The Transmission Company of Nigeria has declared force majeure on the Offa 132kV Transmission Substation in Kwara State following an armed invasion of the facility by gunmen who reportedly held workers hostage and forced a temporary shutdown of critical electricity feeders.
The development, confirmed by the company in a statement issued on Saturday by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, has raised fresh concerns over the security of critical national infrastructure and the vulnerability of strategic power installations across the country, with the company declaring that the incident was enough to potentially affect contractual obligations. This would explain its declaration of a Force Majeure.
According to the statement, the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday, May 7, when heavily armed men reportedly forced their way into the control room of the transmission substation and held personnel on duty at gunpoint.
“The attackers ordered the operator on duty to open both the Offa and Ojoku 33kV feeders at exactly 12:45 am on Thursday, 7th May 2026. They further demanded a total shutdown of the substation,” the statement said.
TCN further disclosed that the attackers tampered with control switches and relay buttons during the operation, while the 40MVA transformer at the facility was reportedly opened at about 1:07 am.
The company, however, stated that electricity supply was gradually restored shortly afterwards.
According to the timeline released by the agency, the transformer was restored at 1:13 am, the Offa 33kV feeder at 1:14 am, while the Ojoku 33kV feeder was restored at 2:15 am.
TCN expressed regret for any inconvenience and reaffirmed its commitment to efficient electricity transmission across the country.
Meaning of TCN’s Force Majeure Declaration
Beyond the armed attack itself, attention has also focused on TCN’s decision to formally invoke “force majeure,” a legal and operational term not commonly used in routine power disruptions.
In practical terms, the declaration means the company is officially acknowledging that the robbery and armed invasion created an extraordinary emergency beyond its control, affecting normal operations at the Offa transmission facility.
Force majeure is typically invoked in situations involving violent attacks, sabotage, terrorism, war, natural disasters, or other major incidents capable of disrupting an organisation’s obligations or operational guarantees.
By invoking the clause, TCN is effectively communicating several things simultaneously: that the substation suffered a major security breach; that operational activities at the facility were compromised during the attack; that equipment and systems may have been tampered with; and that the company may not be able to fully guarantee uninterrupted transmission stability from the facility pending safety assessments and investigations.
The declaration also carries legal and institutional implications. Industry observers note that utilities do not casually invoke force majeure, as doing so signals that an incident is considered severe enough to potentially affect contractual obligations, operational reliability, or grid stability.
The company’s statement also suggests concern beyond ordinary robbery.
A 132kV transmission substation forms part of Nigeria’s critical national infrastructure. An armed invasion of such a facility, particularly one involving direct access to the control room and manipulation of transmission equipment, raises wider concerns about national grid security, infrastructure vulnerability, insider coordination possibilities, and the growing exposure of strategic public utilities to sabotage risks.
Interestingly, despite the seriousness of the incident, electricity supply in parts of Offa and surrounding communities appeared to return shortly after the disruption, a development consistent with TCN’s timeline showing that key feeders and the transformer were restored within minutes and hours after shutdown.
The relatively quick restoration may explain why many residents did not immediately notice the scale of the incident before the company’s official statement was released.
For now, authorities have yet to publicly disclose whether any arrests were made, whether equipment or valuables were taken from the facility, or the precise motive behind the attack.
The incident nonetheless underscores mounting concerns over the security of power infrastructure nationwide and the implications of armed breaches at facilities central to electricity transmission in Nigeria.
