Plan to invalidate the sanction that the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC slammed on few media house have met a brickwall.
On Friday, the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday dismissed the suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and the country’s broadcasting regulatory body, NBC.
The court in its ruling declared that’ SERAP has no locus standi in the case, describing the case as a mere academic exercise.
Recall that SERAP had filed a suit, asking the court to invalidate the N9million fine imposed on those broadcast stations .
The suit reads :“If the NBC and Mr Lai Mohammed are allowed to continue to use these oppressive provisions against independent media in the guise of performing their statutory duties, the end result will be authoritarianism and denial of freedom and liberty.
“The NBC and Mr Lai Mohammed have consistently used broadcasting codes to suppress the watchdog roles of independent media, and to violate Nigerians’ human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, to disseminate and receive information, and hold their government and public officials to account
