The Court of petition in Abuja unanimously turned down the National Broadcasting Commission’s (NBC) petition on Thursday. The NBC wanted to reverse a Federal High Court decision that permanently stopped it from fining radio and television stations.
The verdict is a legal win for Media Rights Agenda (MRA), which had argued that only courts had the right to punish anyone for breaking the law.
The appeal came after NBC fined 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019, for breaking the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. On May 10, 2023, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court said that NBC “is neither a Court nor a judicial tribunal to make pronouncements on the guilt of broadcast stations.” This meant that the fines were no longer valid.
NBC had asked the High Court to throw out its decision in July 2023, but that request was turned down in November 2023. NBC’s most recent appeal said that the High Court’s decision was made without taking all the facts into account, but the Court of Appeal disagreed.
Justice Oyejoju Oyebiola Oyewumi said, “Since the NBC did not challenge the suit at the Federal High Court, it cannot now try to overturn the judgment at the Court of Appeal.” The other two justices agreed.
NBC has filed a second appeal against a similar High Court decision from January 17, 2024. In that case, a television station and three pay-TV platforms were fined in 2022 for allegedly airing content that endangered national security.
Media rights advocates have praised the Court of Appeal’s judgment as a reaffirmation of press freedom and a warning that regulatory bodies must follow Nigerian law.
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