That the Association of Nigerian Theatre Art Practitioners (ANTP) has crashed is not something to write about again as some of the aggrieved members of the association left to establish theirs called Theatre Arts And Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPPAN) in February 2014 after series of meeting held in Adebayo Salami aka Oga Bello’s house in Ikorodu, Lagos.since then, several reports and interviews have been going in the media from the important members of the association on why they took the decision but Yemi Solade who was TAMPPAN’s interim chairman before the National election which authenticate Dele Odule as the first elected President of the association was held kept mute on his reason to leave ANTP for TAMPPAN despite the many offers he got from them to be their spoke man. Yorubamoviegist.com recently spoke to him and he finally revealed to us why he left. In his words,
“I was elected as the spoke person of ANTP but I walked away because I don’t want unnecessary crisis for myself. I didn’t contest for election and I won. 5 years ago in ANTP, I guess it was September period, the election that was validated at the High Court in Ibadan that now made Comrade Victor Ashaolu the President of the association was the same election that I was on my bedroom, I didn’t attend it in Ilorin and I won. I was called by one of the Yoruba magazines that I won the election. I was amazed and at the same time surprised because I didn’t leave my home nor contest for any election and I won. But I have never for once proclaimed myself as the image maker of ANTP because I don’t want to be part of any crisis so I walked away from them. I walked away because I knew where it was heading to and that is why the association crumbled. I said to myself that I don’t have any business in the court of law unless if I want to go and record movie at the place, I am not a ramble racer or a unionist, I am an artiste, I don’t have any business going to court. That is not my life style”, he explained.CULLED FROM yorubamoviegist.com