The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has fined the owners of Television Continental (TVC) N2 million for airing hate speech and inflammatory remarks which is in contradiction with sections of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code. The Commission also fined Arise TV for broadcasting the presidential campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which was held in Delta State, where Dino Melaye mocked the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This development was contained in a letter issued on Friday and signed by NBC, Director-General (DG), Balarabe Ilelah, which stated that “hate speech, inflammatory, derogatory and unfair comments” has become a trend of TVC.
The letter reads, “On 06/01/23 at 12:29 PM, the Joint Media Directorate of the All Progressives Congress-Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC) made the following comments while briefing the media. Festus Keyamo: ‘....Obasanjo and Atiku run a criminal enterprise, an empire of fraud in Abuja. At the same time that Ahmed Bola Asiwaju was toiling hard, beautifully, and meticulously to rebuild Lagos, 2 criminals were stealing money in Abuja at the time...they both stole from the SPV account at that time.’
“On 24/01/23 at 03:39PM, during the APC Presidential Rally in Abia State. The APC Presidential Candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu after telling the public to vote APC under the symbol of broom, he went on to make the following comment, ‘....You know what you do with the rest of them? They are like lizards, cockroaches, and mosquitoes. Just take the broom, wipe them off’.”
