SERAP urges NBC to ignore Tinubu, reverse N5m fine against Channels or face lawsuit

The All Progressives Congress (APC) petitioned the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) after Channels TV aired an interview with Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the NBC to deny the petition.

In a petition to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu claimed that Channels Television had violated the Nigerian Broadcasting Code while interviewing Labour Party vice presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed.

Baba-Ahmed had during an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, March 22, claimed that Nigeria had no president-elect given the irregularities and breach of the Electoral Act, 2022, and Constitution of Nigeria in Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He alleged that the Certificate of Return issued to Tinubu was a dead certificate as it was against the provisions of Section 134 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that anybody that would be declared president-elect must win 25 per cent of votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The NBC had, however, in a letter obtained on Friday, slammed a fine of N5 million on the broadcasting company for breach of code.