CPJ to NBC: Reopen Ekiti Radio and TV

By Akanimo Sampson, Abuja/

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has called on the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), a Federal Government-run broadcast regulator, to immediately permit the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State (BSES) to reopen.

On July 14, police acting on the orders of the NBC evacuated the state government-owned radio and television broadcaster and locked its doors, Rotimi Ojomoyela, chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in Ekiti State, said.

The closure came after Governor Ayodele Fayose on July 14 went on the state broadcaster and declared victory for his deputy and fellow member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kolapo Olusola Eleka.

The action came before the Independent National Electoral Commission had made its results announcement. The NBC on July 15 described Fayose’s actions as a violation of the NBC Code and the Electoral Act.

“The alleged infractions by the Ekiti State broadcaster do not justify the ongoing closure of a major source of public information,” CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney says in a statement. “The journalists should be permitted to return to work immediately.”

The NBC’s statement listed what it considered multiple infractions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code by BSES, including Section 5.2.15, which mandates that “a broadcaster shall broadcast election results or declaration of the winner only as announced by the authorized electoral officer for the election.”

The statement additionally noted alleged “malicious and unsubstantiated claims” made on air against “the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services.”

CPJ’s repeated calls to Mallam Ishaq Modibbo, director general of the NBC, and Maimuna Jimada, head of public affairs for the NBC, to ask for clarification on the sanctioning process and reasoning for the closure, went unanswered.

Ojomoyela told CPJ that NUJ on July 16 submitted an appeal requesting that the broadcasting station is reopened.

Days before the closure, on July 11, the NBC also fined the state broadcaster N500,000 (US$1,385) for allegedly failing to meet ethical standards, according to Premium Times, a privately owned news website.

The NBC took issue with Lere Olayinka being appointed acting director general of the station while at the same time serving as a spokesperson for the PDP governorship candidate, Olusola Eleka.

On July 15, INEC declared Kayode Fayemi, the candidate from All Progressives Congress party as winner of the Ekiti gubernatorial election, a result that was rejected by Olusola Eleka.

Newsmakers