The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Candidate for Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has raised alarm over intimidation of his teeming supporters and the wanton destruction of his campaign materials by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a Press Statement circulated in Lagos yesterday by the Director of Media and Publicity of Mr. Jimi Agbaje, FELIX OBOAGWINA, the campaign team said its members were being hunted down and dragged out of their homes by APC-sponsored killer squads, after which they were being molested and injured.
It, also, reported that teams loyal to the APC in Lagos were being sponsored to tear down the posters and banners of opponents like Agbaje, President Goodluck Jonathan, and other PDP candidates for Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly.
According to the statement, it was a pity that despite all the efforts being made by the electoral umpire and the security agencies, some characters were hell bent on jeopardising the peace.
“Our security reports have it that supporters of, and stakeholders in, Jimi Agbaje are being witch-hunted, hurled out of their homes and attacked with guns, daggers, bottles and clubs,” he said. “Except for good sense and restraint prevailing on the part of the PDP camp, there would have been reprisal attacks and a total breakdown of law and order.”
The Agbaje team asked the police to wade into the problem, apprehend the culprits, bring them to justice and make them face the music.
According to the group, it was disheartening that the Lagos State Advertising Agency (LASAA) would send its agents to destroy the posters, billboards and banners of non-APC candidates, while retaining those belonging to politicians vying on the platform of the party in power in Lagos State.
“LASAA is a government-funded institution, and would normally be expected to apply its laws and regulations in an objective manner, without fear or favour,” the statement said. “But what we see today is a divide-and-rule application of extant rules that regulate advertising, and this is specifically loaded against PDP candidates.”
Oboagwina accused the APC of sponsoring hoodlums to parade the streets, day and night, mutilating and tearing posters of PDP candidates.
According to him, advertising agencies, especially outdoor advertising practitioners, had been manipulated to reject demands for billboard space by PDP.
“Such wanton recourse to blackmail by agents of the ruling party in Lagos is undemocratic, reactionary and uncivilised,” the statement said. “It fails to create a level playing field even where public agencies are concerned and it deserves to be condemned.”
He also said the attack launched by APC hoodlums could lead to reprisals and provoke widespread violence.
