COURT STRIKES OUT SERAP'S SUIT AGAINST LAI MOHAMMED, NBC OVER #ENDSARS COVERAGE
The Federal High Court in Abuja has thrown out the case filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and National Broadcasting Commission(NBC) seeking to reject the fines imposed on three TV stations over #EndSARS coverage.
The Court said SERAP has no locua standi in the case as it is not a part of the matter.
The Judge described the case as a mere academic exercise.
SERAP and a group of lawyers, under the aegis of Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative, had on November 2, filed lawsuits against the NBC over the N3 million fines imposed by the commission on ARISE News Channel, Channels Television and AIT in relation to their coverage of the #EndSARS protests.
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The NBC on October 26 fined the three broadcast stations over their coverage of the #ENDSARS protests across the Nation.
SERAP, which filed its suit in collaboration with 261 concerned Nigerians, civil society and media groups, also joined the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; and the acting Director-General of the NBC, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, as defendants.
Read Also: NBC FINES THREE BROADCAST STATIONS OVER #ENDSARS COVERAGE
The group urged the court to declare that the fines imposed by NBC on each of Channels TV, Africa Independent Television and ARISE TV over their coverage of the #EndSARS protests as “arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional.”
SERAP said that the information minister had been making consistent efforts to gag the press from performing their "watchdog role by using broadcasting codes."
The group said the imposition of N3 million on the stations without giving them fair hearing was in breach of the constitutional rights of the media houses.
Similarly, DRLI, in the suit filed by its lawyers, Messrs Solomon Okedara and Olumide Babalola, contended that “the sanction and fine imposed on the television stations creates a chilling effect on freedom of expression and constitutes an unjustifiable interference of its members’ right to freedom of expression particularly, their right to receive ideas and information from the sanctioned television stations.”
DRLI prayed the court to strike out the N3million fine and to award N1million damages against the NBC.
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