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 dismiss 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.
Given the irregularities and violations of the Electoral Act of 2022 and the Constitution of Nigeria in Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25 by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Baba-Ahmed asserted that Nigeria had no president-elect on March 22 during an interview with Channels Television (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.
SERAP in a tweet asked NBC to reject the saction request or face legal action.
“The NBC must reject the purported request by APC Presidential Campaign Council to sanction Channels TV over alleged interview of the Labour Party Vice Presidential candidate. We’ll see in court if the NBC ever acts on the request”, SERAP wrote.