The Director General of Barr Eyo Ekpo campaign council, Mr Ambo Ekpenyong
has in a statement released this morning, taken a swipe at the candidates of the APC and PDP for the gubernatorial elections along side the director general of CRISSA for trying to instigate violence ahead of the election in the state by illegally removing the billboards of opposition candidates in the state.
Read full statement below
'KEEP THE PLAYING FIELD LEVEL...AND SAFE FOR ALL'
"Our attention is drawn to the ongoing dispute between the Senator Owan Enoh faction of the All Peoples Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over billboards. This arose from the allegation by Senator Enoh that the State Government, through the State Signage Agency led by Mr. Stanley Nsemo, has been hindering his (Enoh’s) campaign by taking down his billboards".
"Senator Enoh clearly threatened a tit-for-tat action if the removal of his billboards continued. We understand that sure enough Owan Enoh billboards continued to be taken down and this was followed by reports that Ayade and other PDP billboards too are being destroyed, obviously in retaliatory attacks by Owan Enoh supporters".
"We are convinced that these acts of retaliation are directly instigated by Senator Enoh’s recent inflammatory press statements. We equally have no doubt, however, that the frustration expressed by the Senator and his supporters arises from the irresponsible and unlawful actions of Mr. Stanley Nsemo’s Cross River State Signage and Advertising Agency (CRISAA)".
" It bears repeating that CRISAA is a regulatory agency. Regulatory agencies do not act in a secretive, arbitrary manner. The ambit of their powers are clearly stated by law and the rules they make are established and exercised transparently, by consultation and notice to the public. CRISAA does not meet the lowest standards of regulatory transparency and has reduced itself to playing billboard defence for the Ayade campaign. Nevertheless, the wrongoing of the PDP government in Cross River State cannot be balanced by violence instigated by one faction of the APC in the State".
" We all know that the only political billboards we have seen in Cross River State since 29th May 2015 have been those of the incumbent, Professor Ayade. However, the more he puts up glossy, self-aggrandizing billboards all over Cross River State, the more apparent his failures are and the more intensely unpopular and disliked he and his government become. Similarly, no amount of billboards put up by the Senator Owan Enoh faction of the APC will resolve the serious legal problems or assure him that he will be the candidate of the APC on 2nd March 2019. For both APC and PDP, all the billboards in the world cannot hide the fact that beyond mere slogans and big words, neither of their candidates has shown to Cross Riverians a credible development plan to put Cross River State back on the path of real socio-economic growth and development".
"The SDP paid for 27 billboard sites months ago but as soon as our first billboards went up in November, Mr. Nsemo was up in arms throwing out spurious and previously unknown rules and demanding arbitrary fees from us".
"He ordered our billboards to be taken down and they have since remained down but this has not deterred the continuing growth of the SDP brand in the State. We will test CRISAA’s powers in the appropriate quarters. Meanwhile, billboards of Mr. Nsemo’s patron, Governor Senator Professor Ben Ayade, are all over the State making claims that everyone, including Mr. Nsemo’s patron, knows are totally untrue. Cross Riverians will no longer be fooled. The slogan is simple: “our mumu don do!” Billboards are not projects. Mr. Ayade cannot use them to replace the roads, bridges, health centers and water pipes he has woefully failed to build these past four years. Neither will billboards take the place of a thoughtful plan for rebuilding Cross River State that Senator Enoh is yet to disclose to Cross Riverians or make up for executive experience he does not have".
"Therefore, sending young men out on the streets to destroy billboards that mean nothing and deceive no one, instead of following the due process of law, is wicked, thoughtless and irresponsible.
No doubt, none of Senator Owan’s close relatives or those of his Deputy or campaign team leaders went out on the rampage of destruction for which they must take responsibility. Senator Owan Enoh and his colleagues know far better than to resort to thuggery. We can only surmise that in resorting to extra legal means and unleashing the demons of mayhem and destruction on Cross River State to protect mere billboards, both Professor Ayade and Senator Owan Enoh reveal their lack of confidence in their popularity".
"Recently, aware of the increasing desperation on the part of both the APC and the PDP to win the elections in the State at any and all costs, the SDP proposed that all political parties contesting various elective offices in Cross River State should commit in writing to a declaration of non-violence in the conduct of the 2019 elections".
"There has been no response from either the APC or the PDP and so we reiterate this call now. We note that the billboards of other PDP contestants are being mutilated and destroyed. Clearly, the APC wants to create an atmosphere of violence in the State and thus establish grounds for the declaration of a state of emergency so that Federal/APC-controlled authorities take control of the State during the elections. Such a cheap and juvenile plan will never come to pass in Cross River State".
"We call on Senator Owan Enoh, if he is truly aggrieved, to join the SDP in seeking redress in the courts. We also call on CRISAA to remember that it is a creature of law and the law is neither arbitrary nor opaque. If a citizen is in breach of a regulatory requirement, the only standard response of any properly-established regulatory body is to give notice of breach and intention to take the remedial actions determined by the regulator’s enabling law. We make bold to say that nothing in any law of Cross River State or Nigeria permits CRISAA to take down billboards of the SDP or the APC without notice; just as nothing in any law of Cross River State permits the Senator Owan Enoh faction of the APC in the State to resort to violence and destruction to protect mere billboards, in the belief that Federal might will protect them, as indeed nothing has been done to apprehend the thugs going round destroying billboards".
" It is important that voters in Cross River State are not intimidated by violent APC and PDP actors desperate to take or retain power for their principals who clearly have no love or progressive plans for their fellow citizens or for Cross River State. Let the lawlessness, irresponsibility and violent tendencies of the APC and PDP in Cross River State stop immediately".
" These demonic forces, once unleashed, are difficult to control. By those who unleash them. Billboards are not worth the price that both the APC and PDP seem determined to make peace-loving Cross Riverians pay. CRISAA and CRSG are duty-bound to keep the playing field level and Senator Owan Enoh and his faction of the APC have are equally duty-bound to adhere to keep the peace and follow the due process of law to redress their grievance".
AMBO EKPENYONG
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
EYO EKPO CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION
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