The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), over the weekend, pulled down the billboards of the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in Ghana’s capital, Accra.
According to Ghanaweb.com, the order to bring down the billboards was by Ghana’s National Security. The billboards were located near the famous Accra mall.
Reacting to the incident, a security expert in Ghana, Dr Kwesi Annin, said the country has been saved from a possible attack by terrorist group, Boko Haram, by pulling down the billboards.
Annin, who works at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, said political elites in Ghana could have been targeted by the Islamist group if the billboards were not brought down.
“I think is critical that National Security and Accra Metropolitan Assembly have listened to the concerns and voices raised by ordinary citizens that these billboards and some level of active political engagement might pose potential threat in the future.”
He opined that apart from the possible Boko Haram attacks, the laws governing Ghana does not permit foreign political entities to campaign in the country.
“We cannot overlook the fact that Boko Haram activities are a concern to all West Africa and naturally in terms of terrorist thinking, if we are perceived to be giving an active political ground for the people who are supposed to be the target but are not resident in Nigeria, then of course they will look for yet another target so I don’t doubt at all that that may have been part of the consideration”.
Meanwhile, an International Relations expert in the country, Dr Vladmir Antwi Danso, says the decision has saved Ghana from severing future relations with Nigeria.
He explains that if there is the perception that Ghana is supporting one candidate over the other, then the relationship between the two countries will be marred after the elections.
“What if after the elections the scales change, then the relationship between our country and Nigeria will also have some hiccups,” he concluded.
It will be recalled that eight heavily armed Nigerian pirates were captured by the Ghanian Navy last week after they attempted to attack a Nigerian cargo vessel, MT Mariam.
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