The former secretary to Ebonyi state government and the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance ((APGA), Professor Benard Odoh, Tuesday, raised the alarm that the All Progressive Congress (APC) government in Ebonyi state has continued the destruction of his party’s billboards.
In a statement signed by his special assistant on Media and Publicity, Charles Out, Odoh alleged that the state security personnel were shooting sporadically in other to perfect the destruction of the party’s billboard in the Ohaozara local government area of the state.
Odoh in the statement was quoted to have queried why security agencies in Ebonyi have refused to arrest the people destroying the party’s Billboard.
The statement reads: “Barely two weeks after the destruction of billboards belonging to APGA’s governorship and deputy governorship candidates for the 2023 elections, Professor Odoh and Dr. Nkata Nwani Chukwu in the Abakaliki urban metropolis, Ebonyi state government’s armed militia who are disguising as members of the Ebubeagu security outfit, at about 7:30 P.M Monday, launched fresh attacks on APGA billboards in Okposi and Ugwulangwu communities in Ohaozara local government area of Ebonyi state.
“Our party loyalist who sufficiently briefed the APGA candidate’s team as an eyewitness, Collins Agwu narrated that a team of young men numbering seven had stormed the Okposi Court Area where he and his fellow APGA supporters had wanted to mount a billboard of the APGA governorship candidate and his deputy who incidentally hails from the community at the popular Court Area.
The seven of them all dressed in Ebubeagu attire insisted that they cannot be allowed to mount billboards in the Court Area because according to them, the area is owned by the government.
“As peace-loving citizens, the APGA leader and his boys had moved to another point within the Okposi roundabout to mount the billboard and were again confronted by the armed Ebubeagu members instituted by the state government. Their leader, one Dickson Okire (a.k.a. Daggazy) and another identified as Sambo had again reportedly approached them and demanded if they had paid the relevant signage fees to the local government council authorities to which he had promptly replied that they were not aware that political parties now pay for their own billboard spaces at the local government.
“Agwu had however promised to go to the council to enquire and possibly do the needful as a law-abiding citizen when suddenly the boys, all armed with pump action riffles started shooting sporadically, insisting that everything and everybody must go down. Their ring leader, the said Dickson who started the shooting into the air said they were given orders from above to come and burn down the billboards,” the statement reads.
