LASAA RESTATES COMMITMENT AGAINST INDISCRIMINATE USE OF ELECTION MATERIALS Our attention has been drawn to comments made during a media briefing session yesterday by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Mr Kayode Aderanti, in which he accused the Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA) of removing billboards and posters of candidates of various political parties in the state, thereby creating an uneven playing field for candidates. The Commissioner of Police also threatened to arrest anybody that attempts to remove any billboard or poster of any candidate of the various political parties, even if these are deployed illegally and in contravention of guidelines issued by LASAA in November 2014. Let me state clearly that the removal of posters that deface our environment is a statutory obligation of LASAA. The agency is therefore baffled that the Nigerian police (which is responsible for enforcing the laws of this nation), is (by the statement issued by the Commissioner of Police) encouraging and expressly supporting the flagrant disregard and contravention of environmental guidelines issued to all political parties. LASAA has equally received complaints from members of the public on the increase in political posters and has undertaken this task without any favour. Over 100,000 political posters are illegally deployed in the state on a daily basis in the last three months in contravention of laid down guidelines. We wish to assure all political parties that as long as all election materials are not deployed within our stipulated guidelines, such materials will continue to be removed. As the arm of the state government entrusted with the responsibility to control and regulate use of outdoor advertising displays in Lagos State, our Agency (by our statutory function) must ensure that all outdoor advertising materials used for election purposes must be deployed within the provisions of our guidelines and in accordance with extant laws. Our guidelines have been issued without prejudice to any individual, political party, association or aspirant and our intention is to ensure fairness and equality amongst all concerned stakeholders while judiciously preserving the integrity of our environment and applying the rules without sentiments or bias. You will recall that in addition to publishing our guidelines, LASAA organized a town hall meeting with all registered political parties on November 7, 2014 and has embarked on massive removal of illegal posters along corridors which contravenes the provision of the said guidelines. We therefore regard the statement issued by the Commissioner of Police indicating that our personnel will be arrested in the pursuit of their lawful duties as an attempt at intimidating the agency from undertaking its statutory function. Signed George Noah Managing Director/CEO
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 15:28:47 +0000
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