DRUG SUSPECT NOT AN ADVERTISING PRACTITIONER- ARCON
Oru Leonard
The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has said that a self acclaimed Advertising Practitioner and drug trafficker arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), recently with the name Mr. Aribiyi Ahmed Olaseinde, is not an Advertising Practitioner as claimed.
A statement signed by the Director General, Dr. Olalekan Fadoləporeads in full, “The attention of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), has been drawn to a story published by some news platforms, alleging that a member of the advertising profession was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,Lagos, for attempting to export 14.4 kilograms of cocaine concealed in lace and Ankara fabrics to Saudi Arabia.
We wish to state that the said Aribiyi Ahmed Olaseinde is not an advertising practitioner as claimed, and that, no such name is on our record of Registered Advertising Practitioners in Nigeria.
Members of the public and stakeholders in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Industry are hereby advised to disregard the alleged claim by the said drug suspect as no member of the Advertising Profession goes by that name in our register of practitioners.
For the avoidance of doubt, Advertising is a noble profession in Nigeria, a status conferred on it by law. Only persons who are duly qualified and registered accordingly to the provisions of the law are entitled to practice Advertising and to be recognized as Advertising Practitioners in Nigeria.
We wish to categorically state that, ARCON remains committed to ensuring that the advertising ecosystem is sanitized, and shall not shy away from pursuing all lawful means, including causing the prosecution of violators of the Act, and the Code of Advertising Practice in Nigeria when a violation occurs, in line with the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Act No 23 of 2022.
Recall that the NDLEA in a press release on Sunday stated that “a widower who claimed to be an Advertising practitioner, Ariyibi Ahmed Olaseinde was intercepted on Thursday 20th April at the screening point of MMIA Terminal 2 during outward clearance of Qatar Airways passengers travelling from Lagos via Doha to Medina, Saudi Arabia. When his carry-on bag was checked, four sets of white lace material with linings of substance that tested positive to Cocaine weighing 11.50kg were discovered.
