By Amos Aar
A HUGE campaign bill board of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been destroyed in Makurdi, Benue State capital by unknown persons.
The bill board, located in Wadata, a bustling working class cum commercial suburb of the state capital, was destroyed on Thursday night, hours after it was mounted.
The destroyed billboard was spared the portion which bears the image of Hon. Dickson Tarkighir, the APC candidate for Makurdi/Guma federal constituency, who may have paid for and installed the campaign ad.
While Tinubu’s billboard was destroyed on the same day it was mounted, a banner fixed in the same area for the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, and that of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, mounted over two months ago were still there as at the time of filing this report.
Wadata is a community dominated by Hausa people and the destruction of Tinubu, a Yoruba man’s billboard created a suspicion of tribal sentiment and residents were afraid that this might lead to a fracas in the area.
Reacting to the incident in an interview with National Record, a septuagenarian member of the PDP, Elder Moses Olorunniyi, condemned the development in strong terms, saying Benue is a peaceful state.
“What I saw this morning is not ideal, it does not make anybody happy. Nobody sent anybody to go for destruction. Benue State has been recognised as a peaceful state, he said.
On why there was suspicion among residents that the Hausa people in the area where Tinubu’s billboard was destroyed might be responsible for it, Elder Olorunniyi said “it’s because they macheted this thing here, not High-level, not even Wurukum. So, they are now entertaining fears, some people are saying it’s them [Hausa]”.
He added: “Politics is a game of luck and interest. So go and play your own and see how your party will win, don’t cause havoc to anybody. Whoever did such a thing, enough is enough”, he cautioned.
Olorunniyi exonerated Governor Samuel Ortom who is the leader of PDP in Benue State, from the destruction of APC presidential candidate’s billboard, describing him as a peace-loving man.
“The governor of Benue State did not send anybody to go and destroy because he loves peace. That’s why till today, people from my area, Naka Street, call me Ortom’s brother. People even say he knows me, he doesn’t know me but I love his idea, he loves peace and he wants peace to reign”.
As the 2023 general elections draw nearer, Olorunniyi advised that people should conduct themselves peacefully and eschew nefarious activities like destruction of billboards which, according to him, is capable of causing chaos.
