By Chimezie Godfrey
The West Africa Media Lawyers Association (WAMELA) has called on the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately reverse the suspension of Channels TV and all associated fines in the interest of justice.
The association also urged the Minister of Information to ensure that the suspension is lifted in order to demonstrate his commitment to press freedom in Nigeria.
This call was contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer, WAMELA, Mojirayo Ogunlana-Nkanga.
Nkanga noted that the association received the disturbing news that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), on Monday 26th of April 2021, suspended Channels TV with a Five Million Naira (N5, 000, 000) fine, for the 7pm live broadcast programme of Sunday, 25th April 2021, where the TV station spoke with Emma Powerful, the spokesman for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The statement stressed that the suspension of Channels TV by Professor Armstrong Idachaba led NBC, is both undemocratic and unconstitutional.
According to Ogunlana-Nkanga, more worrying is that it carries with it an unpleasant hint of press repression.
Moreso, the statement said, it is public knowledge that a broadcast station cannot be liable for the views expressed by a guest, unless the station adopts the position of the guest, adding that clearly, the latter was not the case.
The statement pointed out that the suspension is a clear breach of the right of Nigerians freedom of Information as provided by the constitution.
Nkanga noted,”It is also true that the NBC provision which it relied upon in carrying out its illegal and arbitrary act is unconstitutional as it aims to gag, suppress, oppress and repress the press from performing its duties to keep Nigerians informed in order to ensure accountability and transparency, and since the code invoked by the NBC is in conflict with the provisions of the constitution, the suspension cannot stand because it is inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“Furthermore, it is very unfortunate that the Nigerian government continues to undermine free press despite the pivotal role it plays in a democracy.
“This continuous punitive measure against the press only breeds an environment of total disregard towards the press by the society and this is utterly condemnable.
“In recent times we have witnessed record-high impunity of attacks on the press.
“There has been a monumental increase in attacks against journalist and media houses since Nigerian returned to a democracy, not only by law enforcement agents but also by citizens.
“We have also witnessed situations where security forces use Cyber Crimes and Terrorism laws to hound journalists in the name of national security.
“A reason is to perpetuate media censorship and deny citizens vital information of public interest as is evident in this case with Channels TV.
“We state unequivocally that the Nigerian citizenry have a right to know and to be promptly informed, and an attempt to gag the media is unacceptable and we urge the federal government to urgently recall its decision in the interest of justice and for the protection of our hard-won democracy.
“The Federal Government and NBC are advised as follows:
To immediately reverse the suspension of Channels TV and all associated fines.
“The Minister of Information should ensure that the unwarranted suspension is lifted to demonstrate his commitment to press freedom.”
Nkanga further stressed that in the event that the directive is not reversed, they will be left with no option but to approach the court to seek appropriate and relevant reliefs against the federal government and NBC.
The statement pointed out pointed out that this move by the NBC clearly reveals that the Nigerian government is at war with the Media, adding that it is quite unfortunate that this government is a democratically elected government, which is bound to abide strictly to the tenets of democracy.
