Edo State commissioner for Information and deputy director, media and publicity, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) State Campaign Management Council (SCMC), Chris Nehikhare, has denied banning the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) from erecting billboards for the 2023 general elections.
Nehikhare while reacting to the allegation making the round that the state government banned other political parties in the state from erecting campaign billboards across the state, said that the PDP paid for its billboards long ago ahead of the campaigns and not the state government.
The party spokesperson said the state government did not sponsor or pay for billboards used for political rally.
He said the campaign billboards were sponsored and solely paid for a long time ago by the party’s campaign council in the state.
He explained that the state government was not the owner of billboards adding that, government only made policies to regulate and control billboards’ locations in the state.
“In the last 24 hours we received several calls from those working in the national dailies talking about the billboard issues especially in Benin City.
“It is not coincident that elections are around the corner. As far back as about year ago, we made payment for quite a number of billboards across in Benin metropolis.
“We did not take possession because we were waiting for the campaigns to kick off and if anybody has gone to pay for the same billboards, it is logical that they go and collect their money back.”
