The Courtroom of Enchantment in Abuja on Thursday upheld the judgement of the Federal Excessive Courtroom, which barred Nationwide Broadcasting Fee (NBC) from imposing fines on broadcast stations over alleged infringement of its code.
The appellate court docket, in a unanimous resolution, affirmed the judgement of the trial court docket, after dismissing the enchantment of NBC for being incompetent and missing in benefit.
As a reminder, Justice James Omotosho of the Abuja division of the Federal Excessive Courtroom had in a judgement delivered in 2023 declared as illegal and unconstitutional the act of imposing fines on broadcast stations by NBC.
Dissatisfied, the fee approached the appellate court docket to put aside the choice of the trial court docket, citing, amongst others, lack of truthful listening to.
However, in its judgement delivered on Thursday, the three-member panel of the Courtroom of Enchantment disagreed with the submissions of the appellant.
Justice Oyejoju Oyebiola Oyewumi, who delivered the lead judgement, held that having didn’t problem the go well with on the Federal Excessive Courtroom, NBC couldn’t now problem it on the Courtroom of Enchantment.
Oyewumi held that NBC’s enchantment lacked benefit and, subsequently, dismissed it.
The 2 different justices, who sat on the panel, Justice Abba Bello Mohammed and Justice Donatus Uwaezuoke Okorowo, agreed along with her.
Recall that Omotosho had within the landmark judgement issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining NBC from imposing fines, henceforth, on broadcast stations within the nation.
Moreover, the court docket had additionally put aside the N500,000 fines imposed on March 1, 2019 on every of the 45 broadcast stations.
In line with the decide, NBC, not being a court docket of regulation, has no energy to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations.
It was the place of the trial court docket that the NBC Code, which gave the fee the ability to impose sanction, was in battle with Part 6 of the 1999 Structure that vested judicial energy within the court docket of regulation.
Omotosho emphasised that the court docket wouldn’t sit idle and watch a physique impose fines arbitrarily with out recourse to the regulation.
The court docket stated the fee didn’t adjust to the regulation when it sat as a complainant and on the identical time, the court docket and the decide by itself matter.
The decide agreed that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, being a subsidiary laws that empowers an administrative physique, corresponding to NBC, to implement its provisions couldn’t confer judicial powers on the fee to impose prison sanctions or penalties, corresponding to fines.
He additionally agreed that the fee, not being Nigerian Police, had no energy to conduct prison investigation that may result in prison trial and imposition of sanctions.
“This can go towards the doctrine of separation of powers,” the decide held, including, “The motion of the respondent qualifies as excessiveness,” because it had ascribed to itself judicial and government powers.
NBC had on March 1, 2019 imposed the sum of N500, 000 every on 45 broadcast stations within the nation over alleged violation of its code.
Nevertheless, the Integrated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda had, in an originating motions marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1386/2021, sued NBC as sole respondent within the go well with.
Within the movement dated November 9, 2021 by its lawyer, Noah Ajare, the group sought a declaration that the sanctions process utilized by NBC in imposing N500,000 fines on every of the 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019 was a violation of the foundations of pure justice.
The lawyer additionally stated the fines had been in violation of the fitting to truthful listening to below Part 36 of the 1999 Structure (as amended) and Articles 7 of the African Constitution on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap AQ) Legal guidelines of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. The group had argued that this was so as a result of the code, which created the alleged offences of which the printed stations had been accused, was written and adopted by NBC, “and in addition provides powers to the stated fee to obtain complaints of alleged breaches, examine and adjudicate the complaints, impose sanctions, together with fines, and finally accumulate the fines, which the fee makes use of for its personal functions.”
They, due to this fact, sought an order setting apart the N500,000 fines purportedly imposed by NBC on every of the 45 broadcast stations on Friday, March 1, 2019.
Additionally they sought “an order of perpetual Injunction restraining the respondent, its servants, brokers, privies, representatives or anybody performing for or on its behalf, from imposing fines on any of the printed stations or some other broadcast station in Nigeria for any alleged offence dedicated below the Nigerian Broadcasting Code”.
Alex Enumah
Times Nigeria