Residents of Ibadan, capital of Oyo State have continued to show their resentment against the quest by former military dictator, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, to contest the 2011 presidential election by defacing his campaign billboards and destroying his posters in the city.
His billboards erected at the three highways that lead into Ibadan have been defaced. There is one along Ibadan-Lagos expressway, another one very close to the tollgate along Ibadan-Ife expressway and the third one very close to IITA along Ibadan-Oyo expressway. The face of IBB on the billboards was marked with letter X in red ink. Also, IBB posters pasted at strategic places in the city have been mutilated while some were completely torn or removed.
Some residents who spoke to P.M.NEWS said if they had the opportunity, they would removed all his billboards.
They said they decided to deface the billboards because that was the only thing they could do now, adding that with time, they would either destroy or remove the billboards completely.
One young man who identified himself as Mukaila condemned those that are campaigning for IBB in the South West, stressing that it is only bastard sons of Oduduwa that would campaign for IBB among the Yoruba race.
Mukaila said: “Is it not insultive that IBB wants to contest 2011 presidential election after destroying this country for us? What else does he want to do that he has not done? After spending eight years in destroying the nation, he still wants to come back. That will not happen and God will not allow it to happen.”
However, one of IBB’s media aides in Ibadan who spoke with P.M.NEWS under anonymity, condemned the people that are defacing the billboards and destroying his posters.
He said that the act shows that they are intolerant.
According to him, IBB should be allowed to contest and if Nigerians don’t want him, they will not vote for him and that will be the end of the matter..
Confirming the destruction of IBB’s campaign billboards and posters in parts of the country, Kassim Afegbua, IBB’s spokesman, said it was an unwarranted provocation.
Speaking on a TV programme monitored in Lagos this morning, Afegbua said the campaign posters were removed in Jos, the Plateau State capital ahead of President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the state today.
He also said IBB’s billboards were being pulled down in Abuja, saying that such intolerant and provocative act was uncalled for.