19th June, 2024
The Edo State Chapter of the Association of Professional Outdoor Signage Practitioners of Nigeria, APOSPON, on Wednesday, lamented the spate of destruction of campaign billboards across the state.
Speaking with newsmen in Benin, the State Chairman of APOSPON, Mr Esokpunwu Ekuase, said that the development had negatively affected their business.
Ekuase said that the destruction of the billboards cut across all political parties.
He added that the association would formally write a petition to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 5, Benin and the state police command to notify them of the development.
He noted that the practitioners always bear the cost of replacing any billboards already paid for by political parties when vandalized.
“We are using this medium to call on all those going about vandalizing and destroying campaigns/advert messages deployed on our billboards to desist from this act forthwith.
“These structures are our investments and capital intensive. Same can be said of our clients who spend so much money producing advert materials deployed on our structures.
“We cannot fold our hands and watch our investments being destroyed. We are, therefore, activating every device to protect our investments and source of livelihood from going down the drain.
“We have been engaged to handle political campaigns over the years, and this year’s should not be different, we are law-abiding citizens doing our business legitimately,” he said.
According to him, any person caught perpetrating or linked to the act of vandalism would be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the state.
It would be recalled that the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Barr. Olumide Akpata had a few weeks ago raised an alarm over the destruction of his campaign billboards.