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Former President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP) and current Vice President (Africa) of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), Comrade Alex Eyengho has described as “annoyingly misleading” the report in some media outfits that Nollywood recently honoured Senator Ishaku Elisha Cliff Abbo at an event in Abuja, describing it as “falsehood taken too far for selfish reasons by those involved.”
Comrade Eyengho stated that the “so-called award” given to Senator Abbo was from a group of handful of members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) and certainly not the entire AGN as a guild or Nollywood as an industry of creatives, adding that it was absolutely impossible for Nollywood or indeed any right thinking association or guild in Nollywood to honor Senator Abbo for any reason whatsoever.
Said the award-winning filmmaker, “Nollywood honours Senator Abbo? For what? For being a woman beater inside a sex toy shop or for further aggressivelly showing off his temper towards Senator Oluremi Tinubu during the committee sitting set up by the Senate to investigate the allegations against him?The headline of the report of the so-called award is as nauseating as it is misleading. First, the AGN is one of the many guilds and bodies for actors operating in Nollywood. AGN alone is not and cannot be Nollywood because Nollywood is the collection of all associations and guilds in the Nigerian motion picture industry with the brand name Nollywood. My investigation revealed that even a majority of AGN members did not subscribe to this backdoor honour on this less than a role model Senator by a tiny cabal within the AGN fold. No right-thinking Nollywood stakeholder would subscribe to honouring Senator Abbo, no matter the financial inducement. It is insulting to the sensibilities of women generally, AGN as a guild and Nollywood as an industry of creatives. It is akin to rewarding bad behaviour by people occupying high offices in our society.”
Comrade Eyengho called on stakeholders in the industry, particularly his female colleagues to speak out against this despicable act by a few persons in AGN who made failed effort to rub it off negatively on the entire industry, adding, “it is akin to show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.”
“It is the prerogative of AGN to make whoever it so pleases patron of the guild, if it is okayed by majority of its members. However, it should end there and never used to taint the Nollywood brand by presenting it as a beggarlly and very unserious industry. This is why I am using this opportunity to call on the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to fast-track the presentation of our Motion Picture Practitioners Council (MOPICON) document with him as an Executive bill in the National Assembly. With a MOPICON in place, these nonsense by some practitioners and gatecrashers in the industry will be curbed if not totally stopped,” Eyengho stated.
“Going forward, I advise members of AGN to prevail on its leaders involved to immediately return to Senator Abbo the $1000 I heard he gave to them and withdraw whatever recognition/award they may have erroneously given to him. Senator Abbo is not befitting to be the patron of any guild or association in Nollywood. The lie that he will help the industry push the MOPICON document as a bill in the Senate is bunkum. In fact, I am strongly of the opinion that should he associate with the MOPICON document, other serious-minded Senators in the red chamber will treat the document as corona virus and ultimately quarantine it forever. Nollywood should be properly guided,” the ever outspoken Eyengho added.