‘All Eyes on the Judiciary’ Advert Got ARCON’s Clearance

New evidence from Intercontinental Marketing and Communication Consortium Limited, the advertising company in charge of the controversial ‘All Eyes on the Judiciary’ campaign billboard, has revealed that the company obtained all necessary clearance and approval from the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), and the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) before setting up the ‘All Eyes on the Judiciary’ billboards across the country.

Responding to a query issued to the company by ARCON through a statement, the company also provided an original payment receipt issued to them by APCON in which the sum of N175,000 was paid on August 8, 2023, for a 10 hours accelerated vetting on a ‘1x outdoor visual, All eyes on the election tribunal’.

Similarly, a true copy of ARCON ‘Certificate of Approval to Advertise’ obtained by renowned investigative journalist, David Hundeyin, as shared on his Twitter handle showed that ARCON approved the ‘All Eyes on the Judiciary’ outdoor visual material, medium, and concept.

In the response statement signed by the Director for the Intercontinental Marketing and Communication Consortium Limited, Stephen Ogboko, he said: “The truth is that immediately we received the brief for the said campaign, we sent the artwork to Mr. Markus Inji Lukman, an ARCON liaison officer, who helped us vet campaign materials in the past. Lukman assured us that the material would be approved, as he had seen a similar one.

“We, thereafter, informed him that our client wants the billboard posted on August 12. He advised us to pay a fee of N175,000 for accelerated vetting. We did the needful and sent the necessary documents to him, and he promised that we would receive our certificate of approval latest on August 11 (payment receipt is attached here)

“On August 11, we called Lukman to inquire about the approval certificate, he informed us that the campaign had been approved and the certificate was on the way. He told us to go ahead and post the campaign as the approval certificate will get to us on Monday morning.

“As a result of his assurances, we exposed the campaign on August 12. We were shocked to receive a call from our security guard on August 14, informing us that the campaign material was removed by staff of the Department of Outdoor Advertisement and Signage.

“We are deeply disappointed that this happened and are sorry for any inconvenience it has caused. We would never knowingly do anything to violate the regulations guiding advertising practice, jeopardise our practice licence, or bring disaffection to our dear country’s judiciary.”