The Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, says it has placed about 30 broadcast stations in Kano State on its “black map” for alleged spread of hate speeches through political campaigns.
The head of Kano zonal office of the NBC, Adamu Salisu, disclosed this on Wednesday at a media dialogue organized by the Kano Peace Committee ahead of the 2023 elections.
Mr Salisu explained that the “black map” became necessary, following the dangerous political campaign trends on local radio and television stations in recent times in the state.
While reminding the broadcast media houses their critical role of ensuring decent social engagement, the NBC zonal director charged the stations not to allow selfish political interests to overwhelm the peace and tranquility of society.
Mr Salisu added that practitioners must be guided by NBC’s code of conduct during political campaigns in Kano.
According to him, the NBC will not hesitate to sanction any erring station that promotes statements that contravene national security.
In his remarks, the spokesperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Kano headquarters, Adam Maulud, stressed that the media has critical roles in the success of elections.
He, therefore, urged practitioners to be guided by requisite knowledge of the law and electoral guidelines for proper coverage of next year’s election.
Earlier, the chairman of the Christians Association of Nigeria, CAN, Kano chapter, John Namaza, appealed to the political elite to guide utterances capable of truncating the peaceful atmosphere before and during the elections.
Mr Namaza, who doubles as co-chairman of the peace committee, said the intention of the dialogue was to admonish media organisations to promote peace and education on the electoral process.
The head of the secretariat, Kano Peace Committee, Ibrahim A Waiya, explained that the committee would soon engage political stakeholders to sign Peace Accord with a view to promoting violence-free elections in the state.
