‘All Eyes on the Judiciary’: Tinubu ordered removal of billboard? facts emerge

The director-general of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Dr Olalekan Fadolapo, has cleared the air on removing the "All Eyes on the Judiciary" billboard advert nationwide.

In an interview with a Nigerian national daily, Dr Fadolapo maintained that removing the billboard adverts was strictly based on violating some ethical protocols that were not considered before putting out the advert.

He said: "The decision was taken because the adverts violated the vetting guidelines. In Nigeria, the advertising industry is a regulated industry and there are some tenets that we align with. So, those adverts clearly violated the rules and regulations."

When asked if he received an order from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to bring down the advert, as speculated by netizens, Dr Fadolapo revealed that ARCON is a non-partisan federal government agency.

He stated that removing the billboard has nothing to do with political differences; instead, the decision was made based on ethical regulations and statutory guidelines that guide the agency and the profession.

He said: "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."

Dr Fadolapo noted that he has always been non-partisan and had no political affiliation.

He said he is strictly a professional who has been in the advertising industry for over 25 years and counting.