UMUAHIA — Abia State government has denied allegations by Progressive Peoples Party, PPA, and other opposition parties in the state that Governor Theodore Orji ordered the removal and destruction of their posters and billboards in all parts of the state.

In a statement in Umuahia, weekend, Mr. Ben Onyechere, Special Adviser Media to the governor, said the insinuations by the opposition was not just an intended blackmail but a cheap lie meant to seek the attention of the governor in order to provoke him.

He said: “In the first place, Governor Orji does not consider candidates of other parties as opponents but fellow contestants as he is not quarrelling with anybody because of politics and does not intend to do so.

“The people that are making such allegations have nothing to offer to their parties and to the people of Abia than to sponsor rumours just to prove that they are in the race, while in the actual sense, they are pretenders who are playing to the gallery in order to extort money from their sponsors.

“The posters and billboards they are talking about were removed by the environmental agencies because they are considered to be blocking traffic signs and artifacts in the cities of Abia. Most of the posters that were removed belonged to the governor, and if I may ask, what could bring about the governor removing anybody’s poster? The opposition candidates are mere Newspaper tigers who rather than establish structures are sponsoring blackmail.

“They have not said what they want to do for the people of Abia. Rather, they are telling Abia people to vote for regional parties which will mean taking the people back to the wilderness in Egypt.”

“To this so called opposition, the appointment of an Abia man as chief of army staff and the rehabilitation of Abia roads as well as test running of Alaojii Power project by the Federal Government came from nowhere.Right now, it is no gain saying that the first refinery in the South East for which arrangement has been concluded will be built in the soil of Abia by the Federal Government,” he concluded.