annually for the community, but, yet they continued to experience vandalism and other disruptions.
Ekwe Francis Chukwuma, site engineer at Ossiomo Power, alleged that local youths led by Felix Okotie had repeatedly disrupted activities at the company’s gas plant since November 2025.
He said repeated appeals to the youths to vacate the facility had failed.
‘We appealed to relevant authorities to assist in dislodging the youths who are illegally disrupting the gas station to enable the power company to resume supplying electricity to Nigerians.
‘Millions of Nigerians are in dire need of electricity, yet the people of Ologbo have prevented us for about 10 months from giving people light,’ he said.
According to him, the disruption had also affected electricity supply to customers connected to the company’s network.
Ossiomo Power further alleged that its 33KV transmission lines linking Ologbo to Benin City and surrounding areas had been vandalised.
He opined that the activities of the youths are brazenly sabotaging President Tinubu’s avowed commitment to give a round the clock power supply to the people by deliberately preventing Ossiomo Power Company from delivering stable 24/7 electricity supply to the people.
A source close to the company, who spoke on condition of anonymity, identified Okotie as an alleged ringleader of the activities.
The source also alleged that another individual, Osaretin Omorodion, was responsible for the vandalism of sections of the 33KV lines.
The allegations extend to an incident involving security personnel.
The source claimed that Okotie and members of his group attacked two Department of State Services (DSS) personnel deployed to the Ossiomo Gas Plant to maintain law and order on December 2, 2025.
The source expressed concern that the alleged failure to prosecute those responsible had emboldened them to continue their activities.
Another source claimed that security personnel, including mobile policemen and members of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), had faced difficulties dealing with some youths in the community.
The source alleged that CCETC officials would attempt to gain access to the facility and, when stopped, contact Okotie and his associates, who would then mobilise youths to the site.
These allegations, however, remain contested.
The youths’ defence
When contacted, Okotie and some of his associates, including Lucky Igbineweka, Tony Obaseki and Biggy, denied that they were acting outside the interests of the community.
They said their activities involving Ossiomo Power and CCETC had the backing of elders and residents of Ologbo. The youths also said they were protecting the interests of CCETC and would not allow another company to rival the Chinese firm.
They maintained that, because the companies operate within Ologbo, members of the community had a legitimate interest in what happened to the businesses.
They referred journalists to Friday Osazuwa, the community secretary, for further clarification.
Repeated attempts to obtain comments from Osazuwa and Eric Osawaru, chairman of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Council, were unsuccessful as they did not respond to calls and messages sent to their phones.
What the dispute means for electricity consumers
While the legal and commercial battle continues, the consequences are being felt beyond the companies involved.
For residents, government institutions and businesses that depended on the independent power plant, the shutdown has meant a return to an electricity environment they had hoped was becoming a thing of the past.
The Ologbo community itself, according to a source close to the project, had previously endured more than six years without electricity following its disconnection by BEDC over allegations including vandalism, illegal meter bypass and violent attacks.
The source said Ossiomo Power subsequently connected the community to its network around early 2022.
That history makes the current conflict particularly significant.
What began as a commercial disagreement between business partners has evolved into a broader contest involving ownership, electricity revenue, community interests, alleged vandalism and access to critical infrastructure.
And as the parties continue to trade accusations, consumers remain caught in the middle. For a worker whose productivity once depended on whether there was electricity to power his computer and charge his phone, the return of darkness is not simply an energy-sector statistic.
It is a reminder of how quickly the benefits of infrastructure can disappear when commercial disputes, community grievances and questions over control become intertwined.