Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission restored Friday the broadcasting licence of Channels Television, two days after it was revoked for mistakenly reporting a fabricated report that the president may resign due to his health. NBC said the station apologised and accepted responsibility for the false report, according to Reuters.
NBC director-general Yomi Bolarinwa said the commission was satisfied with the results of its investigation into the false report. He added that the station had been told to establish an effective mechanism for verifying stories before broadcasting them. NBC also confirmed the release of all the Channels TV journalists who had been arrested.
Channels Television on Tuesday aired the report, quoting the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), that the president may step down after announcing a cabinet reshuffle. NAN denied publishing such a story, and the president's spokesman said President Umaru Yar'Adua had no intention of resigning. State Security Service (SSS) officers subsequently arrested three senior TV journalists in connection with the report, which local media said was sent widely to news outlets in an e-mail from an unknown Yahoo account, the Reuters report said.
Yar'Adua's health has been a source of constant speculation in the Nigerian media and opposition politicians, among others, have voiced concern about whether he is fit enough to govern, the Reuters report said. The 57-year-old, known to have a chronic kidney problem, travelled last month to Saudi Arabia officially for a Muslim pilgrimage. But senior Nigerian officials and a medical source in Saudi Arabia said he had received treatment during the trip.
