AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CAUTIONS NBC AGAINST ATTEMPT TO GAG PRESS FREEDOM
Amnesty International has cautioned the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), against what it considered an attempt to gag Journalists freedom owing to the controversial directive issued recently to broadcasters within the country.
In a statement condemning the NBC’s formal notice to broadcasters dated April 17, 2026, the global rights organisation referred to the notice as “unduly restrictive and invasive controls” on the media landscape and insisted that it was an attempt at infringing at the constitutionally embedded press freedom and posed a threat to democratic accountability.
The statement strongly warned the Nigerian authorities to stop the unrelenting pursuit at silencing the press in a democratic setting. “The Nigerian authorities must stop using the NBC in an unrelenting quest to silence journalists and media organisations that are crucial to ensuring an independent and diverse media space that fulfils people’s right to information.”
The global rights organisation charged journalists in the country to continue carrying out their duties courageously and independently without fear of being molested despite mounting pressure and stressed that the latest directive by the NBC is both “authoritarian and unconstitutional.”
