The Socio‑Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for allegedly threatening to revoke the licences of broadcast stations and shut them down over their coverage of the 2023 general elections. The Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has also been named as a defendant.
Last week, the NBC reportedly sanctioned 25 broadcast stations and issued “final warnings” to 16 others for alleged violations of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code during the February 25, 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections. In suit number FHC/L/CS/469/2023, filed on Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP asks the court to determine whether the broadcasting code used by the NBC to sanction some stations and threaten others is inconsistent with freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom. The suit was filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Adelanke Aremo, and Valentina Adegoke.
SERAP seeks a declaration that the NBC’s sanctioning of certain broadcast stations and its threat to revoke licences and shut down others for lawful election coverage is unconstitutional and unlawful, as it violates freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom. The organization also requests an interim injunction restraining President Buhari, the NBC, and Mr. Mohammed from threatening or sanctioning broadcast stations for performing their constitutional duties, pending a hearing on a motion filed concurrently with the suit.
In its arguments, SERAP contends that it is a travesty of justice to punish and threaten broadcast stations that promote election integrity and citizen participation while allowing perpetrators of electoral violence and grave human‑rights violations to evade accountability. The organization criticises the government for scapegoating the media instead of promptly investigating allegations of election‑related violence and other infractions of the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution. SERAP warns that the use of the NBC Act and Code in this context would open the door to arbitrariness and fundamentally restrict freedom of expression, a right protected by the Nigerian Constitution and international human‑rights treaties to which Nigeria is a party.
No date has been set for the hearing of the suit.
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