Control Of The Advert Space And How They Plan To Hurt Opposition Parties. But It May Backfire
The Oasis Reporters
January 18, 2023
Leading media impresario, Osasu Obayuwana has asked a pertinent question on why Peter Obi’s billboards are not being seen in Lagos.
Why does @PeterObi not have campaign posters on the streets of #Lagos? No one finds this strange? Or some people think this is normal?
— Osasu Obayiuwana (@osasuo) January 16, 2023
The answer is simple. It’s all about control. Parties in power want only their billboards to be seen in their areas of influence, or what they call their territory.
Any foray they make into another territory without allowing any into theirs is seen as a smart win.
It is usually difficult for say parties like Labour Party whose presidential candidate is Peter Obi, the PDP, the NNPP to purchase advert space in Lagos state because Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress is contesting.
The agency controlling billboards in the state belongs to the government. If it refuses to accept a subscriber’s payment, the billboard won’t go up.
The belief by state governments hoping to stifle the voices, views or images of opposition parties may backfire at some point, especially when the voters get fed up with the acts of the government, like it happened in Osun state.
Despite stifling the billboard intentions of the PDP in Osun state, the the APC government of Oyetola not shown the way out ?
That is one reason the acts of government in that sector could finally become an exercise in futility.
The same thing can be said in Delta state. Despite the soaring popularity of Labour Party in Delta state, only the campaign billboards of the PDP are to be seen everywhere. Yet the people of the state are weary of the addiction to loans by the state governor, who incidentally is the vice presidential running mate on the PDP ticket.
The good thing is that social media exists powerfully and gives people alternative views. Once the vote is free and fair, transactional politicians would no longer have hiding spaces to market their views only.
