It has gotten to public notice that the Nigerian Government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has banned Telecoms companies operating in the country from running political adverts. This development was revealed by the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, he said the directive was issued in order to give the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) an unfair advantage. He noted that the directive was issued shortly after Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, unveiled the platforms through which Nigerians could make monetary contributions to the campaign of its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
Fashola had disclosed that in addition to receiving contributions through bank deposits, Nigerians could make donations through SMS, ringtones and scratch cards.
Mohammed said NCC instructed telecoms service providers not to accept political promotions and adverts so that Buhari would not be able to get enough funds, adding that the law will not affect President Goodluck Jonathan who had already been able to raise over NGN21 billion.
He said, “The NCC has now written to all the service providers to avoid running political/advertisement promotions that will portray them as being partisan and has threatened to sanction any service provider that will flout this directive. Effectively, the NCC is seeking to block our ability to use the platforms of SMS, ringtones and scratch cards to raise funds.
“By doing so, the same body, a national institution, that is warning telecoms companies against running political/advertisements in order not to be portrayed as partisan has become a tool of crass partisanship! What an irony!!
“It is also necessary to note that no regulatory body has barred the use of the traditional platforms of radio, television and print media from running political advertisements and promotions.
“There can’t be a clearer example of abuse of office. We are extremely concerned by this brazen act of intimidation and regulatory lawlessness towards legitimate businesses providing perfectly legitimate advertisement services, especially when the advertisers have not breached any law or prevented their subscribers from opting out of such services.”
“We are all the more appalled that the NCC seems splendidly oblivious of the fact that the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 does not outlaw advertisements.”