President, Women Arise (WA), Dr. Joe Okei- Odumakin, has decried the N5million fine imposed on Channels TV by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), describing it as a travesty that must not stand.
Okei- Odumakin said this in a statement titled: “That Channels TV 5m Naira Fine,” copy of which was made available to newsmen on Sunday, calling on NBC to “reverse itself since it exists in a somewhat undemocratic cleft where it alone accuses stations, adjudicates, imposes penalties and executes the penalties.”
This was just as the woman activist posited that if nothing else, the sheer strain on the presenter as he applied the brakes on that program should count, declaring that the presenter did his job and the politician in question should even pay the fine as he kept saying he absolved the presenter.
Okei-Odumakin urged the people to watch the piece a few times to grasp the injustice of the fine, saying a lot of brazen broadcasts had been seen elsewhere which did not attract such heavy fines.
According to her, it is not sure that NBC does not deserve a fine itself but quickly queried who would fine it?, declaring that Agencies like such simply mocked democracy.
The text of the statement read: “The 5 million Naira fine imposed on Channels TV is a travesty which must not stand.
“In other words, the NBC should reverse itself since it exists in a somewhat undemocratic cleft where it alone accuses stations, adjudicates, imposes penalties and executes the penalties.
“If nothing else, the sheer strain on the presenter as he applied the brakes on that program should count. He did his job. The politician in question should even pay the fine as he kept saying he absolved the presenter. People should watch the piece a few times to grasp the injustice of the fine.
“We have also seen a lot of brazen broadcasts elsewhere which did not attract such heavy fines. Programs dedicated to ownership and party chieftains becoming presenters with unfettered liberty to cast aspersions on opponents.
“It is not sure that the NBC does not deserve a fine itself, but who would fine it? Agencies like this simply mock democracy.”
