Billboards erected to sell candidates and parties at great cost have become the latest casualties of the intensified battle for the support of the Nigerian electorate. From Sokoto to Bayelsa, Borno to Lagos, billboards are now active political battlefields, and a whole army of erectors, defacers, replacers and billboard makers are busy making a brisk business out of the belief among politicians that billboards represent either real political assets, or real threats. The billboards war is a worrying reminder that the elections in April will be fought with every means, fair or foul.
A famous cleric in Sokoto was recently arrested and flown to Abuja on allegations that he and his children were caught red-handed defacing a billboard of President Jonathan in Sokoto. Those who thought that he will deny the accusation, or allege political harassment were taken aback when he granted an interview to a national newspaper in which he owned up to the act, and stated that he and a few of his children decided to deface President Jonathan’s billboards in Sokoto because they disliked his politics. Many Nigerians would be shocked that a cleric of that standing would engage publicly in an activity normally limited to thugs, and which could, and did cause him considerable discomfort.
Elsewhere, defacing, removing and replacing, burning or tearing down billboards have become the most widespread mode of showing political resentment against candidates or parties. When, on Monday last week, youths in Zaria decided to protest the absence of electricity in many parts of the metropolis for many months; and lack of potable water for many years, much of their anger was vented on the billboards of the President and Vice President Namadi Sambo. Vice President Namadi Sambo is from Zaria, and by the time the protests were broken up by the Police, very few billboards of PDP candidates in Zaria were left standing.
In many other parts of the country, politicians have merely paid people to bring down billboards of opponents erected at great cost, and have theirs erected instead on the structure. Others simply have their posters pasted over their opponent’s posters on billboards.
In some other States, Governors have decreed that no billboards will be erected, including theirs. These decrees are usually informed by the fear that opponents have much money and support, and will attain a level of visibility which will make incumbents uncomfortable. In other instances, Governors worry that citizens will pull down their own billboards to show how little support they have in certain areas, so they choose to ban the erection of all billboards. In some States, only billboards of Governors and Mr. President and Vice President are visible. All other contestants’ billboards are pulled down within an hour or two of being erected. Many prominent politicians and sundry political thugs are facing investigations or prosecution over defacing or destruction of billboards, the most famous case being in Nasarawa State.
The erection of billboards and pasting of posters represent a legitimate and time-tested means of advertising candidates and parties. They are relatively cheap and safe alternatives to candidates physically making themselves visible to the electorate. They provide employment and income to a whole army of otherwise unemployed or underemployed citizens, and ordinarily, they cause no offence to anyone. The current battles around the erection and destruction of billboards represent a dimension of electoral violence which is quite disturbing. Everywhere billboards or posters are defaced or destroyed, the fundamental freedoms of speech, expression and association are assaulted. The rights of candidates and parties to sell themselves to the electorate are severely curtailed; and the right of citizens to make informed and free choices from among contestants is restricted. Being relatively easy to do, opposing supporters could engage in mutual billboard destruction, leading to higher levels of violence.
There is no concrete evidence that billboards and posters win elections, but they represent a key element in the outreach strategies of candidates. Tearing them down or defacing them will only show that some candidates have serious opposition, such that even their faces or party symbols threaten them. Rich candidates and parties will replace destroyed billboards literally by the hour, but those engaged in destroying them may take days or months to be free of the law when caught. In any case, it is much safer and more effective to cast a vote against a candidate than engage in the dangerous and futile exercise of defacing their billboards or posters.
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