The immediate past Managing Director, Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, LASAA, George Noah, has claimed that agents of the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, tried to eliminate him in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.
Noah made the claim in chapter 11 of a book he entitled 2015 Elections: The Politics of Outdoor Advertising.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Lagos State saw him as constituting obstacle in the way of their ambition in the outdoor political campaign in the state.
According to him, they warned him not to invite trouble he may not be able to contain.
Noah said, “The more the opposition party in the state parroted platitudes bordering on alleged bias on the part of LASAA, the more I became a target, as the head of the agency supposedly responsible for their invented misfortunes in securing outdoor sites in Lagos.
“But what at first seemed like harmless banter and standard criticism soon took a more sinister form. It soon dawned on me that I had become a subject of discussion among some politicians in the then ruling party in Abuja, and they had reportedly decided to solve the problem by any means necessary, including intimidation and threats.
“A member of the PDP, he had attended a crucial caucus meeting at which I was identified as the person constituting an obstacle in the way of the party’s ambitions in the outdoor political campaign in Lagos State.
“‘Be careful. Your name was mentioned in our caucus meeting in connection with the PDP’s inability in securing billboards in Lagos. You have to be careful,” he warned. We had barely kept in touch in seven years and I was surprised he got in touch. When you are advised by a politician to be careful during electioneering, you are bound to sit up.
“‘You were accused of singling out the PDP’s campaign materials in Lagos for destruction, using LASAA’s apparatus, in an orchestrated bid to frustrate the PDP’s campaign,” he said. According to him, they were devising plans to put me in “check”, using every means of containment at their disposal.
“A few days later, I got a call from the then General Officer Commanding (GOC) at Bonny Camp, Victoria Island, Lagos, about the controversy surrounding the outdoor campaign of the PDP in Lagos.
“He warned me not to invite trouble I may not be able to contain. I got the message. Exactly two weeks after the Lagos State police boss read the riot act to LASAA.
“He warned that no posters or outdoor structures should be removed in Lagos State whether legally or illegally deployed.
“This was a wake-up call for me. It was becoming apparent at this point that I had to take security matters more seriously.
“More puzzling questions raced through my mind, as I wondered if it would be foolhardy to seek protection from a police force with unapologetic leanings to the then ruling party.
“I thought to myself: ‘I could hold out a little longer. All I have to do is be a bit more circumspect and extra vigilant.’ But for how much longer would I have to put up a defence?
“The same question was always playing on my mind as I became increasingly suspicious of my surroundings whenever I was outdoors.
“A sense of paranoia kicked in. Suddenly, an innocent gaze from an unfamiliar person didn’t seem so benign anymore.
“Every motorcycle that rode close to my vehicle on the road became suspect – just as every vehicle that kept showing up in the rear-view mirror seemed to be on a sinister mission. In the same vein, every street hawker that sidled up to my vehicle in the notorious Lagos traffic jams, appeared to have malicious intent.
“My sense of alarm was further compounded with heightened security alerts about my safety.
“Credible sources advised that I temporarily relocate from my place of abode and change my vehicle, so as to give any persons on my trail the slip.
“I complied. I had by this time come under immense pressure from friends, family members and state government colleagues to sign up for round-the-clock police protection.”
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