The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria has warned political parties, candidates, campaign organizations, advertising agencies, and media space owners to immediately halt the publication, broadcast, or display of political advertisements that have not received prior clearance from the Advertising Standards Panel, saying the surge in unapproved materials accompanying the early stages of 2027 electoral activity had included content violating religious and ethnic guidelines in the Nigerian Code of Advertising.
ARCON Director-General Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo said in a public notice that exposing any advertisement on traditional or digital media platforms without prior ASP approval constituted an offence under Section 34(3) of the ARCON Act, and that the council would collaborate with relevant law enforcement agencies to conduct a nationwide enforcement exercise removing all unapproved political advertisements from circulation.
The regulator warned that it would prosecute any individual or corporate entity found to have sponsored, approved, exposed, benefited from, or facilitated political advertising without the requisite approval, meaning that legal exposure extended beyond the parties and candidates who commissioned the materials to the agencies that created them and the media owners who gave them placement. The warning signaled that campaign communication could no longer be treated as an unrestricted political activity and that compliance with ARCON procedures had to be built into campaign planning from the earliest stages of 2027 electoral preparation.
