The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the National Broadcasting Commission to stop using the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to fine, harass or intimidate broadcast stations and other independent media houses.
The judgment was delivered by Justice Nicholas Oweibo in June following a lawsuit brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
According to the certified true copy of the judgment, “The NBC and its agents lack the legal power and authority to impose penalty unlawfully and unilaterally, including fines, suspension, withdrawal of license or any form of punishment whatsoever on independent media houses for promoting access to diverse information on issues of public importance.”
The suit followed the decision by the NBC in 2022 to impose a fine of N5 million each on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, NTA-Startimes Limited and TelcCom Satellite Limited for their documentaries on terrorism in the country.
The NBC claimed that the documentaries glorify the activities of bandits, undermine national security in Nigeria, and contravene 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.
“It is 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 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.”
Justice Oweibo dismissed the objections raised by the NBC’s counsel and upheld SERAP’s and CJID’s arguments, entering judgment in favour of SERAP and CJID and against the NBC.
“This is an action alleging breach of the fundamental rights of SERAP and CJID to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom and fair hearing guaranteed under sections 22, 36 and 39 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended],” the judge noted.
The court granted the following reliefs: “A declaration is hereby made that the act of the defendants imposing a fine of N5m each on the independent media houses is unlawful, inconsistent with, and amounts to a breach of the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and therefore a violation of the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom;
“A declaration is hereby made that the use of the Broadcasting Code by the NBC to impose sanctions on the independent media houses for alleged infractions without recourse to the court constitutes an infringement on the provisions of sections 6[1] & [6][b] and 36[1] of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 and Articles 1 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party;
“A declaration is hereby made that the provisions of the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code which are arbitrarily being used by the defendants to sanction, harass, intimidate and restrict the independent media houses are inconsistent and incompatible with sections 36[1], 39 and 22 of the Nigerian Constitution, Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and are null and void to the extent of their inconsistency and incompatibility;
“A declaration is hereby made that the defendants lack the legal power and authority to impose penalty unlawfully and unilaterally, including fines, suspension, withdrawal of license or any form of punishment whatsoever on the independent media houses for promoting access to diverse opinions and information on issues of public importance;
“An Order Of Court is hereby made setting aside the fine of N5m imposed by the defendants, through the 3rd defendant, each on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, TelCom Satellite Limited and NTA-StarTimes Limited for televising the documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation “BBC Africa Eye” titled ‘Bandits Warlords of Zamfara’;
“An Order of Perpetual Injunction is hereby made restraining the defendants or any other authority, persons or group of persons from unlawfully shutting down, imposing fine, suspension, withdrawal of license or doing anything whatsoever to harass and intimidate or impose criminal punishment on the independent media houses or any of Nigeria’s journalists and media houses for promoting access to diverse information on issues of public importance.”
While reacting to the judgment in a statement on Sunday, SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said, “We urge the NBC to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law by immediately obeying and respecting the judgment of the court.”
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