The Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) said yesterday it won’t stop discharging its statutory responsibility of removing campaign posters from unauthorised places.
Its Managing Director, Mr. George Noah, said the agency’s stand known while reacting to Lagos State Commissioner of Police Kayode Aderanti threat’s to arrest LASAA workers, who remove campaign billboards or posters, even if illegally deployed.
According to Noah, the removal of posters that deface the environment is a statutory obligation of LASAA. He said it would be unlawful for the police to arrest LASAA officials for carrying out their duty.
The agency, Noah said, had published guidelines for deploying electoral materials in four newspapers, adding that the guidelines were spelt out to parties at a town hall meeting.
He accused the police of an attempt to intimidate LASAA workers, saying election materials not deployed under the agency’s guidelines would be removed regardless of any threat.
The LASAA chief said on Monday he met with the police chief for about 15 minutes adding that despite their peaceful talk, he still went ahead to threaten to arrest the agency’s officials.
Noah said politicians must be creative on how to create awareness, adding that it will be surprising that in the course of doing their job the police will arrest LASAA officials.
He said over 100,000 political posters were illegally deployed in the state daily, adding that the removal of these materials has been based on fairness and equality among all stakeholders.
“Our guidelines have been issued without prejudice to any individual, political party, association or aspirant and our intention is to ensure fairness and equality amongst all concerned stakeholders while judiciously preserving the integrity of our environment and applying the rules without sentiment or bias,” he said.
Noah, who said LASAA approved 727 billboards out of which 26 are for creating awareness for government programmes, urged parties and their candidates to approach the outdoor owners for space for their campaigns.
He insisted that there is zero tolerance for pasting of posters in the state, adding that agencies from Kenya and Cameroon have approached LASAA to help with similar project in their countries.
Also yesterday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) described as unbecoming and condemnable, the police chief’s threat.
The party’s spokesman in Lagos, Joe Igbokwe, told reporters in his office yesterday that the commissioner’s statement was in bad faith.
He said Aderanti had a meeting with the LASAA chief before his press briefing, adding: “There is an existing law regulating placement of adverts. You need not pick up an advert or posters and start placing on the road, especially the highways. I do not want to say that the Commissioner of Police is becoming partisan, but he should realise that this is Lagos. He should tell other parties to seek permit before placing adverts or posters as we will not tolerate a situation where people will take laws into their hands because the police have spoken.
“If we take seriously what the commissioner of Police is saying, we may have chaos because most of the billboards on the major roads are owned by private individuals and organisations. If you paste anything on them without their permission, they may react and take laws in their hands.
“Lagos is not a state of lawlessness. It has agencies that regulate everything and people must seek permission from them. I am angry because everything the Commissioner of Police needed to know had been given to him by the MD of LASAA. We are surprised that few hours after he left the meeting with LASAA, he went ahead to address a press conference. If the Commissioner of Police is arguing that the Electoral Act permits everyone to paste posters and billboards, does the Act say regulatory agencies should not do their jobs? The agencies must do their jobs because most of these billboards are bought by advertising agencies that pay for them annually.
“What the Commissioner of Police failed to tell them is that posters can be placed on the streets but not on major roads because they deface the aesthetic nature of our roads. Even APC does not place adverts on major roads. The CP did not handle the issue well. He would have called a stakeholders’ meeting. Threats and intimidations will not work because there are existing laws in Lagos guiding activities. I have even seen LASAA remove APC posters on major roads. People go in the night to paste these posters, but the agency ensures they are taken off.”
