Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, has given presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, two weeks to clear debts of posters and billboards or have them defaced.
Anambra State Signage and Advertising Agency, ANSAA, threatened other candidates and parties to pay up too or face similar action.
A statement by ANSAA MD/CEO Tony Odili Ujubuonu on Sunday, November 20, 2022, warned it would deface billboards and posters of political parties and candidates owing the agency.
The agency said the enforcement of the order would begin on December 5, 2022.
The statement reads: “Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency through a letter dated 14th November, 2022, urged all Out-Of-Home advertising practitioners in the state to revalidate and register all their billboards.
“According to a letter addressed to both OAAN and registered Non OAAN practitioners, the agency has taken major steps towards sanitizing outdoor advertising practice in the state through ban on individuals, clients and government agencies ownership of billboards in the state.
“Having done this, the agency expected maximum cooperation from the practitioners in terms of registering their billboards and payment of campaigns but are yet to get such.
“As a result of the above, the agency has directed all billboard owners to provide the information required to register each billboard and also pay up for any campaign on them.
‘Through this release, the entire political party candidates for the upcoming general elections are urged to make sure those handling their campaigns have made payments to the government to avoid ANSAA defacing their campaign materials.
“The agency has also given a two-week grace to make such payments or face a legal enforcement.
“It has also gotten to the knowledge of the Agency that some political party candidates are erecting billboards on their own ignorantly. The Agency wants to state that this is not only wrong but illegal and any such billboard would be brought down without any notice, the structure seized permanently and auctioned.
“This lasts between 14th November to 5th of December.
‘It’s the wish of the Agency that by the 5th of December 2022, all billboards in the State must have been duly registered and paid for, as legal enforcement starts immediately.
“Remember ANSAA is your progress partner in business and we want you to succeed.”
Class Act: ‘As A Professor, Let Soludo Do Better Than Me As Governor’ – Peter Obi
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, said he did his little as governor of Anambra State and urged the incumbent governor, Chukwuma Soludo to do his best in the state as an economics professor.
Obi stated this at the 2022 Lagos Business School (LBS) Alumni Conference in Lagos.
The Anambra governor between 2006 and 2014 was reacting to Soludo’s comments that the investment he (Obi) left in government is worth close to nothing.
Also, Soludo on Monday had tackled Obi, saying he can’t win the 2023 presidential election.
Soludo Remains My Brother
Reacting on Tuesday in Lagos, Obi described Soludo as his brother.
“He (Soludo) remains my brother, we are very close. I remain prayerful for him. For other things which I didn’t succeed, God has given him opportunity to do it and succeed.
“So, if there is anything pending, governance doesn’t finish, people are still in government in America, so you stop where you will stop, other people will continue from there,” Obi said.
“He is the governor of the state; he is my senior brother, he is even more intelligent than me because he is a professor, I am a trader, so he knows more and will be able to do things better than I am doing it.
“I have done my little own as a trader, now the professor is there he will do his own as a professor, the schools I didn’t roof he will roof them, that’s how government goes.”
The former governor said he left the office with savings of 75 Billion Naira, adding that his administration saved 50 million dollars each in Access, Diamond, and Fidelity banks with an interest rate of 6.5%.
He further clarifies, “The one they said is worthless, we invested 3.5 billion naira in International Breweries…that facility is there employing directly and indirectly over 10,000 Anambarians. The shares was at a time being sold at N50, today the shares is about N5 or so.
“When you spread your investment some will go up some will come down but overall the company is still there, the company is still doing well, it is still part of the global chain and everything. I needed to explain it not because I am defending comments by my brother,” the LP candidate said.
He said he left the office without owing any contractor, supplier who had executed their job, citing the examples of Innoson Motors and Zinos Computers.
Source: The Nation
