The National Broadcastig Commission (NBC), announced this Wednesday, March 15, having sanctioned 25 broadcasting stations. On the grounds that the stations involved have violated the provisions of the broadcasting code and the electoral law.
The news came from the director general of the NBC, Mallam Balarebe Ilela, at a press briefing in Abuja on the results of his monitoring exercise before, during and after the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“The stations concerned, despite being aware of the provisions of the NBC Code and the election law, deliberately broadcast partisan content 24 hours before the elections and also announced the election results before the official announcement by INEC,” said Mallam Ilela, adding further that 16 additional broadcasting stations have been issued a warning.
Thus, after urging them to be more professional ahead of the gubernatorial (scheduled for Saturday, March 18) and state legislative elections, Malam Ilela called on the media to use their dynamic platforms to deliberately promote peace.
In addition, the NBC executive director warned that the Commission would not hesitate to sanction any broadcast station that violated the NBC code before, during and after the gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections.
It should be noted that limiting partisan content, hate speech and fairness in media time were among NBC’s primary goals for the election period.
