2027: Residents, candidates tackle Ebonyi govt over N150m campaign billboard levy

Residents and candidates of various political parties have rejected a bill by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly seeking the payment of a N150 million fee for the erection of campaign billboards in the state, describing the move as both repressive and oppressive.

Ebonyi residents claimed that Governor Francis Nwifuru's administration was deploying different subtle and obnoxious measures to silence the opposition ahead of the Saturday, January 16, and Saturday, February 6, 2027 elections in order to have a smooth ride to victory.

Speaking to journalists during separate interview sessions in Abakaliki on Wednesday, they maintained that the trend, if allowed to continue unchecked, was capable of causing a breach of law and order in the state.

According to the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the 2027 polls, Dr Kingsley Agbor, the bill was both unfortunate and devastating.

He added that the ugly scenario could throw the state into a dark era.

He said, "It is most unfortunate and devastating how our patriotic citizens liberated us from military rule, only to see the government of the day in Ebonyi State taking us back to that dark era.

"People paid the supreme price for this democracy some of us are toiling with today. I have always wished that these dictators in civilian clothes joined the military so as to seize power by the barrel of the gun and rule as it pleases them.

"The Nwifuru government once again wants to stifle the political space for opposition political parties to operate. This is seen in this outrageous cost of elections and campaign billboards.

"To him and his supporters, it is and must be a one-party state, even when the Constitution of Nigeria stipulates otherwise. Most times, stiff decisions like this come when the government is not very popular in the state.

"So, in a nutshell, the government wants to once again completely annihilate the opposition parties, but in every democracy, opposition can never be silenced.

"Need I remind them that the then Governor Elechi of the PDP once denied Muhammadu Buhari and the APC the use of the Abakaliki Sports Stadium for political rallies in 2014?

"Though Buhari and co moved down to the People's Club Arena, it still didn't stop Buhari's victory in the general elections in 2015 and the decimation of the PDP."

Also, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the state, Chief Splendour Oko-Eze, condemned the development and warned that the situation could degenerate into anti-democratic tendencies with negative consequences for the state.

In an open letter on Wednesday, Oko-Eze said, "I wrote this open letter to register my displeasure with the manner in which the Ebonyi State Government is maltreating the opposition in the state.

"This law passed by the State House of Assembly prohibiting billboards and posters from candidates contesting elections is a deliberate attempt to stifle opposition parties in Ebonyi State.

"Where do you expect opposition parties' candidates to get N150 million from just to be allowed to erect billboards and posters? This is autocratic leadership going on in our dear state.

"Opposition is not a crime anywhere in the world. It is the beauty of democracy. It acts like a watchdog over the government in power so as to make sure that the dividends of democracy get to the people.

"Here in Ebonyi State, opposition parties and candidates are treated like criminals. This is not acceptable, and it has to stop going forward.

"If the government does not want to be criticised or have candidates from opposition parties contest against candidates from the ruling party, then the government must show its scorecard and performance.

"It is only the achievements of the government that will make the electorate re-elect anyone in power for a second tenure, not attacks on opposition parties and their candidates.

"How much did the Governor, Chief Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru, and his wife pay for all their billboards scattered all over the state?

"Or does it mean the law is just made for opposition parties and their candidates? The House of Assembly members must take cognisance of the fact that they were elected or selected to make laws that will benefit the people and not ones that will intimidate and extort money from them," he added.

On his part, a social media critic and public affairs analyst, Chika Nwoba, said the current Ebonyi State Government, under Francis Nwifuru's watch, was inadvertently inviting a crisis through some of its anti-democratic policies in the state.

A post he made on his Facebook page on Wednesday read, "Political war in Ebonyi is close, and it's sponsored by the Ebonyi State Government.

"I see it that no poster or billboard will stand anywhere in the state, not even the ones of the APC, because this anti-democratic policy is only for the opposition.

"Nobody will pay a dime for campaign posters or billboards to them. If they tear down posters and billboards of the opposition, their own will also go down.

"This state of emergency the Ebonyi Governor hungers for will definitely come upon him. He has laid the foundation. No party will mount billboards either."

Efforts to get the Public Relations Officer of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Sylvester Egede, to comment on the development proved abortive.

Calls made to his phone were not answered. Messages sent to his mobile phone by our correspondent had yet to receive a response as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday.

Recall that the Deputy Chief Whip of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Hon. Arinze Lucas Chukwu, at the Assembly's plenary on Wednesday, moved a motion banning what he described as the indiscriminate pasting of political posters and erection of billboards in the capital territory.

2027: Residents, candidates tackle Ebonyi govt over N150m campaign billboard levy