•Accuses Lai Mohammed of trying to instigate civil war

“The intermittent threats and impositions of unmerited and unconstitutional fines and other untoward administrative sanctions meted out on private broadcasting stations in Nigeria by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is breeding fascism,” a Nigerian civil rights group has said.

The Human rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) which raised the aarm on Wednesday, March 5, 2023, also accused the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, of trying to instigate civil war in the country through his unguarded comments.

HURIWA, in a statement by his National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, further claimed that by its actions, the NBC was muzzling constitutionally guaranteed freedoms while ultimately promoting political killings, intolerance of opposing views that could imperil sustenance of democracy and constitutionalism in Nigeria.

The rights group said the scheme of the head of the ethically-challenged NBC to stifle the exercise of freedom of expression and his open, brazen and toxic attempts to control the media contents of broadcasting houses was symptomatic of a failed state ruled by brute force. But the rights group tasked Nigerians to stand up, take steps legally to prevent the collapse of civil rule and constitutional democracy in Nigeria, maintaining that eternal vigilance was the price of liberty.

The group thereby warned Nigerians against allowing the current head of NBC to achieve its objective which, it alleged, was to scuttle democracy in the country, insisting that its views were against the backdrops of unwarranted attacks of media pluralism, freedom of expression and other constitutional rights by NBC, the watchdog of broadcast stations in the country.

HURIWA described the NBC and the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, as the two most dangerous threats to the survival of civil rule in Nigeria, adding that the group “thinks the duo are agents of destabilisation and constitutionalism.

HURIWA, therefore, warned the United States of Americaan government to be wary of the distorted information it receives from Lai Mohammed considered as one of the potent threats to civil rule and freedom of the press.

The Rights group also knocked the Information Minister for instituting a culture of fascis and dictatorship through his recent diatribe against political opposition leader in Nigeria and Presidential flag bearer of the resurgent Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Gregory Obi. HURIWA also cautioned the Minister to stop overheating the polity and actively attempting to start off a civil war in Nigeria by his unguarded statements.

Warning that the combined threats targeting private television stations by the NBC and the dissemination of crass falsehoods and cheap propaganda against opponents of the ruling All Progressive Congress and those opposed to the outcome of the February 25th 2023 Presidential poll was capable of derailing democracy, HURIWA called on World leaders to call the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, to order.

The Rights group recalled that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) had vowed to close down broadcast stations airing programmes capable of undermining national security and peaceful co-existence.

The Director-General of NBC, Malam Balarabe Ilelah, issued the warning at a meeting with broadcast stations on the coverage of the Presidential, National Assembly, Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

“The NBC is giving its last warning to broadcast stations and will not hesitate to shut or revoke the license of any when convinced that its activities are capable of undermining the peaceful co-existence of the country.

“Any further breaches of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code and Act will no longer be tolerated,” he warned.

However, HURIWA cited some fundamental rights provisions to justify the right of all citizens to freedom of expression, including Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar who are contesting the emergence of the APC's Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The group, therefore, urged television and radio stations coming under the dictatorial radar of NBC to challenge the infractions of their constitutional rights as enshrined in section 22 of the Constitution before any court of competent jurisdictions, “to cut down the oppressive and negative tail of the fascist NBC.”