The Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress are at loggerheads over allegations that Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, ordered that no APC campaign billboards be displayed in the state.
Obaseki had allegedly banned billboard owners in the state from accepting advertising campaign projects from the opposition All Progressives Congress.
A member of the Billboards’ Association in Edo, Ibrahim Momoh, disclosed this to journalists on Tuesday night in Benin City.
Momoh noted that the governor threatened to confiscate the billboard of anyone who disregards the directive.
State government’s justification
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, “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. “
APC kicks
Meanwhile, APC’s state Publicity Secretary, Peter Uwadiae, said the state governor’s action was unfortunate, illegal and capable of causing chaos in the state.
When told that the PDP said it had paid for billboard spaces in the Benin metropolis about a year ago, Uwadiae replied, “That cannot be possible because 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.”
LP, NNPP kick
In a separate interview, the LP expressed dismay over the ban.
The National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, stated 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, also expressed reservation over the directive, saying the masses have the right to make an informed judgment on the party and candidate they want.
