Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who is also the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, has instituted legal action against Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, over a N200 million levy said to have been imposed on presidential candidates wishing to mount campaign billboards in the state.

The case with suit number HU/214/2026 was filed on September 17, 2026 before the High Court in Umuahia. Details of the filing were shared with our correspondent on Sunday. The suit was filed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Musibau Adetunbi, alongside other lawyers in his chambers including Ire Egert-Olusesi, Ridwan Azeez, Oluwabusola Oluwaniyi and Joseph Lukman.

Aside from Governor Otti, the Attorney-General of Abia State, the State Signage and Advertisement Agency and the State House of Assembly were listed as defendants. The court was asked to ensure service on all four within 30 days.

According to the plaintiffs, the signage fee introduced by the state agency is unconstitutional and runs contrary to the Electoral Act 2026. They therefore want the court to void the regulation and any levy attached to it.

Among the reliefs sought is an order of perpetual injunction barring the defendants, their agents or privies from enforcing the payment or from tampering with, pulling down or blocking the installation of APM’s outdoor campaign materials anywhere in Abia.

Makinde and his party are also asking the court to declare that the fee breaches Section 99(2) of the Electoral Act which prohibits the deployment of state institutions to favour or disadvantage any party or candidate. They insist that by virtue of Item F, Section 15(a) and (f) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution and Section 99(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, INEC alone has the power to make rules governing political campaigns.

The plaintiffs further argued that the N200 million charge is a deliberate attempt to price opposition candidates out of visibility in the state, giving undue advantage to wealthier ruling parties.

They also drew the court’s attention to Section 92 of the Electoral Act which limits presidential campaign spending to N10 billion. They argued that if every state were to impose a similar N200 million billboard levy, signage costs alone would gulp over 80 percent of the statutory limit, leaving almost nothing for logistics, media, venues, security and agents across 176,974 polling units.

While acknowledging that regulation of outdoor advertisement is within the residual powers of states, they submitted that such powers cannot be used to undermine federal electoral laws, citing Sections 1(3) and 4(5) of the Constitution which affirm the supremacy of valid federal legislation.

In the affidavit in support of the suit, deposed to by APM’s National Welfare Officer, Aisha Abdullahi Abubakar, it was stated that the party became aware of the levy in the course of planning its national campaign tour across the 36 states and the FCT.

The claimants warned that failure of the court to intervene would cause irreparable damage to their right to contest and erode the principle of a level playing field.

Source: Punch News.