The President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has petitioned the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to sanction Channels Television for breaching the Nigerian Broadcasting Code during an interview with the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Datti Baba Ahmed.
In the petition signed by the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential campaign council Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, dated 30th March 2023, Tinubu said: “In line with Section 14.0.1 of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code 6th edition stating the duty of the commission to accept complaints from aggrieved persons, bodies or members of the public and investigate as well as apply sanctions where necessary, the APC PCC hereby petitions the commission on breaches by CHANNELS TV on its programme ‘Politics Today’ last week.”
Tinubu accused Baba Ahmed of making several comments attacking the integrity of the 25th February 2023 Presidential elections. In the interview, he faulted the emergence of the former Lagos governor as the President-elect and categorically requested the Chief Justice of Nigeria and President Muhamadu Buhari not to swear him in.
In his petition, Tinubu noted that the host of the show should have cautioned the Datti for making such unguarded comments and that for failing to do so, the station should be sanctioned.
According to the petition,” The guest on the programme in question, Datti Baba-Ahmed, said President Muhammadu Buhari should not swear in the President-elect because he did not score 25% of the vote in the FCT, being one of the prerequisites for being declared the winner. This is a subversive comment since the matter is among the issues submitted in their petition before the tribunal for adjudication. Therefore, until the court rules otherwise, the status quo is the INEC position as declared in the final results.
