2015: Campaign posters deface roads, streets in Niger

One may not be wrong to say that political campaigns for elective positions have commenced in Niger state, considering the volume of campaign posters that have defaced prominent public and private structures that are strategically located in the State. The posters can be seen in all the major roads and streets in major towns in the state, particularly, Minna, the state capital. The posters of politicians aspiring to become governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are prominent. Posters of aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are only visible in some parts of the state. The posters of politicians seeking other political elective positions apart from governorship position are visibly non-existent, except in few places where there are posters of those willing to become members of national and state assemblies. Most of the culprits whose posters have been pasted ahead of the official campaign period as specified by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hail from zone C senatorial district. Analysts say zonal rotation of the governorship position among the three senatorial districts in the state plays a vital role in this scenario as zoning has become so institutionalized that politicians from other political parties, apart from the PDP that created it, have consented to it. The other two zones have served their turns. Engineer Abdulkadir Kure, who hails from zone A, served as a governor of the state from 1999 to 2007, while the incumbent Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, from B Zone, has been serving since 2007, leaving zone C as the only area which is yet to produce a governor in the state. The notable politicians, whose posters are conspicuous, include the Deputy Governor of the state, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, the present Commissioner of Works, Mu’azu Bawa Rijau, Senator Aliyu Nuhu and Mohammed Ibrahim Babangida.They all belong to PDP. From APC is Abu Sani. They have denied responsibility for the pasting of the posters. Deputy Governor’s spokesperson, Bala Bitrus, in an interview with Sunday Trust, said though his principal did not want to speak on political matters, he did not know people that pasted his posters in the state. Bitrus said the time for politicking had not started, promising to talk at appropriate time. Also reacting, Mu’azu Bawa Rijau told our reporter that he did not know those that produced his posters, saying “the sponsors must be his well wishers”. He said he was surprised to see his poster bearing one of his old photographs when he attended one naming ceremony in a village. “I can’t imagine on how they get the picture used for the poster. It is an old photograph. I don’t even have a copy of it now. I don’t have any idea on who printed and pasted these posters. I want believe it is the work of well wishers,” Rijau said. When contacted, Senator Nuhu Aliyu said he is always wondering whenever he saw his poster as an aspirant for the state exalted seat of governor, stressing that he he never told anybody that he wanted to vie for the governorship position. Aliyu said he told those pasting his posters to stop it because he was able to identify them because they inscribed their names on the campaign posters. “I have never asked anybody to produce posters me. I don’t know them. I don’t know the people sponsoring the posters. But when we realize that the posters are produced with the names of the sponsors, it becomes easy for me to stop it. Campaign has not started,” he said. Mohammed Babangida, whose posters had started disappearing in the state capital and other major towns in the state, could not be reached as text message sent to him was not replied as at the time of filing this report. Abu sani, the sole known aspirant from APC, whose posters are seen in some parts of Kontagora and in few places in the state capital, recently decamped from PDP to APC. The man, who is fondly called Abu Lolo, could not be reached as his cell phone line was not going through. Checks by Sunday Trust reveal that some of the posters have suddenly disappeared in strategic areas and major streets in Minna, the state capital as most of the posters are either removed or left half torn. Our reporter confirmed this at Bahago Roundabout which was hitherto defaced by posters.