APC, PDP bicker over campaign posters in Gombe
The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State have locked horns over the removal of campaign posters and billboards in the metropolis.
The APC is accusing PDP of removing the billboards and posters of President Muhammadu Buhari and other members of the party in the state, saying no law prohibits the party from displaying its posters.
But the ruling PDP said the posters violated the ban placed on placing of campaign posters and the need to also keep the state capital clean.
Addressing newsmen at the weekend in Gombe, the state secretary of the APC, Bello Kasimu Maigari, said Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo directed the state’s owned Traffic and Environmental Marshalls to remove all posters and billboards of his party members.
“If the state government fails to return all our billboards and posters including that of President Buhari within 10 days, we shall be compelled to stand up and protect our rights as citizens,” the APC warned.
Bello Maigari also accused the governor of allegedly co-sponsoring the “resume or resign” protest against Buhari while he was away on medical leave.
However, the ruling PDP government, through the state Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Umar Ahmed Sulaiman, debunked the claim, saying the APC was only crying foul over the timely ban on the erection of political billboards and posters on public places and privately owned buildings.
Sulaiman said colossal amount of money was paid to government and private owned sanitation agencies to ensure that the state capital and other places were kept clean, stating that the places were rather being abused daily.
The commissioner denied removing posters of President Buhari, saying it was untrue and an attempt to desperately cause a political rift between Governor Dankwambo and the president.
“The ban does not single out any political party, even billboards and posters belonging to the PDP candidates are not spared,” the commissioner added.
Sulaiman said the governor has never sponsored a campaign against the president while he was away. “Rather the administration had maintained weekly prayer sessions in mosques and churches for his quick recovery,” he added.