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The Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Olalekan Fadolapo, has distanced President Bola Tinubu from any involvement in the removal of the “all eyes on the judiciary” billboards in some parts of the country.
The 'all eyes on the judiciary' phrase was coined and popularised by supporters of opposition parties to pressure the judiciary, particularly the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), to be non-partial in the dispensation of petitions before it.
However, the catchphrase caused an uproar during the week after ARCON directed the removal of the billboards with the inscription, sponsored by a group known as the Diasporas for Good Governance.
In a statement on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, the body said the concepts exposed were not approved by the panel, adding that the advertising council had directed that all the materials being exposed be brought down immediately.
ARCON also went a step further to dissolve its Advertising Standards Panel for approving billboards targeted at the presidential election petition tribunal.
Many Nigerians have condemned the reaction of the advertising council, with some suggesting that the presidency may have prevailed on it.
But, in an interview with ThePunch, Fadolapo insisted that the agency's decision was not influenced by Tinubu as being speculated in some quarters.
He maintained that the actions taken so far by the council, including the suspension of the directors, are in line with its administrative procedures.
“Our people are extremely biased. Now, this advert has nothing to do with the presidency, I hope we all know this,” Fadolapo told ThePunch.
“These adverts have a lot to do with the judiciary; it has absolutely nothing to do with the presidency. I don’t know why they would say that the President asked us or the presidency asked us to punish them. How will the presidency interfere with this?
“The presidency has not at any point in time interfered in this issue. This is an administrative procedure. Someone erred and we looked at it to confirm that they erred and you did not fire them. The easiest thing to do is to give them a fair hearing and in the process of giving them a fair hearing, we are asking them to please step down from the offices they are occupying to be able to investigate properly.
“How does the presidency now come into this? The judiciary is supposed to be the one that they will say is influencing us and nobody in the judiciary has even made a statement on this.
“Don’t forget that there are other adverts worse than this on social media that we are even trying to track and pull down, posting some of these judiciary members’ names, their pictures on social media, and all of that. This has absolutely nothing to do with the presidency; the presidency has not interfered and I don’t think the presidency will interfere. The presidency is dealing with so many things and they have given each agency the independence to do their work,” he stated.
In addition, Foladapo said the suspended officials would have their day in court with a committee that would review the entire process, assuring that the process of investigation would be fair.
He disclosed that the council is taking “necessary actions” against the billboard owners, adding that all outdoor organisations involved will be sanctioned.