NBC Indicts AIT, NTA Over Hate Documentaries On Buhari, Tinubu
…21 Others Queried For Various Contraventions
SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, (THEWILL) – The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Monday, came down hard on African Independent Television (AIT) and the National Television Authority (NTA) for airing controversial and sponsored hate documentaries on the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) and the party's National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the countdown to last Saturday's presidential election.
Indicting the two television stations in a statement issued in Abuja, NBC Director of Public Affairs , Mr. Awwalu Salihu, NBC also indicted 21 other television and radio stations for various contraventions in the coverage of the 2015 general elections.
According to the statement, while NTA and AIT were indicted for contravening rules on airing sponsored materials, NTA was also indicted for contravening rules on sensibilities just as AIT was also indicted for contravening 24-hour advert prohibition rules.
The statement listed the 21 other stations indicted for varied offences to include Rima Radio, STV Lagos, NTA Lagos, NTA2 Channel 5, TVC Lagos, NTV, PRTV Jos, NTA Makurdi, Vision FM, Nigeria Info, OSBC TV, Freedom TV, Ilesa, BCOS TV, Liberty TV, Liberty Radio, Karama (FRCN) FM, Alheri FM, NTA Jos, Ombe Media Corp Radio FM, BSES Ekiti and DSTV (Ebony Live TV Channel).
According to NBC, “The contraventions include breaches of the rules on the broadcast of sponsored electoral campaign materials, which must conform to the standards of truth, decency and good taste, and requiring the sponsor to be clearly identified.
“Other breaches included the airing of campaign materials or programmes that promoted political parties or candidates within the 24-hour prohibition period, as well as unauthorised networking by a group of stations.”
The statement disclosed that all the indicted stations had either been queried or sanctioned in line with the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.