SERAP also wants the court to declare arbitrary and illegal the five million naira imposed on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, NTA-Startimes Limited and telccom Satellite Limited, over their documentaries on terrorism in the country.
The suit which was co-filed by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development has the Minister of Information and Culture, LAI MOHAMMED, and the National Broadcasting Commission joined as defendants.
The NBC imposed the fines on the media house on the grounds that their documentaries glorified the activities of bandits and undermined national security, an act that contravenes the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
But the groups in the suit filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, are seeking an order setting aside the fines and any other penal sanction imposed by the NBC on these media houses.
A statement issued by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said the NBC and Lai Mohammed have not shown that the documentaries by the media houses would impose a specific risk of harm to a legitimate State interest that outweighs the public interest in the information provided by the documentaries.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
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