A move by the Ebonyi State government to regulate campaign activities with an alleged N150 million fees for political billboards and posters ahead of 2027 general elections may have sparked outrage as candidates of opposition political parties and residents have kicked against it.

Describing the move as repressive and oppressive, they accused the state government of deploying different subtle and obnoxious measures to silence the opposition ahead of the 2027 elections .

Deputy Chief Whip of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Arinze Lucas Chukwu at the Assembly’s plenary on Wednesday, moved a motion banning what be described as indiscriminate pasting of political posters and billboards in the capital territory.

But the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party in the state, Dr Kingsley Agbor, deplored the bill, saying it was both unfortunate and devastating.

Agbor said, “It is most unfortunate and devastating how our patriotic citizens liberated us from military rule only to see the government of the day in Ebonyi State taking us back to those dark era. People paid the supreme price for this democracy some of us are toiling with today. I have always wished that these dictators in civilian clothes joined the military so as to seize power by the barrel of the guns and rule as it pleases them.

“The government once again wants to stifle the political space for the opposition political parties to operate. This is seen with this outrageous cost of elections and campaign billboards. To this government and their supporters, it is and must be a one party state even when the constitution of Nigeria stipulates otherwise. Most times, stiff decisions like this come when the government is not very popular in the state. So in a nutshell, the government wants to once again completely annihilate the opposition party but in every democracy, opposition can never be silenced. Need I remind them that the then Governor Elechi of PDP once denied Mohammed Buhari and APC the use of the Abakaliki sports stadium for political rallies in 2014. Though Buhari and co moved down to the People’s Club arena, it still didn’t stop Buhari’s victory in the general elections in 2015 and the decimation of the PDP.”

Also, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the state, Splendour Oko-Eze, condemned the development and warned that the situation could degenerate into anti-democratic tendencies with negative consequences on the state.

In an open letter on Wednesday, Oko-Eze said, “I wrote this open letter to register my displeasure on the manner the Ebonyi State Government is maltreating opposition in the State. This law passed by the State House of Assembly prohibiting billboards and posters from candidates contesting elections is a deliberate attempt to stifle opposition parties in Ebonyi State. Where do you expect opposition parties’ candidates to get N150m from just to be allowed to erect billboards and posters? This is autocratic leadership going on in our dear State.

“Opposition is not a crime anywhere in the world. It is the beauty of democracy. It acts like a watch dog to the government in power so as to make sure that the dividends of democracy get to the people. Here in Ebonyi State opposition parties and candidates are treated like criminals. This is not acceptable and it has to stop going forward. If the government does not want to be criticised or have candidates from opposition parties contest against the candidates from the ruling party then the government must show scorecards and performance. It is only the achievements of the government that will make the electorate to re-elect anyone in power for the second tenure not the attacks on opposition parties and their candidates.

“How much did the Governor Chief Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru and wife pay for all their billboards scattered all over the states? Or does it mean the law is just made for opposition parties and her candidates? The House of Assembly Members must take cognisance of the fact that they were elected or selected to make laws that will benefit the people and not the ones that will intimidate and extort money from them,” he added.

On his part, a social media critic and public affairs analyst, Chika Nwoba, said the current Ebonyi State government was inadvertantly inviting crisis by some of its anti-democratic policies in the state.