A political group, promoting the governorship aspiration of a former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed A. Adamu, ahead of the 2027 election in Nasarawa State, has condemned the alleged removal of the reelection billboards of President Bola Tinubu.
The group identified as Counter and Mobilisation Committee for rtd IGP Mohammed A. Adamu, warned that such action is inimical to the political interest of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the fragile peace the state has been enjoying.
But the managing director of the State Urban Development Agency, Engineer Ahmed Wada Yahaya, dismissed the group’s claims, saying the initiative to regulate the placement of billboards and posters was not targeted at a political party or an aspirant.
He said it was a holistic exercise and that a series of announcements had been made to remove illegally set up billboards.
However, addressing journalists in Lafia yesterday, chairman of the group, Hon Isah Nathaniel, accused the State Urban Development Agency of embarking on a hatchet job of not just against the person of Adamu but President Tinubu.
“We are acutely aware that these maneuvers are designed to destabilise the hard-earned peace our state has enjoyed. It appears that certain elements within the corridors of power now prefer the drums of war to the harmony of progress.
“This aggression is thinly veiled as an administrative exercise, targeting the removal of 2027 Re-Election billboards for Mr. President and Rtd. IGP Adamu, billboards erected to signal our early and unwavering commitment to the presidency,” he observed.
He said the action coming a few days after a mega rally in support of Mr, President is a sad contrast to what loyalty entails.
“The irony is stark. Only days ago, the Nasarawa State Government organised a “mega solidarity rally” in Lafia, ostensibly to mobilise support for Mr. President’s re-election. Yet, in a display of doublespeak, the same administration has directed state agencies to tear down the very symbols of that support. This contradiction exposes a ‘disconnect between public posturing and private agendas,” he noted.
He advocated for a return to the “politics of concrete issues”, policies that touch the lives of our citizens, rather than the politics of sentiment and vendetta.
However, in his response, the managing director of the State Urban Development Agency, Engineer Ahmed Wada Yahaya said the initiative to regulate the placement of billboards and posters was not targeted at a political party or an aspirant but a holistic exercise.
He said the agency has issued a series of directives to political parties urging them to remove billboards illegally erected without due approval from the regulatory body. He said radio and television jingles to that effect were sponsored but the affected aspirants and political parties failed to act or respond.
According to him, his men were assaulted and attacked along with officials of the NSCDC, when the Agency commenced removal of the billboards along Shendam road.
