The National Broadcasting Commission has filed an appeal against the ruling of the Federal High Court which dismissed the commission’s motion to set aside a May 2023 judgment restraining it from imposing fines on radio and television stations.
The NBC filed the suit at the court of appeal in Abuja.
In the four-point ground of appeal, NBC argued that James Omotosho, the presiding judge at the federal high court, Abuja, erred when he declined to dismiss order barring the agency from imposing fines on broadcast stations.
In May 2023, a federal high court in Abuja ruled that NBC does not have the power to impose penalties on broadcast stations.
Omotosho set aside fines imposed on 45 broadcast stations by NBC.
On March 1, 2019, NBC sanctioned 45 broadcast stations over alleged ethical infractions during the general election.
Is’haq Kawu, then director-general of the commission, said the affected media houses were fined N500,000 each for flouting the provisions of the Nigerian broadcasting code.
Among the affected stations were Channels Television, TVC, AIT, and NTA.
Displeased with the fines, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) sued NBC, stating that the action of the commission violated the right to a fair hearing under section 36 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
MRA had asked the court to declare the fines unconstitutional and null.
In July 2023, NBC asked the court to dismiss the order while arguing that the court reached its decision in “ignorance of relevant facts”.
NBC also claimed that MRA has “two un-appealed, subsisting and binding decisions of the federal high court on the same issues and parties”.
The commission added that the media group brought a fresh suit before the court, instead of appealing previous rulings.
In November 2023, Omotosho dismissed the motion filed by NBC seeking to set aside the verdict.
Omotosho ruled that available evidence showed that the commission was served but failed to appear before the court.
The judge said NBC failed to present facts that the suit filed by the media group was an abuse of the court process.
