Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
One of the leading national televisions in the country, Channels Television, has been suspended by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
The media giant was also fined N5 million and the reason is that Channels TV allowed its platform to be used to air the opinion of the Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB).
On Sunday night, in one of its flagship programmes, Sunday Politics, anchored by Mr Seun Okinbaloye, the spokesman of IPOB, Mr Emma Powerful, was interviewed by Channels TV and he bragged that the Nigerian Army cannot have access to its camps.
Mr Powerful also disclosed that the slain commander of the group’s security outfit, Eastern Security Network (ESN), Ikonso, was killed because he went to his village, where he was ambushed. The spokesman also said a new commander has been appointed, vowing to avenge his death.
On Monday, the NBC, in a letter to the Managing Director of Channels Television and signed by the Acting Director-General of the NBC, Mr Armstrong Idachaba, referred to the programme, accusing the TV station of allowing Mr Powerful to make secessionist and inciting declarations on air without being cautioned or reprimanded, an offence the agency was contrary to the broadcast code.
It also accused the station of allowing the IPOB image maker to make derogatory and misleading statements about the Nigerian Army.
But as at the time of filing this report, Business Post observed that Channels TV was still on the air and broadcasting its programmes.
