The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) on Tuesday announced the suspension of two high-ranking officials for approving the ‘All Eyes on Judiciary’ billboard adverts in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and other parts of the country.
This followed the dissolution of the Secretariat of the Advertising Standard Panel by the Federal Government over its approval of billboards termed as blackmailing the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal with the title: ‘All Eyes on The Judiciary.’
The Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, who confirmed the suspension in a statement said the affected officials include the Director and Deputy Director, Regulations of the Council.
Fadolapo said the advertisement is considered a blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, and particularly the Honourable Justices of the Tribunal who are expected to discharge their judicial functions without fear or favour over a matter that is currently jus pendis.
The statement in part reads: “The Council would set up a committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the “erroneous approval” of one of the concepts of the advert and the breach of the vetting guidelines.
“Consequently, the Director and Deputy Director, Regulations have also been suspended. The suspension is to enable an unprejudiced investigation of the issue. The Advertising Standards Panel Secretariat failing to diligently exercise its function as the gatekeeper of advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications is hereby dissolved.”
Meanwhile, the controversy over 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.”