CISLAC Blasts NBC for Sanctioning Vision FM, Cries Out Over Press Gagging

 

The National Broadcasting Commission has been faulted by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) for shutting down and fining Vision FM, an Abuja based radio station.

 

The Federal Government sanctioned the Abuja-based radio station over a discussion on ‘Idon Mikiya’.

 

The Hausa programme talked about the reappointment of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

 

President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision has been opposed by aggrieved security officials and stakeholders.

 

In a letter, some NIA officials recalled that Abubakar left service in 2012, six years before he was named DG.

 

“This appointment brought a kind of a very odd and awkward relationship between the DG and directors”, it read in part.

 

Irked by the deliberation on Idon Mikiya, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) slammed a N5million fine on Vision FM.

 

The NBC also suspended the programme for six months, starting from January 28, 2022.

 

In a statement on Thursday, CISLAC Director urged President Buhari to call the NBC to order.

 

The activist said that level of intolerance and impunity was getting out of hand despite having no place in a democracy.

 

He told the government to lift the suspension and uphold the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

 

Rafsanjani declared that the NBC action “exposes the government’s illicit desire to gag the press, block free speech and turn Nigeria into a Police State”

 

He reminded the Buhari administration that its emergence was a result of press freedom and vibrancy of the civil society.

 

Rafsanjani, Head of Transparency International, Nigeria and Chairman of Amnesty International, Nigeria, advised the NBC to handle its regulatory role professionally and with restraint.