Tinubu beseech NBC to sanction Channel TV over Datti’s comment

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.

The petition was signed by the All Progressives Congress, presidential campaign council Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, and dated March 30 2023.

Tinubu in the petition 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.”
The president-elect accused the Labour Party Vice presidential candidate of making several comments that attacked the integrity of the 25th February 2023 presidential elections.

Baba-Ahmed n the interview had faulted the emergence of the former Lagos governor as the president-elect and requested the Chief Justice of Nigeria and President, Major Gen Muhamadu Buhari(retd) not to swear him in.

Tinubu also noted in the petition that the host of the show should have cautioned the Baba-Ahmed for making such careless comments and for failing to do so, the station should be sanctioned.

The petition partly reads, “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.