Date Published: 12/20/09

Attempt to shut down AIT, Raypower: Dokpesi goes to court

Raymond Dokpesi

DAAR Communication, owners of AIT and Raypower, have threaten to drag the Federal Government to court over an attempt to revoke the operational Licenses and shut down its radio and television stations.

Pointblanknews.com had reported that the Chairman and CEO of the television station, Chief Raymond Dokpesi was in October 2009 invited by the Presidency where he was roundly rebuked and accused of using his television station to “misinform and incite the Nigerian people against the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.”

Both radio and television stations have been critical of Government’s policies and just recently after a Government threat, one of its major talk show programs on AIT: “Focus Nigeria” was yanked off the air while its anchor Gbenga Aruleba was transferred to Raypower to handle administrative responsibilities. This was after a meeting with officials of the Nigerian Government and Chief Raymond Dokpesi, owner of DAAR Communications.

However in a summon filed by Chief Mike Ozekhome, Lawyer representing DAAR Communications, the plaintiff asked the court to issue a separate order setting aside a purported bid for fresh network license held by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), between September 6 and December 12, 2009, for being flawed, overreaching, wrongful, oppressive, null and void.

The plaintiff is also praying for an order compelling the commission to issue it forthwith a fresh network license for radio and television broadcast upon payment of the appropriate fees if the court eventually held that it did not, at the moment, possess a valid network service.

The plaintiff noted that the court must accede to its request before the government carries out its threat of shutting down over 22 of its stations across Nigeria.