Soyinka slams NBC for sanctioning Channels TV over Datti interview

Datti, during an interview on the programme, "Politics Today," on March 22, 2023, had subtly threatened that democracy will cease to function in Nigeria if Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is sworn in as president on May 29.

Despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate President-elect, the Labour Party vice presidential candidate argued that Tinubu had failed to meet all the requirements of Section 134 (2)(a) and (b) of the constitution for election to the office of the President.

Following Datti's remarks, the NBC slammed a ₦5m fine on Channels Television over what it termed as a volatile broadcast that is capable of inciting public disorder.

But, Soyinka in a statement on Friday, April 7, 2023, canvassed for the reversal of the penalty, arguing that sustaining it is to give joy to others who, according to him, have turned the Internet into a septic waste for depositing their waste.

The respected playwright said: “May I seize this opportunity, by the way, to condemn the sanctions imposed on CHANNELS Television which anchored the performance of the LP candidate.

“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.”

Pulse reports that Soyinka also challenged Datti to a one-on-one debate or with 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.”