The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has won another legal victory against the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) after the Court of Appeal in Abuja struck down the NBC’s Notice of Appeal, describing it as fundamentally defective and incompetent.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Friday, Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang ruled that the NBC’s appeal lacked merit due to a critical defect in how the case was filed, robbing the court of jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The appeal arose from a judgment delivered on January 17, 2024, by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, in which she ruled that the NBC’s imposition of fines was unlawful and unconstitutional.
The Court raised a preliminary issue regarding the identity of parties in the case, noting that the NBC was described differently in its Notice of Appeal than it had been in the original Federal High Court proceedings.
While the parties before the Federal High Court were identified as Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda and the National Broadcasting Commission, the NBC’s appeal identified the appellant as Nigerian Broadcasting Commission.
Justice Inyang described the discrepancy as a fundamental defect affecting the competence of the appeal and the court’s jurisdiction to entertain it.
“The Notice of Appeal is the foundation or substratum of an appeal and a competent Notice of Appeal is a condition precedent to the exercise of appellate jurisdiction by the court,” the judge stated, noting that where a Notice of Appeal is fundamentally defective, the Court of Appeal lacks jurisdiction.
She held that the appeal was not initiated by the same legal entity that was a party before the Federal High Court and emphasised that jurisdiction cannot be conferred on the court by consent of the parties, waiver, acquiescence, or participation.
“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,” Justice Inyang ruled.
MRA had filed the original suit on September 2, 2022, challenging the NBC’s action of fining television and pay TV platforms N5 million each on August 3, 2022.
The NBC had imposed the fines on Multichoice Nigeria Limited (owners of DSTV), TelCom Satellite Limited (TSTV), Trust-TV Network Limited, and NTA Startimes Limited for allegedly undermining Nigeria’s national security by broadcasting documentaries about banditry and insecurity in Zamfara State.
Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia held that the NBC’s action constituted a violation of the rights of MRA, its members, and other citizens of Nigeria to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Section 39 of the Constitution and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
She declared that the NBC’s act of imposing fines on the broadcast stations was unlawful and unconstitutional, and that the Commission lacked the authority to impose such penalties for alleged violations of broadcasting standards.
The NBC was represented at the March 25, 2026 hearing by Mr. Bashir Ramoni, a partner and Head of Litigations at SimmonsCooper Partners, alongside Mr. John Ojelabi and Ms Rosecarmel Odeh.
MRA’s case was presented by Mr. Ezenwa Anumnu, a Senior Partner at Joint Heirs Chambers, leading Mr. P.Y. Danladi.
Justice Inyang’s ruling follows another dismissal by the same Court of Appeal on April 2, 2026, when it rejected an earlier NBC appeal seeking to overturn a different judgment delivered by Justice James Omotosho on May 10, 2023.
In that judgment, Justice Omotosho had ruled that fines are sanctions imposed on persons found guilty of criminal offences and that only courts of law are empowered to impose such sanctions under Nigerian law.
The NBC had attempted on November 23, 2023, to set aside Justice Omotosho’s judgment through a motion, but the judge dismissed that application as well.
The successive legal defeats represent significant victories for press freedom advocacy and underscore judicial limits on the NBC’s regulatory authority, particularly regarding content restrictions on grounds of national security.
