Legal firestorm brews over Big Brother Naija Season 10 as activist lawyer Maduabuchi Idam files a formal petition to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), demanding an immediate ban or heavy regulation of the reality TV show. In the petition dated August 5, 2025, Idam warned the NBC to act within 30 days or face a lawsuit for allowing what he described as “obscene, indecent, and profane content” to flood Nigerian screens unchecked.
Idam, in his strongly worded letter titled “Urgent need to ban or regulate the content of the television programme described as Big Brother Naija,” accused the organizers of streaming explicit scenes not just on cable TV but also promoting them boldly on verified social media platforms — platforms easily accessible to minors and the wider public.
He questioned the commission’s double standards, citing previous sanctions slammed on artists like Olamide, Wizkid, and Phyno over alleged lewd music content, while BBNaija continues to air with little to no consequence. “If the commission could clamp down on music videos, why is Big Brother Naija untouchable?” Idam queried.
While the show is labeled 18+, the lawyer insists that the classification is cosmetic at best, given the ease with which children and teenagers access clips on TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). He warned that moral decay is spreading fast among youths, worsened by the show’s explicit and provocative scenes aired under the guise of entertainment.
Idam argues that the reality show offers no educational, cultural, scientific, or national value, stating that its growing influence is fueling societal rot. “Nigeria, a nation grappling with insecurity, cultism, drug abuse, and ritual killings, cannot afford the additional burden of cultural collapse,” he said.
He called on NBC to immediately restrict BBNaija broadcasts to adult-only, subscription-based platforms with stronger controls, and to compel the show’s promoters to cease sharing explicit content across open social media. According to him, failure to comply within 30 days would trigger a legal showdown.
As public discourse around BBNaija intensifies, this fresh legal threat may force regulators and show organizers to revisit their content strategy or risk setting off what could become a defining legal battle over broadcast ethics in Nigeria.
