Damenews Olalekan Fadolapo, the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), has ordered an immediate dissolution of the Advertising Standard Panel (ASP) over a controversial billboard mounted in the Federal Capital Territory.
The directive was contained in a statement released by the agency on Tuesday.
The federal advertising authority further stated that the officials responsible for the vetting and approval of the content had been suspended to enable an investigative committee to look into the approval process.
FULL STATEMENT
“ALL EYE ON THE JUDICIARY” ADVERTISEMENT: DISSOLUTION OF THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS PANEL (ASP) SECRETARIAT
The attention of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has been drawn to the “All Eyes on the Judiciary” advertisements exposed on some billboards across the country.
The concepts exposed were not approved by the Advertising Standards Panel, hence, the Council had directed that all the materials beings exposed be brought down immediately and the violators sanctioned.
The Advertising Standards Panel of the Council also erred in the approval of one of the concepts as the advertisements failed vetting guidelines on the following grounds:
1. The cause forming the central theme of the campaign in the advertisement is a matter pending before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. Hence, it’s jus pendis.
2. A matter being jus pendis and awaiting judicial pronouncement is, by virtue of the Nigerian legal system, precluded from being subject of public statement, debate, discussion, advertisement etc.
3. The advertisement is controversial and capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace.
4. 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 Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) Secretariat failing to diligently exercise its functions as the gatekeeper of advertising advertisement and marketing communications is hereby dissolved.
The council will set up a committee to investigate the circumtances leading to the approval of one of the concepts of the inappropriate advert and the breach of the vetting guidelines. Consequently, the Director and Deputy Director, Regulations, have also been suspended. The suspension is to enable unprejudice investigation of the issue.
A faceless group called Diaspora’s For Good Governance purportedly sponsored the advertisement in question, which surfaced on social media on Monday, bearing an “ALL EYES ON THE ELECTION TRIBUNAL JUDGES” inscription.
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal handling all the election petitions lodged before it by the candidates of the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some other parties has come under intensive cyber attacks since the the commencement of ongoing trial.
