Nollywood star, Emeka Ike, has finally
reacted to the court judgement of Monday,
March 16, that upturned Ibinabo
Fiberesima as president of Actors Guild of
Nigeria (AGN).
Emeka Ike, in an exclusive chat with
Nigeriafilms.com, disclosed that he gives
Ibinabo 24 hours to apologise to the guild
or she will be dragged to court again for
contempt.
The actor spoke with Nigeriafilms.com in a
telephone interview on Wednesday
morning. He said he will soon roll out his
plans for the guild and explained why he
has been fighting this issue for a long time.
Here is excerpt from Emeka Ike’s
interview with Nigeriafilms.com.
What is your reaction on Monday’s court
ruling
I am the president of the people.
When are you likely to resume office
We have been working from where we are
and we are trying to take things easy for
now. We are legitimate people.
Will you be operating from the present
AGN headquarters in Lagos
We are not going to answer all those
questions right now. We are going to have
our conference of chairmen and also to
know what structure to put in place to
make it an enviable industry and not just
hand picking a few persons; that is not
what the industry is all about, it is a
grassroots-based one.
People people who carry ID cards, who
have their PVCs; people who can work and
have talents to showcase and not just the
few of us who are lazy and can be used to
derail the growth of the industry. Just
watch out and see what will happen soon.
Will Ibinabo’s appeal of the judgement not
cause a setback to your resumption
She has not appealed. Do you know what
an appeal of a judgement means? The
judgement was given on Monday and I ask,
‘has she received a copy of the judgement
she wants to appeal at the moment?’ Hello
sir (referring to the interviewer), don’t
insult my integrity. Before you make any
appeal, you have to write papers and take
the papers to the right places and you
make an appeal with that.
If you don’t have the judgement papers in
your hand, how do you appeal it? And
when you appeal, before you get the court’s
attention, you must serve it, you must give
a notice of it for at least 29 days in a
newspaper. There are ways things are
done logically on issues like this. It is not
for you do things anyhow. This is a very
sensitive case. You are dealing with an A-
list person. Your mindset is your mindset,
it should not affect the other.
I give her (Ibinabo) 24 hours to tender an
apology to the guild, 24 hours for talking
about appealing this case, if not, I will
serve her court papers and her cohorts; I
am not joking on this matter. I am not
using thugs, I am not using OPC, I am not
using any cult members, I am not using the
police, I am applying the Nigerian justice
system and that is the civilized way of
doing things.
How will you simply describe the
judgement
The justice system in Nigeria is still the
hope for the Nigerian nation. I have
always built my confidence in the Nigerian
nation. This judgement makes one see that
however it is, you will get justice in the
Nigerian legal system. No matter what,
nobody should resort to violence to seek
for justice. I will always celebrate the
Nigerian legal system.
What gave you the courage and drive to
pursue this case for almost six years
The concern for humanity; the
disenfranchised Nigerian youths. Those
now enjoying the goodness of the industry
never worked for the industry. Do you
know how many states in Nigeria know
anything that is happening at the centre
here, let’s be realistic to ourselves. Do
actors in Owerri (Imo State) know what is
happening right here? Same with those in
Zamfara, Kano and Ibadan. There have to
be a direction in all these.
This is an industry that bears a mark that
we say it has added 1.45% to our GDP rise.
Then what are the characteristics, the
things that make it give it value? We
shouldn’t just leave it to rot because we
want to get some Dollars. So, we have to
save the Nigerian youths like Gani
Fawehenmi did for Nigeria, People like
Fela did it, people like Bob Marley did it. It
is wrong that a Nigerian youth will want to
come and join the movie industry and the
only set of producers available are those
that will tell you that you need to strip
unclothe as a criteria of casting you. That
is a violation of their human rights. That is
not the industry we built.
Now, will your government continue from
what Ibinabo has done lately with AGN,
selling it as good brand or you will have to
start all over again
I haven’t seen any positive thing. I have to
get information from her, she has to give
me the keys to the office, the properties of
the guild in her possession and I can make
an assessment. The land that was given to
them in Anambra State; that was shared
illegally by the powerful people, they need
to submit this land to the people of
Anambra. These are one of the things we
are asking for, justice for the Nigerian
youths, which I believe you (interviewer) is
one of.
I am not doing all these because I want to
be the president of AGN, I am doing it
because that child that left her mother’s
house to say ‘I want to be an actress’ will
have the good environment to pursue her
dream.
Courtesy: Naijafilm