The Daily IIJ

The President Umaru Musa YarAdua’s government after 72 hours of suspending the operating licence of Channels Television, finally lifted it on Friday afternoon but not before getting some bashing from angry Nigerians especially the press.

Addressing newsmen at its headquarters in Abuja, the director general of NBC, Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa said the commission suspended the TV’s broadcasting licence in all locations for what it termed “breach of provisions of the National Broadcasting Commission Act. No. 38 of 1992 (as amended) and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code”.

Many see the suspension as the replication of the dark years of the Babangida and Abacha regimes (both military heads of state). In the Abacha years, any report against the government could end you life imprisonment that is if you are spared to be alive. 

Acoording to Simon Kolawole in his column on sunday “it was hell to be a journalist in Nigeria. I was working with the TheNews/TEMPO group then, and, honestly, it was not a cup of tea. We were regularly hounded by security agencies. Routine arrest and detention of our editors was a prominent item on the agenda. Our offices were habitually occupied by state agents. We had to device “guerrilla” means to survive.

“Ultimately, our colleague, Bagauda Kaltho, disappeared in mysterious circumstances until the police came up with a fantastic story two years later that he died while trying to plant a bomb at Durbar Hotel, Kaduna. One of the founding editors, Kunle Ajibade, walked into the office one day in 1995 only to be arrested by security agents who had actually come for Dapo Olorunyomi, then the Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Pronto, Ajibade was arraigned before the Patrick Aziza military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment for taking part in a plot to overthrow the great Abacha!”.

Kolawole continues: “The Ibrahim Babangida administration was “media-friendly” until he woke up one day in 1987 and proscribed Newswatch for six months. Then, it became a very sweet pastime to bully the media. By the time Babangida left office in 1993, there was no newspaper in Lagos that had not received a kick from his jackboot. In fact, OGBC, the Ogun State radio station, was closed down for broadcasting newspaper reviews that offended “His Excellency”.

With this background and with Yar’Adua’s  taunting that his government belives in “the rule of law”, you can understand why the belated efforts of NBC in promising to work with security agencies to ensure that all journalists detained in connection with the false report about President Umaru Yar’Adua’s purported planned resignation after the cabinet reshuffle, are released, did not impress the the Nigerian media.

Addressing newsmen at its headquarters in Abuja, the director general of NBC, Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa said the commission was also working with security agencies to ensure that all journalists detained in connection with the false report about President Umaru Yar’Adua’s purported planned resignation after the cabinet reshuffle, are released.

The NBC boss, who refused to entertain questions from journalists after reading the text of the press release, stated that the suspension was lifted because Channels Television accepted responsibility for the broadcast and had tendered an apology.

The text of the NBC DG’s speech reads: “Subsequent to the suspension order, the commission continued its investigations into the immediate and remote causes of the breach and is satisfied with the findings.
“Channels Television caused to be broadcast, an unwholesome news item which could have been detrimental to national interest and lead or likely to lead to a breakdown of law and order in the country contrary to the provisions of the National Broadcasting Act and Nigeria Broadcasting Code to which Channels Television has accepted responsibility and tendered an apology.
“Consequently, the National Broadcasting Commission, in consonance with the provisions of paragraph 13.5.1.1 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code and without prejudice to the duties of security services to carry out their ongoing investigations to a logical conclusion, hereby lifts the suspension order and directs Channels Television to put in place effective mechanisms to confirm news items and sources before broadcast.
“The National Broadcasting Commission is also working with security agencies to ensure that all journalists detained in connection with the false report about the president are released.”

The Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) before the lifting of the suspension said Channels TV airing of the news item was a professional mistake but not enough to end it a suspension more since they retract and apologised 10 minutes after they ready the mischivous email.
According to a press statement signed by BON’s chairman and the director general, Voice of Nigeria, Abubakar B. Jijiwa and the Executive Secretary of BON, Osita Nweke, “BON considers the incident that occurred as a professional slip and not a deliberate action by Channels Television to embarrass the Federal Government of Nigeria or its intended viewers.”
The statement described Channels Television as an “accomplished organization with a track record of professionalism, excellence and credibility, especially in news reportage, a feat that enabled it win several awards and laurels since its establishment.”
The statement said BON would ensure that its member stations strengthen their gate keeping processes and procedures to ensure that no sensitive news item is aired without authentication from the relevant authorities.
It also said that BON members have been directed to urgently review existing editorial procedures to achieve harmony and balance within the critical areas of timeliness, discretion, diligence and credibility.
A former House of Representatives Committee chairman on Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Hon. Dayo Bush described the federal government’s treatment of Channels Television as “breaking the law in the process of effecting it.”
Bush said as much as he agreed that the news item was wrong and misleading, the government also threw caution to the wind by wielding such a big stick, especially on a news medium that has done the nation proud over time.”
The lawmaker said he expected the government to sanction the media outfit and not clamp down heavily on it, especially for a government that subscribes dearly to the rule of law.

Channels Television ran into troubled waters on Tuesday when it aired a news report that was attributed to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) bulletin stating the president would resign on health grounds after reshuffling his cabinet.
The story turned out to be a hoax and led men of the State Security Service to shut down the offices of Channels Television in Lagos Abuja. Some of its senior editorial staff along with staff from NAN and AFP, which first flashed the story on its newswire service, were arrested for interrogation but had not been released at the time of this report.
The next day after it aired the erroneous story, NBC, the industry regulator, wielded the big stick by suspending its licence.

Many blamed the mischief on YarAdua’s Aministration which has been described as a ’slow coach’, hush-hush on health issues.

A contributor in the Freedom of Information Coalition (FOI) sums it up like this “It is quite unfortunate that after nine years of democratic practice, the rabble-rousers,political jobbers,militricians masquerading as democrats and advocate of the rule of law including their co-travellers that have kept this blessed country in a permanent state of arrested development are yet to purge themselves of the Praetorian guard mentality of the military era. For a country that lay claim to democratic practice, the illegal closure of the award-winning Channels television, the best news medium in this clime is not only shameful but a serious affront on press freedom and the right of Nigerians to know”.

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