Federal High Court Abuja, on Wednesday stopped the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from further imposing fines on broadcast stations in the country.
In a judgment, Justice James Omotosho voided the N500,000 fines imposed by the NBC on 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019.
Justice Omotosho was of the view that the NBC, not being a court of law, lacked power to impose sanctions as punishment on alleged erring broadcast stations.
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The judge held that the NBC Code, on which the commission relies to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law.
He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law, adding that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at the same time, a court and a judge on its own case.
The judgment was on a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1386/2021 filed by a group, the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda.