The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed an attempt by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to overturn a Federal High Court ruling that bars it from imposing fines on broadcast stations, further reinforcing judicial limits on the regulator’s sanctioning powers.
The appellate court, in a unanimous judgment delivered on Wednesday, struck out the NBC’s appeal, ruling that it was “fundamentally defective” and therefore incompetent in law.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Jane Inyang pointed out a major flaw in the filing of the appeal, noting a mismatch in the identity of the parties involved.
While the case at the Federal High Court was between the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda and the National Broadcasting Commission, the notice of appeal wrongly listed the appellant as the “Nigerian Broadcasting Commission,” which the court described as a different legal entity.
The judge held that this inconsistency was not a minor error but a fundamental defect that robbed the court of jurisdiction to hear the matter.
“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,” she ruled.
The court further emphasised that a valid notice of appeal is the foundation of any appellate process and a necessary condition for jurisdiction.
It therefore concluded that there was “no appeal in fact and in law” before it, leading to the striking out of the case.
The dispute originated from a January 17, 2024 judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, which held that the NBC acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally when it imposed fines of N5 million each on MultiChoice Nigeria Limited (DStv), TelCom Satellite Limited (TStv), Trust TV Network Limited, and NTA StarTimes Limited in August 2022.
The sanctions were imposed after the stations aired documentaries on banditry and insecurity in Zamfara State, which the NBC said posed a threat to national security.
Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia ruled that the fines violated the constitutional right to freedom of expression, including citizens’ right to receive information without interference, as guaranteed under Section 39 of the Constitution and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The latest ruling represents another legal setback for the NBC in its ongoing challenge to its regulatory powers.
In a related development, the Court of Appeal had earlier in April 2026 dismissed another NBC appeal against a May 10, 2023 judgment by Justice James Omotosho, who ruled that fines imposed by the commission amounted to criminal sanctions that could only be imposed by courts of law.
That earlier ruling was also left intact after the court rejected NBC’s attempt in November 2023 to set it aside.
The repeated judicial decisions further strengthen the position that the NBC cannot impose monetary penalties on broadcast organisations without judicial approval, significantly limiting the commission’s enforcement authority.
