Public affairs commentator Mahdi Shehu has strongly criticised Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, over remarks suggesting that improved electricity supply has left some Nigerians asking him to “slow down” because their freezers are now freezing food.
Shehu responded late Wednesday in a post on his X account, dismissing the minister’s comments as false and accusing him of making misleading public statements.
“When telling barefaced lies becomes a trademark, it transmutes into pathology and hence incurable and irredeemable,” Shehu wrote. “Such is the case in the minister’s shameless lie that smells to heaven.”
The exchange followed Tegbe’s appearance at the commissioning of a 3-megawatt solar hybrid power project at the University of Abuja on Wednesday. During the event, the minister said recent Federal Government interventions had significantly improved electricity supply in parts of the country.
According to Tegbe, some communities that previously went without power for as long as three months are now receiving up to 18 hours of electricity daily.
“Some areas called me to say, look, I should slow down, that everything in their freezer is freezing. That is what a freezer is meant to do. Let it freeze the food that needs to be frozen,” the minister said.
Shehu’s sharp reaction has added to ongoing public debate about the reliability of Nigeria’s power sector and the credibility of official claims of progress.
