The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on Thursday announced that it has suspended the broadcasting license of Daar Communications Plc, over violation of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code. The Director-General of NBC, Mallam Is’haq Modibbo-Kawu in Abuja, made the announcement.
Kawu explained that the commission had sent warning letters and also summoned the communications company for over two years for their failure to abide by the broadcasting codes. He added that on June 2, 2017, a meeting was held with Daar Communications, where the NBC management expressed dismay over their inciting and divisive comments on their programmes.
According to the DG, the communications fail to pay their license fees at the appropriate time as well as their partisan views on political platforms programmes and the morning "Kakaaki" show.
He said, "Recently, NBC monitoring reports on AIT and Raypower indicate the use of divisive comments accredited to the segment of “Kakaaki”, tagged, “Kakaaki Social".
"Where inciting comments like, "Nigeria is cursed, "we declare an independent state of Niger Delta", "Nigeria irritates me", "this country is gradually Islamising" and other similar slogans are used without editorial control in breach of the broadcast Code.
Kawu said the decision to suspend the license of Daar Communications Plc is in line with the NBC Act Cap N11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which requires the NBC to serve the shut down order until further notice when the station fails to operate within the broadcasting codes, or when the station is used in manner detrimental to national interest.