Oluwanifemi Ojo
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development have taken legal action against President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, (retd.) regarding the N5 million penalty imposed on Channels Television.
According to the lawsuit, they are seeking a court ruling that declares the fine “arbitrary, illegal, and unconstitutional,” which resulted from an interview with the Labour Party’s vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed.
The National Broadcasting Commission and Mr Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, are also defendants in the case.
The NBC had recently fined Channels Television N5 million for the interview with Datti Baba-Ahmed, claiming that the interview “violated the NBC code.”
However, in the lawsuit numbered FHC/L/CS/616/2023, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos last week, the plaintiffs want the court to determine whether the NBC code, which was used to impose the fine and threaten “higher sanctions,” is inconsistent with access to information and media freedom.
A report by Channel TV revealed the plaintiffs are asking the court for “a declaration that the NBC code used by the NBC to impose a fine of N5m on Channels TV and the threat of ‘higher sanctions’ is arbitrary, unconstitutional and unlawful, as it violates the rights to a fair hearing, freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom.”
The plaintiffs seeks “an order setting aside the N5m fine for being inconsistent and incompatible with section 22, 36 and 39 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
According to reports, the plaintiffs are also requesting “an order directing and compelling the NBC to reverse its arbitrary and unlawful decision to impose a fine of N5m on Channels TV forthwith.”
The argument of the plaintiffs in the suit is that, “the media has the task of distributing all varieties of information and opinion on matters of general interest and public interest.”
According to the plaintiffs, “Imposing any fine whatsoever without due process of law is arbitrary and unconstitutional, as it contravenes the fundamental principles of nemo judex in causa sua which literally means one cannot be a judge in his own cause and audi alteram partem which means no one should be condemned unheard.”
In addition, the plaintiffs stated that “The media plays an essential role as a vehicle or instrument for the exercise of freedom of expression and access to information in a democratic society.”
“The NBC Act and Broadcasting Code cannot and should not be used in a manner that is inconsistent and incompatible with plurality of voices, diversity of voices, non-discrimination, just demands of a democratic society, and the public interest.”
“The fine is arbitrary and unlawful and would have a disproportionate and chilling effect on the work of other broadcast stations and journalists and Nigerians,” the plaintiff said.
The lawyers representing the plaintiffs, Kolawole Oluwadare, Andrew Nwankwo, and Ms Blessing Ogwuche, submitted a lawsuit on their behalf, which stated, “The reasons for the N5 million penalty imposed on Channels TV do not fulfill the standards of legality, necessity, and proportionality.”
“Broadcasting is a means of exercising freedom of expression. Any restrictions on freedom of expression must meet the requirements of legality, necessity, and proportionality.
“The regulation of broadcasting must aspire to promote and expand the scope of the right to freedom of expression, not restrict it,” it further reads.
Meanwhile, there is no set date for the hearing of the lawsuit.
