Nigerians have called for the shutdown of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) over a controversial statement made by the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, during a late-night programme aired on the station.
Mr El-Rufai in February said that anyone who is sent to the country from the international community to interfere with the nation’s affairs would return in a body bag.
The call for NTA shutdown and probe on El-Rufai heightened on Friday morning after the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on Thursday suspended the license of Daar Communications Plc., owners of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Ray Power until further notice.
NBC Director-General, Modibbo Kawu, said the action was taken for failure of the broadcasting station to abide by the broadcasting code.
Nigerians have appeared unimpressed with the sanction, and have said that the rules of ‘hate speech’ and other violations should also apply to government-owned broadcast stations.
