LIVE UPDATES
On Wednesday, a Federal High Court in Abuja issued an order of perpetual injunction prohibiting the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from going forward with sanctions against broadcast stations in the nation.
Additionally, the N500,000 fines levied on each of the 45 radio stations on March 1, 2019, were overturned by Justice James Omotosho in a ruling.
Justice Omotosho ruled that NBC lacked the authority to punish broadcast stations since it was not a court of law.
He further asserted that Section 6 of the Constitution, which gave the court of law exclusive jurisdiction over disputes, conflicts with the NBC Code, which grants the commission the authority to issue sanctions.
He declared that the court would not do nothing while a body unilaterally assessed a fine without following the law.
He said that the commission broke the law by appearing before the court and the judge on its own case while also acting as a complainant.
The judge concurred that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code cannot grant the commission judicial authority to impose criminal sanctions or penalties, such as fines, because it is a subsidiary law that gives an administrative body, such as the NBC, the authority to implement its terms.
He also concurred that the commission lacked the authority to launch a criminal inquiry that would result in a criminal trial and the application of sanctions.
"This will go against the separation of powers philosophy," he said.
According to Omotosho, the goal of the ideology was to stop tyranny by not concentrating too much power in one area.
He claimed that the respondent's actions qualified as being excessive because they gave themselves both judicial and executive authority.
