ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Some political parties have reacted to the alleged ban of billboard owners in Edo state from accepting advertising campaign projects from the opposition All Progressives Congress, (APC).
A development that has since resulted at loggerheads between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and the APC.
Governor Godwin Obaseki had allegedly ordered that no APC campaign billboards be displayed in the state.
A member of the Billboards’ Association in Edo, Ibrahim Momoh, made it known to journalists on Tuesday night in Benin City, the state capital.
According to Momoh, the Governor threatened to confiscate the billboard of anyone who disregards the directive.
Reacting, the Deputy Director, Media and Publicity of the Edo State PDP Management Campaign Council for the 2023 elections, Chris Nehikhare, said: “The governor has nothing to do with the payment for the billboards as it is purely a party affair.
“It is not a coincidence that elections are around the corner. About a year ago, the PDP made payment for several billboards across the Benin metropolis.
“The PDP paid for some billboards but not all. For example, there is a billboard near the Nigeria Union of Journalists carrying the Labour Party advertisement for Chief Patrick Eholor. Is the billboard not still there?”
Nehikhare, who is also the Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, added that: “Edo State government is not a gangster. We don’t act like APC. In Lagos State, that happens, but in Edo State, that doesn’t happen.”
Reacting also, the APC’s state Publicity Secretary, Peter Uwadiae, described Governor Obaseki’s action as unfortunate, illegal and capable of causing chaos in the state.
Uwadiae, when told that the PDP said it had paid for billboard spaces in the Benin metropolis about a year ago, replied, “That cannot be possible.”
He continued: “Some of our candidates in Ovia had their billboards in Egor and Okada junction in July but they were pulled down recently based on the instructions of the Governor.
“The governor cannot make an executive order on that matter because that action is illegal and capable of causing chaos. This is a democratic setting, and this move should not be allowed to stay. We hope that the governor will listen to wise counsel and rescind this unpopular decision.”
In a separate interview, the Labour Party (LP) expressed dismay over the ban.
The LP National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, said that as much as the party would not want to dabble in the faceoff between Obaseki and the APC, which it deemed as birds of a feather, it considers the larger implications of the anti-democratic step.
“The report of this blanket ban is not only satanic but it is likely to truncate this hard-earned democracy.”
Meanwhile, the Presidential Campaign Spokesman of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, Ladipo Johnson, said the masses have the right to make an informed judgment on the party and candidate they want, Punch reports.