The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development have dragged President Muhammadu Buhari to court over the N5 million fine slammed on Trust TV for airing a documentary on banditry.
They CSOs asked the court to “declare arbitrary and illegal, the N5 million imposed on Trust Television, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Television Authority-Startimes Limited and others over their documentaries on terrorism in the country.”
Joined in the suit as Defendants are the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, and the National Broadcasting Commission.
On August 3, 2022, NBC Director General Balarabe Shehu Illela imposed a fine of N5 million each on Trust TV, MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, owners of DSTV, NTA-Startimes Limited and TelCom Satellite Limited (TSTV).
Days earlier, Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has accused Trust TV and BBC of glorifying bandits in their documentaries, warning that the federal government would sanction the stations.
But in the suit number FHC/L/CS/1486/2022 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, SERAP, and the CJID are seeking: “an order setting aside the arbitrary and illegal fines of N5 million and any other penal sanction unilaterally imposed by the NBC on these media houses simply for carrying out their constitutional duties.”
According to the plaintiffs: “The NBC and Mohammed have not shown that the documentaries by the media houses would impose a specific risk of harm to a legitimate state interest that outweighs the public interest in the information provided by the documentaries.”
The plaintiffs said: “The documentaries by these independent media houses pose no risk to any definite interest in national security or public order.”
The suit filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by their lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms Adelanke Aremo, read in part: “A fine is a criminal sanction and only the court is empowered by the Constitution to impose it. Fine imposed by regulatory agencies like the NBC without recourse to the courts is unfair, illegal, and unconstitutional.”