Alleged assault: Folarin’s wife out to score cheap political point – OYSAA DG
The Director-General of Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA), Pastor Yinka Adepoju has described the alleged assault by the wife of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state, Mrs. Angela Folarin as false.
Adepoju, who spoke at a news conference in his office in Ibadan on Monday, said that the claim was only aimed at whipping up unnecessary sentiment and score cheap political point.
Mrs. Folarin had claimed that some people believed to be working for the state government assaulted her to the point of almost taking her life at a billboard site on Ring Road, Ibadan last Saturday.
“I want to make it categorically clear that no such thing happened and it will never happen because this government is one that has made security of lives and property its topmost priority since it assumed office three and a half years ago,’’ he said.
Adepoju said that the Ajimobi administration had shown enough good examples of high sense of responsibility and orderliness these past years, even in the face of provocations.
According to him, a responsible that is law-abiding will not, for any reason, harass or intimidate its citizens for no just cause, adding “I am well aware that Nigerians are not fools who can be fed with tissues of lies without listening to the other side’’.
He said that the allegation was currently being investigated by the police and the state security service and that at the appropriate time, truth would manifest.
The Director General said that before the embargo on political activities was lifted, his agency was able to curtail the unprofessional activities of stakeholders concerning indiscriminate pasting of posters, banners and erection of billboards but as soon as the embargo was lifted, the whole place became uncontrollable and lawless.
In the course of doing their legitimate duties, he said that staff members of the agency were regularly beaten and assaulted by party faithful and hoodlums, adding that several meetings he had with leaders of political parties to ensure that they called their members to order did not yield any fruit.
Saying that this had forced his agency to relax a bit, Adepoju added “that is why you see the environment in the condition it is today ‘’, stressing, however, that as soon as the elections were over, all the posters and illegal billboards would be removed so that the state could be returned back to its former environmentally-friendly environment.
“What we are experiencing now is billboard war amongst political parties which is being perpetrated by thugs and hoodlums for certain benefits. Nobody should therefore associate this unruly and lawless behavior to our responsible agency of the state government,’’ he said.
The OYSAA boss also noted that the removal notice being pasted on some billboards were done by the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria (APCON) and not OYSAA, for those who did get its approval before such billboards were erected.
