Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has struck out another appeal by the National Broadcasting Commission seeking to overturn a Federal High Court judgment that permanently restrains the regulator from imposing fines on broadcast stations, marking the second time this year that the appellate court has dismissed the commission’s legal challenge on procedural grounds. In a unanimous ruling delivered on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, a three-member panel led by Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang held that the NBC’s Notice of Appeal was “fundamentally defective” and incompetent, depriving the court of jurisdiction to hear the case.
The core of the ruling turned on a critical discrepancy in the identity of the parties. While the case before the Federal High Court was between the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda (as applicant) and the National Broadcasting Commission (as respondent), the Notice of Appeal filed by the regulator listed the appellant as the “Nigerian Broadcasting Commission” — a different legal entity that does not exist in law. Justice Inyang ruled that the inconsistency was not a minor technicality but a fundamental defect affecting the competence of the appeal. “The Notice of Appeal and the accompanying briefs are fundamentally defective and do not and cannot confer jurisdiction on this Court to hear and determine the appeal,” the judge held, adding that because of the defective filing, there was “no appeal in fact and in law before this Court.”
The appeal arose from a judgment delivered on January 17, 2024, by Justice Rita Ofili‑Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court in Abuja. The court had declared unlawful the NBC’s imposition of ₦5 million fines on several broadcast stations in August 2022 over documentaries on banditry and insecurity in Zamfara State. The affected media organisations included MultiChoice Nigeria Limited (DSTV), TelCom Satellite Limited (TSTV), Trust‑TV Network Limited, and NTA‑StarTimes Limited. The Federal High Court held that the sanctions violated constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, particularly the right to receive and impart information under Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The court further declared that the NBC “is neither a court nor a judicial tribunal to make pronouncements on the guilt of broadcast stations, notwithstanding what the NBC Code says.”
The latest ruling marks the second time the Court of Appeal has dismissed an NBC appeal against the restraining order. In April 2026, the same appellate court dismissed a separate NBC appeal challenging a May 10, 2023 judgment by Justice James Omotosho, who ruled that fines are criminal sanctions that can only be imposed by courts of law, not administrative agencies. The court had also rejected the NBC’s bid to set aside that judgment in November 2023. In Wednesday’s ruling, Justice Inyang emphasised that a competent Notice of Appeal is the foundation of any appeal and a prerequisite for the exercise of appellate jurisdiction. She stressed that jurisdiction cannot be conferred on a court through the consent, waiver, acquiescence, or participation of parties in a case.
Reacting to the judgment, the Media Rights Agenda, which initiated the legal challenge in September 2022, described the ruling as another victory for press freedom and the rule of law. The organisation had argued that the NBC’s unilateral imposition of fines without due process was an assault on media independence and a violation of citizens’ right to information. At the hearing of the appeal on March 25, 2026, the NBC was represented by Mr Bashir Ramoni of SimmonsCooper Partners, while MRA was represented by Mr Ezenwa Anumnu of Joint Heirs Chambers. The NBC had argued that the documentaries on banditry in Zamfara State undermined national security, but the court found that the commission had exceeded its statutory powers by imposing punitive financial sanctions without judicial oversight.
The ruling reinforces judicial restrictions on the commission’s authority to impose monetary sanctions on broadcast organisations without court intervention. It also serves as a warning to regulatory agencies against exceeding their statutory mandates and imposing penalties that properly belong to the courts. As of the time of filing this report, the NBC had not issued an official statement on the latest legal setback, and it remains unclear whether the commission will seek further review of the judgment at the Supreme Court. For now, the ban on NBC fines remains firmly in place, and broadcasters across Nigeria can continue their operations without the threat of administrative penalties for content that regulators may find objectionable.
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