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By Emmanuel Eyo, Calabar
Some stalwarts of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Calabar South and Municipality have raised the alarm over the destruction of its candidates’ campaign posters and bill boards within the metropolis.
The stalwarts accused Cross River State Signage and Advertising Agency (CRISSAA) of not only denying the party spaces to mount bill boards on the flimsy excuse that PDP and its candidates have not met the criteria, but of discreetly pulling down the opposition candidates’ billboards in strategic locations across the state.
According to them, this is an attempt to heat up the polity and could degenerate into cold war between PDP and APC supporters if not checked.
One of the PDP chieftains and a member of one of the leading candidates’ camapign team, Daniel Asuquo, said reports gathered from the field showed that all the party posters pasted even on residential houses and some billboards on some candidates’ offices have been either been destroyed or defaced by, warning it is a dangerous practice that would do no one any good.
Asuquo stated that twenty-four hours after inaugurating PDP Presidential candidate, Alh. Atiku Abubakar, Cross River Campiagn Council in Calabar, the agency allegedly sent in some miscreants who went in the wee hours of Sunday, November 13, 2022 and destroyed Atiku’s billboard mounted in front of the office at Marian Road.
He said when the security man on duty tried to stop them, they threatened him with gun and some other dangerous weapons, warning him stay clear as the order was from the above.
He further accused CIRSSAA of being behind the dismantling of PDP campaign billboards at Diamond Hill, Ediba and Ikot Ishie axis of Calabar Municipality, Odukpani junction and Okwurikang in Odukpani local government.
Also accusing the agency of favouritism, another PDP stalwart, Dominic Inyang, said CRISSAA had banned the pasting of posters of any form indiscriminately on private and public buildings, but allowed APC to past their campaign posters at the back of U.J. Esuene Stadium and some bus-stops around the same stadium.
Inyand said allowing APC to do that is a confirmation that CRISSAA is tacitly working for APC and rather demarketing PDP by denying them spaces.
He said even when some PDP candidates have met all the conditions including payments of agreed fees to CRISSAA’s account, the agency is still hell bent on frsutrating PDP, adding that they would have no other option than to start mounting their own bill boards as the state belongs to all Cross Riverian.
He wondered why Governor Ben Ayade that preaches politics of ethics should turn around to use CRISSAA to witchuant political opponents, adding that no amount of intimidation would stop PDP from wining the 2023 polls in the state.
“We know that bill boards do not win election. But it is our right to campaign within the armbit of the law which we have complied with. I learnt that the agency is acting on Governor’s script of trying to muscle political opponents.
“The DG of CRISSAA has shown open partiality by allowing APC to paste their campaign posters at stadium against his own rules of engagements. We do hope that when PDP pastes theirs, he won’t say we have gone against the law?”
Earlier in his reaction a few days ago when the matter first came up, the Director General of CRISSAA, Mr. Effiom Effiwat, said:”We have not given approval to PDP candidates to mount billboards. There are proceedures to follow and if you don’t we would pull it down.”
