Literary icon, Wole Soyinka has condemned the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) sanctions imposed on Channels Television for a March 22 interview with Labour Party vice-presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed.
It can be recalled that Datti Baba-Ahmed had been a guest on Channels TV programme, Politics Today where he spoke about the ills of the Presidential election. Also, the vice presidential candidate mentioned that it will be unconstitutional to swear in an elected president on May 29, 2023, because of election irregularities.
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Following the NBC imposed a N5m fine on Channels Television. According to the media regulator, the broadcast was volatile and capable of inciting public disorder and therefore violated some sections of the broadcasting code.
However, in a statement on Friday, Wole Soyinka argued that to sustain the penalty is to give joy to others he did not name who turn the Internet into a septic tank for depositing their waste, yet feels that others should be silenced.
The Nobel laureate made the assertion while stating his position on what he described as fascism and a climate of fear being generated by political actors whom he said have refused to entertain corrective criticism.
“May I cease this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on Channels Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate.
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“As stated, I watched the programme keenly – saw the valiant efforts of the interviewer to ensure a fair hearing. I fail to understand just where the station could be faulted, except from a disposition for injustice.”
Soyinka also volunteered to engage in a one-on-one debate with Datti, or any nominee of his, on the same platform for argument on the issue “without the malodorous intervention of media trolls, and with the same interviewer as mediator.”
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