PEPT: Govt Agencies  Begin to Pull Down ‘All Eyes on Judiciary’Billboards

•ARCON DG queries director over approval 

•Shaibu: You can’t remove all eyes from being on judiciary

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The federal government has begun to formally pull down the “Eyes on Judiciary” billboards targeted at the Justices of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).

This was as the Director General of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Olalekan Fadolapo, has queried the agency’s Director of Regulations over his approval of the advert.

But the Special Assistant on Public Communications to Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, yesterday, said the destruction of billboards was clear evidence of President Bola Tinubu’s authoritarianism and assault on freedom of speech, saying could not remove all eyes from being on the judiciary.

The  billboards  had surfaced in many strategic junctions within Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) in expectation of the judgement of the Election Petition Tribunal Judgement.

In Abuja, for instance, the billboards were located at Dutse Alhaji, the Civil Service Institute and at the Area One Junction in Garki.

The picture of the billboards which was spotted on the Microblogging platform, X, formally Twitter, indicated that all eyes were on the tribunal judges. The billboards was sponsored by Diaspora’s for Good Governance states.

However, Officials of ARCON and staff of the Federal Capital Territory were seen along the Nyanya axis bringing one of the controversial billboards down.

Sources confirmed that the director had already absolved his office of the approval of the adverts and promised ARCON would pull them down.

Olalekan, in the query cited by THISDAY, noted that the advert “is a clear blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary and the Honourable Justices of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”

Stating that the advert is capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace, Olalekan said all advertisements that promoted a cause or idea capable of inciting national interest should first be brought to the Director General for review prior to presentation to the Advertising Standards Panel.

He, therefore, ordered the the Director, Regulations to explain why disciplinary actions should not be taken against him for dereliction of duty and asked that a reply should get to his office before the end of yesterday.

Already, the billboards have been pulled down in parts of the Federal Capita Territory (FCT) Abuja, and the developments had elicited reactions from Nigerians.

Nevertheless, ARCON has suspended two top officials for approving the advert in Abuja.

A statement by the Director General of ARCON stated that the affected officials were the Director and Deputy Director Regulations of the council.

The DG said the advert was a clear blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary and the Honourable Justices of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, saying it could instigate public unrest and breach of public peace.

Meanwhile, Shaibu, while reacting to the directive by ARCON, said the entire incident reinforced the argument that election cases in court ought to be completed before beneficiaries of questionable elections were inaugurated.

He wondered how a message like:  “All Eyes on the Judiciary” translated to a threat to society.

“The basic principle of social justice is about the people. The advertisers of the billboards only did what the norm is in civilised climes. It was the agents working to impress an interest that read meanings to that innocuous advert. Otherwise, it is a basic principle that eyes must be on the wheel of justice.

“Eyes must naturally be on the wheel of justice, because when justice is delivered, it must be ‘seen’ to have been just! In any case, both Tinubu and the APC are before the same court. It is curious how they find this particular message upsetting.  Anyway, even if they pull down the billboards, they can never stop all eyes from being on the judiciary at this historic time.”