Certificate Forgery Saga: Okonkwo Tackles NBC Over Threat On Arise TV

-Says NBC Has No Power To Fine Or Sanction Any Media House

Famous Nollywood actor, Kenneth Okonkwo has taken a swipe at the National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC) over the attempt by the agency to censure broadcast stations and compel them to reject opinions and commentaries of guests that are deemed critical of the government of the country.

The actor and lawyer accused the NBC of intimidating and manipulating media houses through threats of sanctions, but reminded the agency of a subsisting court decision that it had no powers to sanction any media house.

The accusation came on the heels of a letter written by the NBC, warning the operators of Arise Television to desist from hosting guests that make incendiary statements on the Chicago State University certificate forgery saga. The letter specifically referred to the interview Arise TV had with Okonkwo and warned that the station would face sanctions if such interview repeated itself.

In a open letter addressed to Mr Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, the Director General, NBC, Okonkwo described the NBC statement as an outright infringement on his fundamental human rights as enshrined in Sections 38 and 39, which provide that “every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought…; every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information, ideas and information without interference”.

These rights, Okonkwo said, are superior to the NBC Statute which the DG seeks to uphold. He said that NBC mentioning his name in its letter was an attempt to rudely interfere with his “divinely and constitutionally guaranteed rights” and should desist henceforth from such action.

“I remind him that, by law, any infringement on the fundamental human rights of Nigerians attracts punishment of damages. The Constitution also protects the right of the media in Section 22 to be free to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people. Again the DG does not have the right to deny Arise TV their right to hold the government accountable to the people,” he said.
According to Okonkwo, the letter was ill advised and represents an “unfortunate journey intended to please his employers( the government), adding that he made no “unguarded utterance” but simply stated the facts as presented by the Chicago State University on the certificate forgery saga.

“I confirmed that the Chicago State University certificate, which BAT submitted to INEC, was forged, for the simple reason that the University has expressly stated that the certificate did not come from them, which is the condition necessary to prove forgery.

“It’s unfortunate that when all media houses condemned Mmesoma for forging her Jamb certificate, and rightly too, without being convicted by a court, simply because JAMB disowned her certificate, and rightly too, the DG didn’t write to any TV station or mention the name of any guest on TV who condemned such forgery. Now that the certificate of the President is disowned by the University that purportedly issued it, the DG has suddenly found his mouth to mention the names of the people who condemned such forgery of the certificate after the university disowned it and even wrote the media house to threaten it.

“The only unguarded utterance here is the ill-advised letter written by the DG to Arise TV and this must stop. I did not make my name by forging my certificates, I made my name by investing the talent of acting God has deposited in me to create a new movie industry called Nollywood which started with the movie Living in Bondage, and which pleased God to make me the first Actor of the industry which is employing millions of Nigerian Youths. I have since improved to become a Lawyer and advocate for a New Nigeria, which preceded this new political dispensation.

“If your letter is an attempt at intimidating me not to say the truth, you have failed because I have already decided to fight for a new Nigeria based on the truth, realizing that truth is the only thing that brings genuine and permanent solutions to a nation’s problem. It is letters like your own that have prompted foreign entities to wrongly ascribe forgery as a Nigerian thing. Please desist from such letters,” Okonkwo said.