The Nigerian Police on Sunday have arrested vandals identified by their
uniforms as staff of the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency
(LASAA) vandalizing advertising boards belonging to the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP Candidate in Lagos, Jimi Agbaje in the Ikeja area
of the state. The vandals however left the the boards of the APC
candidate in Lagos, Babajide Sanwoolu standing; a clear indication that
this was no official assignment regarding the placement of advertising
boards by political candidates, but a brazen act of sabotage and
intimidation on the opposition.
Recall that on the 1st of
December, the PDP candidate Jimi Agbaje had announced in the media that
his boards were being removed from the 3rd Mainland Bridge after a
private citizen posted a video of the act going on the early hours of
the morning. In response, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police called a
meeting of all stakeholders including LASAA and the major political
parties in Lagos to a meeting to resolve the issue and set up a
monitoring team comprising the State Criminal Investigation and
Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba’s Riders Unit, to monitor daily and
arrest anybody seen vandalising or defacing campaign posters or boards.
It
is regrettable that these crass targeted acts of vandalism and
political intolerance towards the opposition have continued unabated.
This further buttresses the claim that Lagos State is indeed completely
partisan as despite the police’s promise to put in place a team that
would arrest those vandalising PDP billboards in the state, these
attacks still persist. It is enough to make people wonder if free and
fair elections can indeed be conducted in a state where the opposition
cannot be left to campaign without oppression.
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