The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, says the removal of billboards which put up adverts that read, “All Eyes on The Judiciary”, was clear evidence of President Bola Tinubu’s authoritarianism and assault on freedom of speech.

Atiku said this in reaction to the directive by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) to pull down all billboards carrying the advert across Nigeria.

ARCON also dissolved the Advertising Standard Panel which is the statutory panel under the Council charged with the duty of ensuring that advertisements conform to the prevailing laws of the federation as well as the Code of Ethics of the advertising profession.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, said the entire incident reinforced the argument that election cases in court ought to be completed before beneficiaries of questionable elections are inaugurated.

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Shaibu further expressed displeasure on how a message like “All Eyes on the Judiciary” would translate to a threat to society.

Atiku’s aide said: “The basic principle of social justice is about the people. The advertisers of the billboards only did what the norm is in civilized 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.”

He said ARCON had already begun acting like the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA) which had “built a reputation of denying Nigerians the right to carry adverts which the Lagos State government deemed unfavourable”.

Shaibu added: “Nigerians can now see what the people of Lagos have been facing all these years where LASAA denies the opposition the use of billboards just to please their master.

“It has become so bad that Tinubu’s son is the one that has exclusive rights to billboards on the Lekki axis. Who can forget that the company where Tinubu’s son enjoys commanding heights admitted to turning off the billboard lights during the #ENDSARS protests? And the only ridiculous explanation for such a dastardly act is that it wasn’t in bad faith.”

The Star