The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) has asked the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to sanction Channels Television for permitting the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed to the use of its platform to challenge the integrity of the 2023 presidential elections.
APC PCC stated this in a petition to the NBC on Thursday in which it accused Channels Television of allowing the opposition to use its platform to breach the broadcasting code.
The statement read in part “He (Datti) said the Labour Party won the elections. This is a fallacy and not correct. According to the Code, a Broadcaster is liable when his guest is allowed to make a wild statement that is inaccurate and not based on fact. The only detailed figures empirically collated as the final result is the one released by the Independent National Electoral Commission which placed the Labour party as third.” 
“The guest on the programme in question Datti Baba -Ahmed said the President of the country Muhammadu Buhari should not swear in the President-elect because he did not score 25% vote in the FCT, being one of the prerequisites for being declared the winner. This is a subversive statement since the matter is before the tribunal and is among the issues submitted in their petition to the courts for adjudication. Therefore until and unless the court rules otherwise, the status quo is the INEC position as declared in the final results ”
“Therefore, Mr Datti’s comments that the INEC certificate of return issued to the President-elect is a “dud cheque” and is null and void is not only divisive, and subversive but also inciting and inflammatory.“The Code states in Section 3.8.1(b) that ‘A Broadcaster shall ensure that no programme contains anything which amounts to subversion of constituted authority or compromises the unity or corporate existence of Nigeria as a Sovereign state’. ”
“Asking the President not to swear in the President-elect he is subverting the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s constitutionally guaranteed authority.In using words like ‘handing over to the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be the end of democracy’ he is not only promoting a threat but instigating a call to rebellion against the state. This is antithetical to the use of the media for social harmony and peaceful. ”
“We, therefore, urge the Commission to invoke the necessary sanctions on Channels TV for the breaches enumerated above”
