‘All eyes on the judiciary’: FG's clampdown stirs controversies

Both Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, are in court seeking to upturn the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.

The issues at the tribunal have also kept Nigerians on their toes as their concerns and expectations grow by the day. However, the move did not go down well with the APC-led federal government, as it ordered for the total removal of all such billboards through its agency, saying the sponsors of the billboards were blackmailing the presidential election petition tribunal.

A statement by the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria , Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, said the council would set up a committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the approval of one of the concepts of the advert and the breach of the vetting guidelines. There are those who believe that the government’s excuse for the clampdown is very flimsy, stressing that there is more to the action than meets the ordinary eyes.

He described the entire action as clear evidence of President Tinubu’s authoritarianism and assault on freedom of speech. He likened the ARCON’s action to that of the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency, LASAA, which, according to him, had built a reputation of denying Nigerians the right to carry adverts considered to be unfavourable to the Lagos State Government.

In his opinion, a human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong said there was nothing inciting in the message on the billboards, even as he warned that no one should be targeted for that. Also reacting, the sponsors of the billboards, through UC Maxwell, have said they would not be cowed or intimidated because free speech is a constitutional right of every Nigerian.

“The call on Nigerians to be committed to holding the government accountable through the ‘All Eyes On the Judiciary’ theme does not, in any way, instigate the breach of public peace. The duty to criticise government officials, and hold them accountable is established by law.

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