Rivers govt condemn display of obscene content, shuts down electronic bill board in Port Harcourt

The Rivers State Signage and Advertisement Agency (RISAA) on Friday shut down an electronic billboard around Garrison in the Port-Harcourt City Local Government Area of the state for displaying “pornographic content”.

No less than two staff of E-Motion Communications Nigeria Ltd, owners of the LED billboard, have been arrested and detained at the Olu Obasanjo police station in connection with the development.

Reacting to the incident, the acting Managing Director of the agency, Okea Anthony, said an investigation had since been launched to determine the cause of the incident.

He said investigations would reveal if the incident was sabotage or negligence on the part of the promotion company.

“All necessary steps have been taken to ensure that this does not happen anymore to serve as a deterrent to any other organisation or company that does advertisement business in Rivers state,

“As you can see this structure is shut down and is now under our custody.

“The agency and well-meaning people of Rivers state condemn this.”

He expressed that the Advertisement Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) is yet to clarify if it authorised such content to be displayed.

The incident, which happened on Thursday, left residents shocked as the billboard displayed a 60-second graphic content.