PDP lawmakers drag Lai Mohammed, NBC to court over broadcasting code
- Reps elected on the platform of the PDP have dragged Lai Mohammed and the NBC to court over the controversial 6th broadcasting code
- The lawmakers are asking the court to declare the amendment null and void
- Also, the PDP reps want the court to retrain the information minister from issuing broadcasting code and declare the NBC as the sole agency with such authority
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Nigeria's information minister, Lai Mohammed, and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) have been dragged to court over the controversial 6th broadcasting code.
The Nation reported that the minister and the NBC were sued by the caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives.
Legit.ng gathered that the lawmakers joined the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami as a defendant in the suit which was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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The lawmakers want the court to invalidate the controversial 6th broadcasting code.
Plaintiffs in the suit are caucus leader Kingsley Chinda; his Deputy Chukwuma Onyema; Caucus Deputy Whip Ajibola Muraina; Mark Gbillah; Tyough Robert; Bulus Solomon; Rimamnde Shawulu Kwewum; Yusuf Ayo Tajudeen and Onyeman Chukwuma.
Among other prayers, the lawmakers want the court to declare that the Amended 6th Nigerian Broadcasting Code is unconstitutional, null and void.
They argued that the said offences and penalties set out in the code have not been defined and/or prescribed in any written law by the National Assembly of Nigeria.
They also want the court to declare that the NBC is the sole authority statutorily empowered in Nigeria to enact and/or issue broadcasting codes just as they want the information minister perpetually restrained from further enacting, issuing or enforcing any national broadcasting code.
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Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the board of the National Broadcasting Commission rejected the amendments to the sixth edition of the NBC code recently unveiled by the information minister.
Ikra Bilbis, the board's chairman, said stakeholders have voiced out understandable reasons against the new amendments to the code.
The NBC board chair said the only broadcasting code recognised by the board is the 6th edition which was launched in 2019 in Kano.
Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government had raised the fine for hate speech from N500,000 to N5 million.
The minister of information made this known when he unveiled the reviewed Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
Mohammed clarified that the amendments were necessitated by a presidential directive, in the wake of the 2019 general elections.
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Source: Legit.ng
