From Victor Osula, Abuja
The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON, has dissolved the Secretariat of the Advertising Standard Panel (ASP) over its approval of billboards with the title: ‘All Eyes on The Judiciary’ , suspended its Director and Deputy Director in charge of Regulations to allow investigations into the issue and directed the immediate nationwide destruction of the billboards.
Dr. Olalekan Fadolape, Director General of ARCON, gave the directive in a statement obtained by THISAGENEWS on Tuesday.
He said, “The concept exposed were not approved by the Advertising Standards Panel, hence, the Council has directed that all materials being exposed be brought down immediately and the violators’ sanctioned.”
The Advertising Standards Panel ,ASP, according to him, failed in the approval of one of the concepts as the advertisement failed to meet ARCON’s guidelines.
He explained the central theme of the advertisement campaign was a matter pending before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT, and was therefore “controversial and capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace.”
He added that “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 judiciary functions without fear or favour over a matter that is currently jus pendis.”
APCON’s reaction to the advert is coming on the heels of expectations and anxiety as Nigerians await the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal PEPT, soon to be released before the September 19, 2023 deadline.
The five-member panel of the PEPT in Abuja, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, had reserved its judgement on the petitions filed by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, against President Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the outcome of the 2023 general election
