TIMOTHY AGBOR
TENSION is currently brewing in Anambra State, following the destruction of billboards of the Governorship Candidate of the Young Progressives Party, Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, ahead of the governorship election slated for November 6 in the state.
Ubah alleged that officials of the Anambra Signage agency (ANSAA), alongside some thugs, acting on the order of Governor Willie Obiano, destroyed about 12 billboards erected in some parts of the state.
According to a statement issued by Ubah’s Head of Media and Strategic Communications, Kamen Chuks Ogbonna, the governor has introduced bitter politics into the state by ordering the demolition of the billboards that were duly paid for.
The statement noted that Obiano and his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, were already jittery over Ubah’s achievements as the Governorship election draws close.
Ubah argued that the fact that 12 billboards, which had been fully paid for, and erected in several locations across the state, had been pulled down on the orders of the state Government, was an indication that the governor had become jittery, having failed in his duty and social contract to the Anambra people.
The billboards that were destroyed, according to the statement, included “Three Faces at old Nkpor Junction; 1 Face at Savoil, Zik’s Round About, Onitsha; 2 Faces at Aroma, opposite Library; 2 Faces at Police headquarters Awka; 2 Faces at Immigration Junction, Awka; and 2 Faces at Uga junction, Pedestrian cross.”
“This is a very worrisome development, coming on the heels of security challenges being faced by the state, whereby unknown bandits are killing security personnels at checkpoints and carting away their arms, which are clear signs of an emperor,” the statement said.
It added, “It is instructive to note that before embarking on the mounting of those billboards, we approached the Managing Director of Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency (ANSAA), Chief Jude Emecheta, who personally gave us the breakdown of the bills to be paid and all these monies were fully paid and receipts issued.
“The question then becomes, why is Governor Obiano afraid of the Distinguished Senator, Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, to the extent that he always singles him out for unprovoked attacks?
“One may recall that a similar incident transpired when the Senator moved to carry out road interventions in his senatorial district, in order to ease the free flow of movements during the yuletide period. It took the intervention of the necessary federal government agencies as well as good spirited youths who came out and stood guard, as the contractors worked, for the state government actors to beat a hasty retreat.”
Ubah accused the state government of introducing bitter politics into Anambra State, urging all well meaning Stakeholders of the state to rise up and take a stand against such.
He stated, “Let it also be sounded as a note of warning that we may not be able to stop our teeming supporters from tearing down any signposts erected in place of the ones that we paid for, which are now being pulled down. The State Government should be held fully responsible for any breakdown of law and order that this irresponsible act triggers in the State.
“I challenge Mr. Jude Emecheta to explain to Ndi Anambra the rationale behind his dubious act of collecting levies accruing to almost ten million Naira, meant as taxes for the erection of those billboards and in a sudden volte face, ordered their dismantling, allegedly based on threats from the State Governor.”
The Governorship candidate has, however, asked Obiano to reverse the order so as to avert a possible breakdown of law and order. He also called on his teeming supporters to desist from taking laws into their hands.
Meanwhile, Emecheta did not pick calls put across to his phone by THE POINT’s correspondent. Also, he did not reply to a text message sent to him.
Ubah’s supporters have berated the Governor for the order allegedly given to take down duly paid for billboards, saying it was an invitation to trouble.
According to them, the same Governor had given an address on the state of insecurity in the state.
Reacting to the series of crises bedeviling the state, Governor Obiano had disclosed that the state had received massive Police, Army, Navy and DSS deployment since Wednesday and that they had joined their teams on ground to enforce security and douse the tension that had enveloped the state.
In an address to the people of the state, Obiano said, “Within the past week or so, we have witnessed what obviously is a planned and targeted attack on Security personnel and facilities in the State by armed hoodlums.
“So far, Police Officers and Navy personnel on official duties at strategic checkpoints in various locations in the State were sporadically attacked, killed and their firearms taken away. Also, prison and police personnel conveying an inmate to court were equally attacked and killed.”
