The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC gave indication Thursday, that state actors comprise the leadership of Boko Haram, a dreaded terrorist group ravaging Nigeria’s Northern region.
This is because, NBC was in a hurry to violate the fundamental right of a radio station to fair hearing in an apparent attempt to cover up alleged involvement of state actors in terrorism.
NBC illegally imposed N5m fine on Nigeria Info 99.3FM, Lagos, over comments by former Deputy Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia. It said that the station grossly violated the revised Nigeria broadcasting code.
But the NBC code has not come into effect since the Board is yet to approve it. And the Department of State Service, DSS detained Mailafia for about seven hours of questioning over the matter.
To justify its action, the NBC had accused the broadcasting station of providing its platform on August 10, 2020, “for a guest, Dr. Mailafia Obadiah, to promote unverifiable and inciting views that could encourage or incite to crime and lead to public disorder.”
Mailafia’s Comments
Mailafia said on ‘Morning Crossfire’ programme on Nigeria Info Abuja 95.1FM on Monday that repentant terrorists revealed that a serving northern governor is a Boko Haram leader.
He said terrorists and bandits slaughtering Nigerians in the North were one and the same. He said the terrorists moved weapons even during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mailafia was the Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the last election, said he had met with multiple repentant terrorists on multiple occasions.
“They told us that one of the northern governors is the commander of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Boko Haram and the bandits are one and the same. They have a sophisticated network. During this lockdown their planes were moving up and down as if there was no lockdown.
Malafia
“They were moving ammunition, moving money, and distributing them across different parts of the country.”
Mailafia said Boko Haram had already infiltrated southern Nigeria, adding that their plan was to spark a second civil war. “They told us that when they finish these rural killings, they will move to 2nd Phase. Phase two is that they will go into urban cities, going from house to house killing prominent people.”
“By 2022, they want to start a civil war in Nigeria. Don’t joke with what I am saying I have a PhD from Oxford University. I am a central banker, we don’t talk nonsense. I have this from the highest authority, some of the commanders of Boko Haram.”
Kaduna state governor El-Rufai paid killer herdsmen
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State had in 2016 admitted to have paid undisclosed sums of money to violent Fulani herdsmen killing Nigerians in Southern Kaduna. The payment was allegedly made to stop the killings in Southern Kaduna reportedly without oversight of foreign affairs ministry.
That was when he rationalized the unprovoked killings in Southern Kaduna, saying the killers revenged because the 2011 post-election violence affected their cows.
“Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle,” El-rufai said.
A state governor took millions of tax payers Naira to pay criminals that illegally crossed the border to kill hundreds of Nigerians in multiple attacks. The government allegedly gave the killers safe passage after the massacres. None of the Fulani Herdsmen has been arrested or arraigned in Court since they have been attacking communities in Nigeria over the years.
Lawyer points out NBC’s illegality
Rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has said the fine of N5m that NBC imposed on Nigeria is illegal. He said the revised NBC code was yet to come into effect as the NBC board had not approved it.
He also queried the speed at which the NBC slammed the fine on the radio station, saying the investigation was yet to be completed.
Falana said, “The Chairman of the NBC Board disclosed that the amendment of the Code authorising the payment of the fine of N5m was not approved by the Board.
“That means that the amendment of the Code has not come into force. Assuming that the Code was properly amended the Board cannot charge a suspect with criminal offences, prosecute, convict and impose a fine on him.
“The investigation being conducted into Dr. Obadiah’s interview by the State Security Service has not been concluded. So why was the NBC in a hurry to violate the fundamental right of the broadcasting station to fair hearing?”
Falana
Falana also stated that section 33 (4) of the constitution provides that anyone charged with a criminal offence shall be tried before a competent court or tribunal.
He added that the revised code lacks legal competence to impose any fine on broadcast station without finding it guilty by a “properly constituted criminal court”.
