Peace Ayam Osigwe had conceived an idea to celebrate Nollywood at 20 with a dinner, coffee table, symposium and the likes, long before Ibinabo Fiberesima emerged as the president of AGN. Peace, we learnt drafted Ibinabo into the planning committee so as to carry the AGN along. She had commissioned people to write the coffee book, conducted interviews and gotten the support of the Federal Government, and was in talks with several corporate organizations.
She was on the verge of having a photo shoot for the book, when Ibinabo pulled out saying the guild should be at the fore-front of planning, not Peace Osigwe. Ibinabo's action was prompted by heads of other guilds who felt Peace was running a one-man show, and planning to use the industry's platform to amass wealth for herself. The guild promptly put together the committee with Zik Zulu Okafor playing a pivotal role and serving as a rallying point for other guilds. Zik Zulu is the president of Association of Motion Picture Practitioners (AMP).
A letter signed by Zik Zulu was sent to
Peace instructing her to discontinue her planned celebration and come join
hands with the guild in planning the event. Peace, we learnt, felt insulted
with the choice of words from the letter, and fired back threatening to sue the
guild. It was only plea from some stakeholders that prevented the CEO of Africa
Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) from carrying out her threat. She has, however,
continued the planning for the event and publication of the book on the movie
industry. Meanwhile, the two camps are at the moment working at getting
sizeable support for their projects. Zik Zulu has secured the support of the
veterans with the influence of his position as president of AMP.
Those who saw beyond the glamour of
Ibinabo's birthday held recently knew the gathering of A-list actors and
actresses at the event was a political statement to show Peace that she
(Ibinabo) is the boss and in-charge. In a chance meeting with our
correspondent, at the premises of NTA, Ibinabo said that what is going on isn't
war as we described it, but a unification move to put an end to individual
power bloc in the industry. "We don't want this thing to be done
individually anymore. We want it at association level. This event is something
that has been on ground since the time of Segun Arinze and I learnt Peace was a
part of it."
However, the people in Peace's camp say
the association only wanted to usurp Peace's idea, as she was the one who came
up with the idea and brought some of them in as members of the planning
committee. According to a close source, anybody who has a stake in the industry
can celebrate the industry. Zik Zulu Okafor, the man that has been accused of
being at the forefront of AGN's battle, said he has no personal issue against
Peace. "Peace is not my interest. My interest is bringing people from
around the world to come and see Nollywood and take Nollywood to the world.
This is what we want to do, no individual can scuttle it." He promised that the event will happen later this year. However, another source said the idea didn't belong to either of the parties. "It actually belongs to Okechukwu Ogujiofor, the man that produced and directed Living in Bondage, the movie widely acclaimed to have given birth to Nollywood. The guild approached him and begged him to let go of the idea so that it can be done collectively. He did after the guild promised to celebrate him and adopt him to hall of fame."
Now that a definite moment in the
industry is turning messy, will the world witness the phenomenon called
Nollywood or a free-for-all by the stakeholders?
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