Yet-to-be-identified persons alleged to be loyal to the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu rend the campaign billboards of the governor of Benue State, Dr Samuel Ortom that were placed in strategic places in Gboko local government area.
Gboko is the political hotbed of Tiv nation where Ayu comes from.
It was learnt that some of the billboards destroyed had no pictures of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr. Abubakar Atiku, but were adorned with pictures of the governor, as senatorial candidate and Mr. Titus Uba, the PDP governorship candidate
Recall that Ortom and other members of the G-5/Integrity Group including Messrs Nyesom Wike (Rivers State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) are calling for the resignation of Ayu to ensure regional balancing since he and the presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr. Atiku Abubakar are from the northern zone.
Efforts to reconcile the group with the mainstream PDP have not yielded any positive result.
Consequently, the group has opted out of the party’s presidential campaign council and has not been campaigning for Atiku. The G-5 members have kept the candidate they would support at the poll close to their chest.
Condemning the destruction of his campaign posters, Ortom said the act is capable of triggering avoidable crises in the area and sued for caution on the part of party supporters.
In a statement issued in Makurdi at the weekend by his media aide, Mr. Terver Akase, the governor said no individual or group has the right to pull down campaign materials of political opponents, no matter the circumstances.
“Democracy guarantees the freedom of participation to everyone and no individual has the constitutional authority to intimidate or harass others.
“The introduction of electronic voting has strengthened the country’s electoral system and anyone who is confident about his chances at the polls should canvass for votes among the people rather than attacking other contestants,” he said.
The governor urged security operatives to investigate the incidents in Gboko and bring those responsible to justice, to serve as a deterrent to others.
Reacting to the development, the state police commissioner, Wale Abass, directed all the area commanders and divisional police officers “to ensure that such an act does not happen within their areas of responsibility.”
In a statement issued by the command spokesperson, Ms Catherine Anene, the commissioner reminded all the political party executives of the December 12, 2022 peace deal they signed and “stated therein that peace would be maintained throughout the electoral period.”
“The CP calls on party executives to warn their subjects to desist from such acts. Meanwhile, party executives will also be held responsible if they fail to provide their subjects who are perpetuating this barbaric act,” Anene stated.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state has absolved itself of what happened describing the destruction of the billboards as ‘PDP family affair’.
The party’s governorship candidate, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia stated this in a release by his spokesman, Mr. Tersoo.
Alia advised the PDP to look inward and investigate the matter, adding that information at the disposal of the APC indicated that the destruction was carried out by PDP members who felt aggrieved that Atiku’s pictures were not on those billboards.
“Go to Yandev Roundabout, you will see that the billboards there which carried pictures of their presidential candidate; Atiku Abubakar is standing in that picture.
“You ask them (PDP) if anything happened to their billboards in other areas they had been campaigning such as; Vandeikya, Logo, Katsina-Ala and others.
“But Gboko is the home of Senator Iyorchia Ayu and I read a post of one of the PDP members who is from there who said that in Gboko, any billboard without Atiku will be pulled down. So, count us (APC) out of their internal crisis,” Alia said.
