Joined in the suit as a defendant is the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
According to SERAP and PTCIJ: “The NBC directive fails to establish a direct and immediate connection between the reporting by broadcast stations and purported risks to national security and peace. The NBC is using ‘national security’ as a pretext to intimidate and harass journalists and broadcast stations, and to violate Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP and PTCIJ by their lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi, read in part: “The NBC and Mr Lai Muhammed lack the power and authority to restrict the ability of journalists and broadcast stations to carry out their constitutional duties and to unlawfully impose penalty such as fines and other sanctions on any journalists and broadcast stations for reporting on details of terrorist attacks and victims in the country.
“While the NBC has the powers to make rules to enable it perform its statutory functions under section 2[1] [a] to [u] of NBC Act, such statutory powers ought to be exercised in line with the Nigerian Constitution, and the country’s international human rights obligations.” “The interference with the constitutional and legal duties of journalists and broadcast stations cannot be justified, as Nigerian authorities have failed to show that reporting of terrorist attacks and victims would impose a specific risk of harm to a legitimate State interest that outweighs the public’s interest in such information.”
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