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By : Silver Nwokoro
Date: 18 Nov 2024
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Gavel PHOTO:Getty Images
Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to stop using the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to impose fines, threaten to impose sanctions and harass and intimidate broadcast stations and other independent media houses in the country.
The court declared that NBC and its agents lacked the legal power and authority to impose penalties unilaterally, including fines, suspension, withdrawal of licences or any form of punishment, whatsoever, on independent media houses for promoting access to diverse information on issues of public importance.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo delivered the judgment following a lawsuit brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
SERAP and CJID had, in August 2022, filed a lawsuit against former President, Muhammadu Buhari; former Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, and NBC, asking the court for “a declaration that the imposition of fines on media houses was unlawful and amounted to a breach of legality, necessity, proportionality principles.”
The suit followed the decision by NBC in 2022 to impose a fine of N5 million each on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, NTA-Startimes Limited and TelcCom Satellite Limited, over their documentaries on terrorism in the country.
In the suit, number FHC/L/CS/1486/2022, the organisations sought an order setting aside the arbitrary and illegal fines of N5 million and any other penal sanction unilaterally imposed by the NBC on these media houses simply for carrying out their constitutional duties.
The NBC claimed that the documentaries glorified the activities of bandits, undermined national security, and contravened the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
In his judgment, Justice Oweibo held that the issue of the locus standi of SERAP and CJID needed to be resolved first being a threshold issue, stating that it was trite that the Statement of Claim must disclose the plaintiff’s interest sufficient to clothe him/her with the requisite capacity to sue.
“SERAP and CJID have been vested with locus standi. Looking at the provisions of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 and particularly the preambles to the Rules, the general requirement of locus standi has been done away with. SERAP and CJID are not meddlesome interlopers,” the judge stated.
Justice Oweibo said: “I have looked at the affidavit in support of the suit, which in this case stands in place of a Statement of Claim. Considering the core mandates of SERAP and CJID and the affidavit in support of their suit, it is to be seen that this is a public interest case.”
The judge, therefore, dismissed the objections raised by NBC’s counsel and upheld SERAP’s and CJID’s arguments. Consequently, the court entered judgment in favour of SERAP and CJID and against the NBC.
Reacting to the judgment, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, urged the NBC to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law by immediately obeying and respecting the court’s judgment.
The organisation also urged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Ministry of Information and Culture, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the NBC to immediately disclose the details of the Twitter agreement, as ordered by the court.
“The immediate enforcement and implementation of the judgment will be a victory for the rule of law, freedom of expression and media freedom in Nigeria,” SERAP said.
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