NBC’s Persistent Attempts to Cage the Press

By acting as both complainant/prosecutor and the judge in sanctioning media houses, the National Broadcasting Commission is unwittingly sounding the death knell for the most important pillar of democracy – a free press, writes Louis Achi

The press and politics have been closely associated since the invention of printing press and later with the emergence of democracy in western countries where constitutional democracy thrives. The media can provide warring groups mechanisms for mediation, representation and voice to settle their differences peacefully.

The media can also help build peace and social consensus, without which democracy is threatened, as this system of government requires the active participation of citizens. Ideally, the media should keep citizens engaged in the business of governance by informing, educating and mobilising the public.

Most importantly, it holds the government and its agencies to account.

Free press can be endangered by state’s interference when it perceives that its ‘dictatorial’ grip is being threatened in a so-called democracy. This scenario captures the unfolding controversial development where the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC),  which serves as the regulator for the broadcast industry in Nigeria, persistently imposes fines on broadcast stations as it did recently when it slammed a fine of N5million on Channels Television.

Precisely on March 27, 2023, the commission  fined Channels Television for allegedly breaking the broadcasting code in a programme with the vice presidential candidate of Labour Party, Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed. The sanction was contained in a letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the television station.

The NBC letter titled: ‘Broadcast of an Inciting Interview, A Sanction’, was signed by Balarabe Ilelah, its Director-General. It read in part: “The NBC monitored the broadcast of a live interview of the running mate of the Labour Party vice presidential candidate, Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed, by the anchor of Politics Today, Seun Okibaloye, on Wednesday, March 22.

“Dr Baba-Ahmed said it will be unconstitutional to swear in an elected president on May 29, 2023, because of election irregularities,” Ilelah said in the letter. He noted that the broadcast was volatile and capable of inciting public disorder and therefore violated some sections of the broadcasting code.

Clearly, press freedom is the bedrock of democracy and free society. The reasoned reactions of critical stakeholders to the recent development were indications that the NBC may have crossed the line in carrying out what it believes is its statutory mandate.

A curious dimension to the current controversy is that NBC acted at the instance of a petition written by the Director of Media and Publicity for the ruling All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), Bayo Onanuga.

In the past, it had also draconically fined ARISE NEWS Channel and others.

On the heels of the fine slammed Channels Television, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and the International Press Centre (IPC) issued a joint statement criticising the NBC for the N5 million fine imposed on the television station.

Edetaen Ojo and Lanre Arogundade, executive directors of the MRA and the IPC respectively, stated that the fine was arbitrary and condemned the commission for denying Channels Television an opportunity to defend itself. They demanded that the NBC reverse the fine immediately.

“NBC has in this instance again exercised quasi-judicial powers injudiciously, by constituting itself to the prosecutor and the judge over a case brought before it by a third party. In previous instances, it has also additionally been the accuser,” the statement read in part.

Ojo and Arogundade accused the regulatory commission of being unfair and unjust in its punitive action against Channels Television, stating that its decision was based on a petition from Onanuga.

According to them, the commission obliged Onanuga’s request to punish the station for an interview with Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party vice presidential candidate, while denying Channels Television the right to defend itself.

Ojo and Arogundade observed that by acting only on Onanuga’s petition, the NBC exposed itself as a willing instrument employed by the APC administration to stifle journalistic freedom.

They urged the commission to refrain from actions that would undermine its credibility and independence, while emphasising that “the fundamental principles that ought to guide the regulation of broadcasting and related activities are the ones that advance the public interest and are investment-friendly, both of which have been discarded in the handling of the petition.”

In its reaction, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) advised NBC to apply caution when acting on petitions of political parties against media organisations.

Speaking at the monthly review of the NHRC’s Mobilising Voters for Elections (MOVE) Programme, last week, in Abuja, the commission’s Project Coordinator, Hilary Ogbonna, noted that freedom of the press was an important feature of democracy and actions that may be construed as gagging the press must be avoided.

He noted that the manner in which some media organisations were recently sanctioned by the government over complaints made by political parties was creating negative narrative on the democratic process in the country.

According to him, the speed with which sanction was imposed on Channels TV station just five days after a complaint was made through a petition against it was wrong, adding that such quick action was capable of sending wrong signal to the public and the international community that thorough investigation was not carried out.

According to him, the NHRC was not questioning the rights of sister government agencies to carry out their statutory responsibilities, but that caution should be exercised when it involves petitions written by politically exposed persons.

He said as the body saddled with the protection of human rights in the country, the NHRC found it expedient to advise sister government agencies to promote human rights in the country, rather than impede rights of citizens.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) alleged that the move by the NBC head to stifle freedom of expression and his open, brazen attempts to control the media contents of broadcast houses was symptomatic of a failed state ruled by brute force.

The rights group argued that eternal vigilance was the price of liberty.

It tasked Nigerians to stand up, and take steps legally to prevent the collapse of civil rule and constitutional democracy in Nigeria, which it alleged was the objective of the current head of the NBC.

It further stated that the alleged intermittent threats and impositions of unmerited and unconstitutional fines and other untoward administrative sanctions on private broadcasting stations in Nigeria by the NBC was breeding fascism, muzzling constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and ultimately promoting political killings, intolerance of opposing views and could imperil the sustenance of democracy and constitutionalism.

In the history of media in Nigeria, the names of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Alade Odunewu, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Peter Enahoro, Ray Ekpu, Dele Giwa and many others featured prominently.

Though it was not perfect then and is not perfect today,  Nigeria’s history will be incomplete without clearly acknowledging the contributions of the Nigerian press in its national growth and development.

What is most offensive to many Nigerians is that those who had used the media to their advantage in the past are the same people trying to gag it by frequently rolling sanctions and fines indiscriminately.

Therefore, what the NBC’s fines have shown is its increasing penchant to curb press freedom. It is the kind of behaviour one would expect from military regimes and other dictatorships where only comments that glorify the regimes are considered acceptable. When stations get fined because of comments made by people, especially in the opposition parties, it sends a signal to other stations not to interview those people.

It then becomes a ploy to deny opposition figures opportunities for media exposure, while hoping to solely control all the narratives. This is unacceptable and the NBC should not expect to turn the Nigerian media into such an unwilling participant in its undemocratic posturing.

It is just high time the NBC stopped working hard to become an undemocratic, anti-press freedom tool in Nigeria. It is not too late to retrace its steps.