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APC, PDP bicker over destruction of campaign posters, banners in Lagos State

By Seye Olumide
26 January 2015   |   8:58 pm
THE People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, yesterday condemned the intimidation his supporters are allegedly being subjected to and the destruction of his campaign materials by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.   Agbaje, who lamented that members of his campaign team were allegedly being hunted…

pdp-apc-THE People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, yesterday condemned the intimidation his supporters are allegedly being subjected to and the destruction of his campaign materials by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

  Agbaje, who lamented that members of his campaign team were allegedly being hunted down and dragged out of their homes by APC-sponsored killer squads after which they were being molested and injured, also said some persons loyal to the APC in Lagos were being sponsored to tear down the posters and banners of opponents like himself, President Goodluck Jonathan and other PDP candidates for the Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly.

  But in a quick reaction, the spokesman of the APC in the state, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, described the allegation as baseless and an attempt to give the party a bad name in order to crucify it.

  He said that the PDP is the one actually guilty of the allegation of intimidation and destruction of the APC’s campaign posters. 

  According to Agbaje: “It is a pity that despite all the efforts being made by the electoral umpire and the security agencies, some characters were hell bent on jeopardising the peace.

  “Our security reports have it that supporters and stakeholders in Jimi Agbaje’s camp are being witch-hunted, hurled out of their homes and attacked with guns, daggers, bottles and clubs.

  “Except for good sense and restraint prevailing on the part of the PDP camp, there would have been reprisal attacks and a total breakdown of law and order.”

  He, however, asked the police to wade into the problem, apprehend the culprits, bring them to justice and make them face the music.

  “It is disheartening that the Lagos State Advertising Agency (LASAA) would send its agents to destroy the posters, billboards and banners of non-APC candidates while retaining those belonging to politicians vying on the platform of the party in power in Lagos State.

  “LASAA is a government-funded institution, and would normally be expected to apply its laws and regulations in an objective manner without fear or favour. But what we see today is a divide-and-rule application of extant rules that regulate advertising, and this is specifically targeted at PDP’s candidates”, he said.

   He accused the APC of sponsoring hoodlums to parade the streets day and night mutilating and tearing posters of PDP’s candidates, adding: “Such wanton recourse to blackmail by agents of the ruling party in Lagos is undemocratic, reactionary and uncivilised. 

  In another development, the Lagos State Chapter of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has thrown their weight behind the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and also prayed for his success at the poll.

  In a letter dated January 26, 2015 and signed by its Secretary, Gafar Madehin, the association conveyed their support for Ambode, describing him as a man with lots of quality and the right person that will ensure the continuity of the delivery of dividends of democracy to the good people of Lagos.

  The pharmacists said: As a body of educated and trained healthcare professionals charged with management of the distribution of medicine to consumers and engaging in appropriate efforts to ensure their safe and efficacious use, the association expresses its desire to collaborate with Ambode’s government in ensuring the welfare of Lagosians.”

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