A Federal High Court in Abuja issued a permanent injunction on Wednesday prohibiting the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from penalizing broadcast stations in the nation going forward.
In his ruling, Justice James Omotosho also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed on each of the 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019.
Justice Omotosho ruled that NBC lacked the authority to punish broadcast stations because it was not a court of law.
He further asserted that Section 6 of the Constitution, which gave the court of law exclusive jurisdiction over disputes, conflicts with the NBC Code, which grants the commission the authority to impose sanctions.
He stated that the court would not stand by and watch a body impose a fine arbitrarily and without recourse to the law.
He claimed that the commission violated the law by sitting as both a complainant and as the court and judge on its own matter.
The judge agreed that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, as a subsidiary legislation that empowers an administrative body such as the NBC to enforce its provisions, cannot grant the commission judicial powers to impose criminal sanctions or penalties such as fines.
He also agreed that the commission, not the Nigeria Police Force, had no power to conduct a criminal investigation that would lead to criminal trial and imposition of sanctions.
“This will go against the doctrine of separation of powers,” he said.
Omotosho held that what the doctrine sought to achieve was to prevent tyranny by concentrating too much power in one organ.
The action of the respondent qualifies as excessiveness as it had ascribed to itself the judicial and executive powers,” he said.