Billboards: Kwara Govt, PDP Clash As 2027 Campaign Battle Begins

A dispute over campaign billboards has opened a new front in Kwara State’s emerging political battle ahead of the 2027 governorship election, with the state government insisting it is enforcing advertising regulations, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alleges a calculated attempt to weaken the opposition’s visibility.

The controversy followed the removal of billboards belonging to the PDP governorship candidate, Engr. Suleiman Bolakale Kawu, from major locations in Ilorin, including Agaka and Adabata Junction.

The removals came only days after another billboard bearing Kawu’s image was taken down at the Geri Alimi Underpass, prompting the opposition to accuse the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of deploying state agencies against its political opponents.

However, the Kwara State Signage and Advertisement Agency (KWASAA) has dismissed the allegation, maintaining that the enforcement exercise is part of its statutory responsibility and is not directed at any political party or candidate.

Speaking during an enforcement operation in Ilorin on Wednesday, the General Manager of KWASAA, Toba Adeyeye, said the agency had received several complaints about the indiscriminate erection of billboards and other forms of unauthorised advertising across the state capital.

According to him, one of the complaints led enforcement officials to discover that a section of a newly constructed road around Adeta Junction had allegedly been excavated to create space for a billboard.

Adeyeye said the government would identify those responsible and ensure that they bore the cost of repairing the damaged road, in addition to possible prosecution.

“The road belongs to the people of Kwara. It is a road fixed with taxpayers’ money. How can anyone simply dig up the road and say they want to destroy it?” he said.

The KWASAA boss also disclosed that another billboard had been removed from government-owned water infrastructure because the required approval had not been obtained.

He said individuals, organisations and political actors seeking to place advertisements or campaign materials on government facilities must obtain approval from the appropriate authorities.

According to him, KWASAA works with the Ministry of Water Resources to regulate the use of such infrastructure and would not allow unauthorised access to public facilities.

Adeyeye warned that violations could attract consequences beyond the removal of campaign materials.

He rejected claims that the enforcement was selective, insisting that the agency had previously removed campaign materials belonging to members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during the party’s primary election.

“We are not partisan. We will do our job, regardless of the party or candidate involved. The most important thing for us at KWASAA is Kwara,” he said.

Adeyeye added that the state government had undertaken several sensitisation programmes, including radio engagements and a stakeholders’ meeting involving political parties and candidates, to draw attention to regulations governing campaign advertisements and billboards.

He said the agency had carried out an audit of billboard violations across Ilorin, but noted that enforcement remained an ongoing exercise because new violations were still being recorded.

The KWASAA chief urged political parties and candidates to comply with the regulations, arguing that political campaigns were temporary, whereas public infrastructure would remain for residents’ use.

“Campaigns will come and go, but our state will remain. Everything should therefore be done with decency and in order,” he said.

But the PDP candidate, Kawu, described the removal of his campaign materials as an attempt to restrict the opposition’s political visibility.

Reacting to the development on Wednesday, he said political opponents should be engaged through ideas, policies, programmes and performance rather than actions aimed at limiting their public presence.

“My name may be removed from a billboard, but my commitment to Kwara cannot be removed, nor can my aspiration to serve or the people’s right to choose their leaders,” Kawu said.

The PDP subsequently intensified its criticism of the state government, alleging that government agents were systematically removing the candidate’s billboards from strategic locations across Ilorin.

In a statement signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Olusola Adewara, the party alleged that the removal of the billboard at Agaka was connected to the forthcoming turbanning ceremony of Governor AbdulRazaq and concerns over the visibility of campaign materials to invited guests.

The party argued that removing campaign billboards would not determine residents’ political choices or weaken its support across the state.

It further accused the state government of political intimidation and called on AbdulRazaq to allow opposition parties to conduct what it described as legitimate political activities without interference.

The disagreement underscores how the battle for political space is already intensifying in Kwara ahead of 2027, with campaign visibility becoming an early source of friction between the ruling party and the opposition.

While the state government insists that the removal of billboards is a matter of regulation and the protection of public infrastructure, the PDP maintains that the enforcement has political undertones.

For now, the dispute has moved beyond the physical billboards themselves, raising a broader question that is likely to feature prominently as the election approaches: where does legitimate government regulation end and political contest begin?