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JUST IN: NBC Has No Powers To Fine Broadcast Stations, Court Rules

Published

3 years ago

May 10, 2023

An Abuja Federal High Court has barred the National Broadcasting Commission from imposing fines on Nigerian broadcast stations.

Presiding Judge James Omotosho, in a Wednesday ruling, said the NBC lacked the judicial powers to impose penalties.

Omotosho gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining the NBC from imposing fines, henceforth, on broadcast stations in the country.

He also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed, on March 1, 2019, on each of the 45 broadcast stations.

Justice Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations.

He further held that the NBC Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law.

He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law.

He said that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at the same time, the court and the judge on its own matter.

The judge agreed that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, being a subsidiary legislation that empowers an administrative body such as the NBC to enforce its provisions cannot confer judicial powers on the commission to impose criminal sanctions or penalties such as fines.

He also agreed that the commission, not being Nigerian police, had no power to conduct criminal investigation that would lead to criminal trial and imposition of sanctions.

“This will go against the doctrine of separation of powers,” he said.

Omotosho held that what the doctrine sought to achieve was to prevent tyranny by concentrating too much powers in one organ.

“The action of the respondent qualifies as excessiveness” as it had ascribed to itself the judicial and executive powers.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the NBC had, on March 1, 2019, imposed the sum of N500, 000 each on 45 broadcast stations in the country over alleged violation of its code.

However, the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda had, in an originating motions marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1386/2021, sued the NBC as sole respondent in the suit.

In the motion dated Nov. 9, 2021 by its lawyer, Noah Ajare, the group sought a declaration that the sanctions procedure applied by the NBC in imposing N500,00Q fines on each of the 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019 was a violation of the rules of natural justice.

The lawyer also said that the fines were in violation of the right to fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Articles 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap AQ) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The group argued that this was so because the code, which created the alleged offences of which the broadcast stations were accused was written and adopted by the NBC, “and also gives powers to the said commission to receive complaints of alleged breaches, investigate and adjudicate the complaints, impose sanctions, including fines, and ultimately collect the fines, which the commission uses for its own purposes.”

They, therefore, sought an order setting aside the N500,000 fines purportedly imposed by the NBC on each of the 45 broadcast stations on Friday, March 1, 2019.

They also sought “an order of perpetual Injunction restraining the respondent, its servants, agents, privies, representatives or anyone acting for or on its behalf, from imposing fines on any of the broadcast stations or any other broadcast station in Nigeria for any alleged offence committed under the Nigerian Broadcasting Code.”

Delivering the judgment, Justice Omotosho described the NBC’s act as being ultra vires.

He held that the fines imposed by the NBC as punishment for commission of various offences under its code were contrary to the law and hereby declared as unconstitutional, null and void.

The judge also made an order of perpetual injunction restraining the commission from further imposing fines on broadcast stations in the country.

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Putin Says Russia Ready For War, Blames Europe For Sabotaging Peace

Published

4 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was “ready” for war if Europe seeks one, accusing the continent’s leaders of trying to sabotage a deal on the Ukraine conflict before he met with US envoys.

The comments came as US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Moscow for high-stakes talks on ending the nearly four-year war, which were preceded by days of intense diplomacy.

“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin told reporters in Moscow.

“They have no peaceful agenda, they are on the side of war,” he added, repeating his claim that European leaders were hindering US attempts to broker peace in Ukraine.

He added that European changes to Trump’s latest plan to end the war “aimed solely at one thing — to completely block the entire peace process and put forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia”.

Washington has presented a 28-point draft to end the conflict, later amended after criticism from Kyiv and Europe, which viewed it as heeding to many of Russia’s maximalist demands.

The plan to end the war is championed by Trump, but European countries fear it risks forcing Kyiv to cave in to Russian demands, notably on territory.

Fearing further Russian aggression, Europe has repeatedly said an unfair peace should not be imposed on Ukraine.

The Trump envoys are now seeking to finalise the plan with the approval of Moscow and Kyiv.
AFP

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US Senator Proposes Bill To End Dual Citizenship

Published

4 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

A United States lawmaker has introduced a bill seeking to abolish dual citizenship for American nationals, a move that could affect thousands of Nigerians who hold both US and Nigerian passports.

Bernie Moreno, a Colombian-born US senator, announced the proposed legislation — titled the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 — arguing that the current system, which allows Americans to hold multiple nationalities, creates “conflicts of interest and divided loyalties.”

“One of the greatest honours of my life was when I became an American citizen at 18, the first opportunity I could do so.

“It was an honour to pledge an Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America and only to the United States of America! Being an American citizen is an honour and a privilege—and if you want to be an American, it’s all or nothing. It’s time to end dual citizenship for good,” Moreno said.

Moreno, who has since renounced his Colombian citizenship, maintains that exclusive allegiance is essential to national integrity.

If passed, the bill could have far-reaching implications for prominent figures such as US First Lady Melania Trump, who holds both US and Slovenian citizenship. It would also significantly impact Nigerians with dual citizenship.

According to a July naturalisation flow report by the US Department of Homeland Security, 38,890 Nigerians became naturalised American citizens between 2021 and 2023. Nigeria ranked 13th among countries with the highest number of new US citizens and was the only African nation in the top 20.

Nigerian law allows citizens by birth to hold dual nationality without relinquishing their Nigerian citizenship.

This development comes months after President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at denying automatic US citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born in the country.

The order was immediately challenged by 18 states and multiple rights groups, who argued it violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship. Ongoing legal battles have prevented the order from taking effect.

Headline

12 Die, 30 Missing In Peru Landslide

Published

1 day ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

At least 12 people, including three children, died in a landslide at a river port in central Peru on Monday, and 30 were reported missing, officials said.

The landslide submerged a boat with about 50 passengers on board, and another with none, as they were docked at the port of Iparia in the Amazon jungle region of Ucayali, according to a police report cited by the Andina news agency.

Six people were injured, it added, and a search and rescue operation was underway at the start of the Peruvian rainy season.

Without giving a toll, Peru’s COEN national emergency operations centre said on X that tragedy struck at dawn due to “erosion” of the bank of the Ucayali river.

It said the navy has been called in to help.

AFP