As the federal government begins formal pulling down of the “Eyes On Judiciary” billboards targeted at the Justices of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), Director General of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Olalekan Fadolapo, has queried the agency’s Director of Regulations over his approval of the advert.
Sources confirmed that if the Director absolves his office for the approval of the adverts currently positioned along major roads in various parts of the country, ARCON will pull them down.
Mr Olalekan, in the query, noted that the advert “is a clear blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary and the Honourable Justices of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
Stating that the advert is capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace, Olalekan said all advertisements that promotes a cause or idea capable of inciting national interest should first be brought to the Director General for review prior to presentation to the Advertising Standards Panel.
The Director General ordered the the Director, Regulations to explain why disciplinary actions will not be taken against him for dereliction of duty and asked that his reply should get to his office before the end of Tuesday.
Already, the billboards have been pulled down in parts of the Federal Capita Territory (FCT) Abuja.
And the billboards have elicited reactions from Nigerians.
A Nigerian, Babatunde Gbadamosi@BOGbadams, said in a tweet: “These billboards are like knives through the hearts of the evil, corrupt, greedy, furtive, grasping men and women that have made Nigeria unliveable. That they’re having them removed is ample evidence of their guilt. However, their removal will not save their souls from eternal damnation, if they insist on miscarrying justice for filthy lucre.
“All eyes will still remain on them, and they will know it, because they cannot unsee what they have already seen. In a sense, those billboards have actually served their purpose. We now know that the guilty are actually afraid. #AllEyesOnTheJudiciary #TinubuMUSTbeDisqualified.”
Another, @General_Oluchi said: “Once again, enemies of good governance and progress removed the billboard in Abuja. Shameless corrupt men and women parading themselves as leaders.”
When OYINGBO MARKET@ojaoyingbo said: “I am honestly lost here , what in particular is instigating or inciting violence against judiciary in that bill ? I Will so much appreciate if you can help point that out.”
Journalist KC@kc_journalist stated: “The people saying all eyes on the judiciary wants the judiciary to declare the man who finished third as winner or nothing The people who are saying all eyes on the judiciary are putting judges pictures unnecessarily on the media, they didn’t stop there, they moved to the families of the judges. Are you people okay ? They are same people sponsoring fake news daily on this app If you see nothing wrong, then I can’t help you.”