NHRC To NBC: You’ll Kill Media Houses If You Keep Imposing Fines Over Petitions By Politicians

The National Human Rights Commission has cautioned the National Broadcasting Commission against imposing fines on media houses based on petitions by political actors.

Recall that NBC had slammed a fine of N5 million on Channels Television for allegedly breaking the broadcasting law in an interview with Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party vice presidential candidate.

The fine followed a petition from the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga.

Speaking during a forum held to review human rights violations in the 2023 elections, the NHRC General Secretary and Coordinator of the Commission’s Situation Room, Hillary Ogbonna, cited the attack on media houses as one of the new threats emerging in the Nigerian political space.

While not mentioning the name of the media house, Ogbonna noted that the NBC imposed fine on an organisations recently.

He said the act backing the NHRC mandates it to advice federal, state and local government institutions on the need to work to promote human rights.

“We are of the opinion that they (NBC) should exercise restraint in terms of acting on petitions by politically exposed persons who feel their political positions are endangered by the views of others.

“We think that if for every media interview granted to an opposition member, there are imposition of fines, by the end of year we may not have media.

Ogbonna explained that the media plays key roles in the electoral process, adding that “sanctioning them should be the last resort.”

“We are not doubting the ability of any federal agency to do its duty, we are rather calling for caution,” he added.