Some legal practitioners have knocked the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria dragging an advertiser with PUNCH Newspaper to a kangaroo tribunal.
They posited it was wrong for ARCON to punish any advertiser for allegedly failing to vet their adverts with the agency
The Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria had also on Sunday lambasted ARCON for summoning an Ogun State-based school, The Ambassadors College, over its advert published in The PUNCH Newspaper on September 2, 2023.
ARCON, in a summons dated December 19, 2023, had directed the school’s chairman, Mr Samson Osewa, to appear before the Advertising Offences Tribunal for publishing an advert “that was neither vetted nor approved by the Advertising Standards Panel.”
“Mr Samson Yomi Osewa, Chairman of The Ambassador College has been charged by ARCON with unlawful exposure on the 12th day of September, in The PUNCH Newspaper page 25.
“You contravened by exposing your press advertisement titled ‘A tradition of excellence, a culture of excellence’ without vetting of the Advertising Standards Panel,” ARCON said in its summons to Osewa.
However, the President of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria, Osamede Uwibanmwen, faulted ARCON, saying it could not act as both “a jury and executioner” at the same time.
Several legal practitioners in separate interviews faulted ARCON, describing the move illegal.
A legal practitioner, Barrister Promise Umoh, knocked ARCON, pointing out that the panel which the school had been asked to appear is illegal.
Umoh said, “What the school did didn’t fall under advertising. Also, the committee that the school was supposed to appear before, which is the Advertising Standard Panel had been dissolved. I don’t know if you remember when we had the issue of ‘All Eyes on the Judiciary’. That was the panel, and it was dissolved at the time. I have spoken with the President of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria and he said that normally that committee should contain a member from the association, and as far as he is concerned, it has not been reconstituted, because they would have recalled their member who was originally part of the committee. So there is a broader issue here which even speaks to the illegality of the summon by ARCON.”
Also, corroborating Umoh’s position, a legal practitioner, Olu Akinola, said some provisions of ARCON runs contrary to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to him, the Act arrogates the powers of the court to itself by imposing prison sentences on the so-called violators, saying that runs contrary to the constitution.
Akinola maintained that the provisions of the ARCON Act would be struck out if tried before the court.
“People should go to court and challenge these provisions. These provisions contradict the constitution. ARCON wants to set up a tribunal and that tribunal will sit and conduct a criminal trial, with power to sentence people, no! This violates the constitution. With what I saw here, they are already constituting a court.
“I will advise that the school should seek the protection of the court. What the school has done is civil, I don’t see any criminal thing in it. This law is contrary to the spirit and letters of the constitution,” he said.
ADVAN president, Uwibanmwen, had faulted ARCON, saying it could not act as both “a jury and executioner” at the same time.
He said, “It is a bit strange. I never knew they also go after school. If you look at this new law that we are trying to fight, it covers everything, including logos, trademarks and all.
“What the court said in the NBC (National Broadcasting Commission) case is true. The court said that you cannot be jury and executioner, that you cannot be regulator and executioner at once. But you won’t expect ARCON to learn from the NBC. They will not do that.
“The NBC now will be very cautious about fining anybody, because they have lost the first case and have lost the appeal. I don’t know if they will go to the Supreme Court.”
Speaking further, Uwibanmwen said ARCON’s new law, which broadens the power of the commission, is premised on its failed attempts in the past to convict some unnamed violators of the repealed APCON law.
He also questioned why the law would empower the tribunal to impose prison sentences on entities deemed to have violated the provisions of the Act.
However, the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, Olalekan Fadolapo, said the provisions of the law were clear on the stipulations that must be conformed to before publishing any advert.
Since the introduction of the new ARCON Law, which effectively repealed the code that regulated the advertising industry under the defunct Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, ADVAN has been at loggerheads with its regulator over the provisions of the law.
According to ADVAN, certain aspects of the ARCON law appear to conflict with the Nigerian constitution.
In October 2022, ADVAN filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the amended Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Law.
The association said that the move to challenge the new advertising law comes after a thorough and deliberate consideration of the law’s implications for the advertising industry and its members.
ADVAN further said it viewed the legal action as an essential response to safeguard the interests of its members and the integrity of the marketing profession in Nigeria.
