The Oyo State Police Command has confirmed the arrested of a suspected vandal over the allegation of destroying and defacing political billboard of the incumbent governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde at the entrance of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi mini stadium, Oyo town.
Sources gathered that the All Progressives Congress, APC, flagged off its campaign at the stadium, on Monday.
The Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams in a telephone conversation with the Nigerian Tribune Newspaper confirmed that a suspect has been arrested in connection with an alleged vandalization of the billboard
According to him, an arrest has been made in connection with an alleged vandalization of the political billboard in Oyo town.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had drawn the attention of the Police Command to the vandalization of its billboard in Oyo town.
Its Public Relations Officer, Engr Akeem Olatunji alleged that members of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) vandalized the political billboards of its candidates in Oyo town.
The statement read “Information getting to us has expressly shown the act of lawlessness and disrespect to political opponents and tenets of democracy by the main opposition in the state, the APC at their campaign flag off in Oyo town yesterday where they had the PDP’s legally erected billboard which has the Governor of the state and his deputy on it (Governor Seyi Makinde and Chief Bayo Lawal respectively), illegally vandalized and replaced with theirs.
”We have to state clearly that the PDP billboard that was illegally replaced passed through all processes of clearance from Oyo state signage and advertisement agency (OYSAA) before it got erected, the act by APC can be described as not just illegal but also manner of misplaced audacity and contempt to the constitution that empower OYSAA to give authority to advertisers to erect billboards across Oyo state in accordance to the laid down guidelines which members of the PDP never derailed from.
”There have been constant noise and rumour from the APC about destruction of their billboards, banners posters, falsely accusing PDP and the members of the Park Management System (PMS) of being responsible.
”It is quite ironic that the accuser is now caught in broad daylight involving itself in the impunity it had falsely accused us of. We want the members of the public to be aware that the incident at Oyo town had zero involvement of the PMS, we have been fully vindicated of any falsehood.
“For us at the PMS, we will continue to be responsible and law-abiding members of the state, as we continue in our resolution to safeguard every political party’s billboards and continue to report vandals to the law enforcement authorities so that the principle of democracy can be further strengthened in our society.
“We want to call on the Commissioner of Police to properly investigate the matter and apprehend those involved in the unlawful act. We also urge the Police to call the APC to order as actions like this can rapidly escalate leading to further breakdown of law and order as we’re in an election season, so to avoid anarchy.
“We want the law enforcement agency to put a stop to these undemocratic acts by the APC elements in the state. A word is enough for the wise’
