An Abuja Federal High Court has barred the National Broadcasting Commission from imposing fines on Nigerian broadcast stations.
Presiding Judge James Omotosho, in a Wednesday ruling, said the NBC lacked the judicial powers to impose penalties.
Omotosho gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining the NBC from imposing fines, henceforth, on broadcast stations in the country.
He also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed, on March 1, 2019, on each of the 45 broadcast stations.
Justice Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations.
He further held that the NBC Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law.
He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law.
He held that the fines imposed by the NBC as punishment for commission of various offences under its code were contrary to the law and hereby declared as unconstitutional, null and void.
The judge also made an order of perpetual injunction restraining the commission from further imposing fines on broadcast stations in the country.