Nigeria suspends TV station over 'secessionist' comments

Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has suspended Channels Television and fined it £13,000 ($9,300) for breaching the broadcast code, local media sources have reported.

"The commission referred to Channels 7.00 p.m. live broadcast programme of Sunday, 25 April 2021, in which it accused the TV station of allowing a leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra, (IPOB) to make secessionist and inciting declarations on air without caution or reprimand by the station," the Vanguard newspaper website said.

In a statement signed by Acting Director General Prof Armstrong Idachaba, NBC also accused Channels TV of allowing the leader to make derogatory, false and misleading statements about the Nigerian army, the Daily Nigerian news website reported.

On Saturday, security forces killed Commander Ikonso and six other militia members of IPOB's armed wing, the Eastern Security Network, during an early morning raid on their hideout in the southern Imo State.

In October last year, Channels TV was one of three privately-owned television stations that were fined by NBC for “unprofessional coverage” of the EndSARS protests and the crisis that followed.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: NBC