The Chairman of DAAR Communications, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi has called on the federal government to relieve the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Ishaq Kawu Moddibo of his job over alleged media clampdown.
Chief Dokpesi, who made the call at a press conference Thursday in Abuja, said Moddibo was dragged to court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on a 12-count-charge bordering on fraud in the digital switchover project of the federal government.
Dokpesi insisted that, NBC must see itself as a national regulatory body and not an organization existing to protect the sole interests of the ruling party.
He said “He (Kawu Moddibo) too must know that the right thing for him to do is to step down from the leadership of the NBC at least until such a time that he is acquitted of the charges against him. Do I need to tell him the right thing to do?
“Can the broadcasters he is regulating freely raise these issues against him as a public figure?
“I make bold to unequivocally call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately relieve him of his duty at the NBC to allow the industry to breathe fresh air.
“The NBC must see itself as a national regulatory body that it is and not an organization existing to protect the sole interests of the ruling party in government.
“Except this is done and quickly too, the NBC will soon find itself immersed in a cobweb of intricate and and very uncoordinated interpretations of the code of broadcasting and other laws.
“There are existing laws in Nigeria that govern contempt and there are legal procedures for the courts to find any person or organization guilty. The NBC can therefore only act in furtherance of a court order towards applying the full sanctions of the law”, he said.
He alleged that his media outfits-African Independent Television, AIT, and Raypower-are being persecuted by the NBC and the present administration, despite the level of balancing they have shown.
He said, “DAAR Communications Plc Head Quarters today as witnesses to the high handedness of government in deploying all instruments of power to threaten, intimidate and harass our media organisation for my affiliation with the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the government’s perceived bias by our stations in holding government, public officers and people in positions of power accountable to the people of Nigeria.
“As you drove up to our premises, you will have observed the destruction of our security house and perimeter fencing across the boundaries of DAAR Communications Plc (HQ) executed by the FCDA approximately 6-weeks ago. “We have since gone to court and it will be subjudice to make further statements on the issues before the courts. Suffice to say, that our premises have been left exposed to all manner of threats which endanger the lives of our staff and property.
“We have persevered in the discharge of our duties and obligations despite the physical and psychological intimidation the actions of the FCDA, a department under the control of this government, has impacted on us.
“Since coming to office in 2015 and in compliance with a well scripted program of action to shutdown the DAAR Communications brand from Nigeria’s broadcasting landscape, we have been inundated with letters from our regulator – the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Every broadcast which appears to them to offer a dissenting perspective to the position of Government is reprehended as a threat to National interest.
“Every reference and reportage from various sections of the country concerning injustice, inequality and iniquity is reprehended as a threat to National security. We have never refused this Government a slot to respond or to reply to these positions.
“We have on the contrary, invited them times without number to appear for free to explain their positions and address the agitations of ordinary Nigerians, “ he said.
