The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has achieved a significant legal victory against the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in its ongoing battle to challenge the Commission’s efforts to overturn a Federal High Court ruling that permanently prevents it from imposing fines on radio and television broadcasters.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal in Abuja unanimously dismissed the NBC’s Notice of Appeal, labelling it as “fundamentally defective” and incompetent.
Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang, who delivered the lead judgment, highlighted a critical issue regarding the identities of the parties involved. She observed that the Federal High Court previously recognised the parties as the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda (acting as the Applicant) and the National Broadcasting Commission (the Respondent). In stark contrast, the NBC’s Notice of Appeal inaccurately identified the Appellant as the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission.
Justice Inyang emphasised that this discrepancy was significant, indicating a fundamental defect that undermined the appeal’s validity and left the court without jurisdiction to consider the NBC’s case.
The appeal originated from a ruling made by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia on January 17, 2024. This judgment stemmed from a lawsuit initiated by the MRA on September 2, 2022, in response to the NBC’s fines of US$3,669 assigned to a television station, along with three pay TV platforms, on August 3, 2022, for allegedly compromising Nigeria’s national security by airing documentaries about banditry and insecurity in Zamfara State.
In her ruling, Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia declared that the fines imposed by the NBC on Multichoice Nigeria Limited (owners of DSTV), TelCom Satellite Limited (TSTV), Trust-TV Network Limited, and NTA Startimes Limited were unlawful, unconstitutional, and infringed on the rights of the MRA and its members, as well as the general public’s right to freedom of expression and access to information under Section 39 of the Constitution and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
During the appeal hearing on March 25, 2026, the NBC was represented by Mr Bashir Ramoni and his team from SimmonsCooper Partners, while Mr Ezenwa Anumnu represented the MRA from Joint Heirs Chambers.
Justice Inyang ruled that a valid Notice of Appeal is crucial for a court to exercise its appellate jurisdiction, and that the absence of such competence, due to fundamental defects in the Notice of Appeal, prevented the Court of Appeal from hearing the case. She reiterated that a different entity initiated the appeal from the one that appeared in the Federal High Court, emphasising that jurisdiction cannot be conferred by the consent or participation of the parties involved.
Consequently, Justice Inyang declared the Notice of Appeal and its associated briefs fundamentally defective, affirming that there was “no appeal in fact and in law before this Court,” and struck them out for incompetence.
Earlier, on April 2, 2026, the same Court of Appeal had dismissed a separate appeal by the NBC aimed at overturning a prior ruling by Justice James Omotosho on May 10, 2023, which established that fines are sanctions reserved for those found guilty of criminal offences and that only courts have the authority to impose such penalties. Additionally, a motion NBC submitted in July 2023 to set aside that judgment was dismissed by the court on November 23, 2023.
