#EkitiDecides2018: NBC Closed Down Ekiti Broadcast Station

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has ordered the immediate closure of the Ekiti Broadcast Service for breaching provisions of the Broadcasting Code.

According to the NBC, the Ekiti Broadcast Service breached the Electoral Act and Broadcasting Code by allowing Governor Ayodele Fayose to announce results in favour of his deputy and candidate of the PDP, Kolapo Olusola, and declare him the winner of the governorship election in the state.

Beyond what it said was the unauthorised declaration of election results by the governor, the NBC also accused the governor of using the broadcast service to make malicious and unsubstantiated comments against the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), the police and the Department of State Services.

The Ekiti Broadcast Service is to remain shut until further notice, Channels Television had reported.

Ahead of the governorship elections, the NBC had called on broadcasters in the country to adhere to the ethics of election coverage.

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The commission had also used its social media platforms to remind broadcasters of the shun bias and to ensure that in using political material for news, they avoid “taking inflammatory and divisive matter in its provocative form”.