AGN Presidency: Facts Behind Segun Arinze’s Resignation  

Published on May 7, 2012 by pmnews   ·   No Comments

Following the show of shame that marred the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) election in Benin, Edo State penultimate weekend, national president of the guild, Segun Arinze, has resigned.

Segun Arinze

In his resignation letter made available to NollywoodReel, the popular actor wrote: “In view of the recent happenings in the actors guild of Nigeria and the recently botched elections in Benin. It is indeed a sad development for AGN. In actual fact my tenure as president ended on the 9 December 2011 but I stayed on as president in deference to the BOT and the vast majority of our members who prevailed on me to oversee a successful transition through a free and fair election.

“The event in Benin on the 28 April, 2012 is now common knowledge. I know I constituted an independent AGNEC that was supposed to be devoid of any electoral rancour or external influences. For my integrity and honour, I hereby resign as president of Actors’ Guild of Nigeria and it comes into effect immediately. I thank the BOT for all the support given during my tenure, the state chapter chairmen, my fellow presidents from other guilds in Nollywood, all AGN members and especially the media for their tremendous support during my tenure. I want to thank profoundly my wife Julie for holding on during the challenging period of service to the guild. I wish the guild the very best as we move forward.”

The resignation of Arinze has, however, been greeted with controversy. While it is being speculated that he was actually compelled to resign by the guild’s Board of Trustees (BOT), it is also rumoured he resigned because he is responsible for crisis that botched the election.

But in a telephone conversation with NollywoodReel, Arinze denied being forced to resign or responsible for crisis that marred the election.

According to him: “I was not forced by anybody to resign. The resignation came willingly because my time was up. I only stayed behind in office to oversee a successful transition of office, but since everything turned out the way it is, I have no choice than to resign.”

Asked if he was responsible for the botched election, he said: “That’s not true. The mobile policeman that came to the election venue with me is my personal security. Besides, the fact that I didn’t allow Ibinabo Fibresima (during her manifesto reading) to take credit for the transfer of Ifeanyi Dike to India for kidney transplant doesn’t mean I didn’t want a successful election.”

When NollywoodReel called a member of the guild’s BOT, Emma Oguguah on phone, he confirmed that the board didn’t force Arinze to resign. Asked to give account of the crisis that eventually marred the election, Oguguah said: “I’m still waiting to hear from the AGNEC chairman, Sunny Mc Don. He is yet to give us an official report, so I can’t speak on that for now.”

Meanwhile, an official mail sent by Oguguah to the BOT and Segun Arinze, which leaked to NollywoodReel, shed more light on the crisis that marred the election and why Arinze resigned.

In the letter, Oguguah wrote: “We need to dissolve the AGNEC committee with immediate effect. Their job was to conduct election and nothing more, since the election failed, Mc Don must step down for us to appoint a non-B.O.T member to conduct the election.

“I will suggest the new committee must be given a guideline and rules that must be followed till the end, and also given free hand except they depart from the set guidelines.

“Again the following people that played a key role in the security problem that led to South South not voting must be dealt with by our constitution. They are Dauda, Emeka Rising, Alex Idu, chairman Delta State and one other member from his state and Ochendo,” the Oguguah added.

He further wrote that the states that had not held elections must be given dates to conduct their elections. He also added that the problem of Lagos State chapter must be dealt with, a committee set up to deal with it and make recommendations to the president, while the BOT should give the new AGNEC its approved list of cleared candidates and guidelines to follow.

The concluding part of the revealing and controversial mail will be revealed next week.

FG to establish film fund.

FG to establish film fund

Labaran Maku

The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Sunday, said the Federal Government will establish a film fund in order to develop the industry.

The minister disclosed this at the opening ceremony of  the 6th edition of  Zuma Film festival tagged “ The Human Story, Connecting People”.

He said the fund, which is pending approval, would enable artistes, producers and other entrepreneurs in the industry to have easy access to funds that would help them boost film production.

Maku noted that the move was crucial to guarantee quicker and easier access to funds by practitioners than sourcing funds from commercial banks.

He said the proposal was, however, subject to the federal executive council’s consideration and approval.

“We will drive that process and we hope that when that fund is finally established, a number of people who are really participating in this industry will have the funding they require,” he said.

“And they will continue to invest and indeed bring their dreams to reality.’’

Maku said the film industry, popularly known as `Nollywood’, was a major source of national pride.

He said Nigeria had benefited immensely from the resilience and ardent resource of Nigerian film practitioners within the industry.

In his reaction, the Managing Director, Nigerian Film Corporation, Afolabi Adesanya, said the festival tended to portray the filmmaker as a social realist and cultural advocate.

The Zuma film life time achievement awards 2012 were presented to Oba Sanya Dosumu of Owu Kingdom, Abeokuta Ogun state, Prof. Jonathan Hayes and Hanes Manrique.

They were awarded for their notable contributions to the growth of Nigerian motion picture industry and the projections of the works of filmmakers.

The four-day event would feature colloquiums, workshops, film screenings and the annual film lecture. It will showcase a network of ideas, people and works of art especially in the motion picture industry.

Making a fortune by distributing Nigerian films online

The low-budget Nollywood films are hugely popular across Africa

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African Dream

• Food for thought
• Fishing for clients
• Successful couple
• Pill pioneer

Jason Njoku studied chemistry at university and would probably be working as a scientist had he not thought of a magic formula that he has translated into a huge success: Nigerian films plus online distribution equals big money.

It all started when he realised that his mother sometimes found it difficult to get the latest Nigerian "Nollywood" films in London and he reasoned that many other people around the world would be in the same boat.

The company that he put into motion in December 2010, Iroko Partners (formerly Nollywood Love), has become the largest distributor of Nigerian movies and music.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We're the first guys to actually legally reach out in Lagos to the production houses, the owners of the movies ”

Currently the firm has more than 3,000 Nollywood titles in its library and, according to its website, it is Africa's largest content partner on YouTube and Dailymotion.

The company has 81 employees in Lagos, London and New York, and it recently raised $8m (£5m), mainly from the US-based hedge fund Tiger Global.

"We're the first guys to actually legally reach out in Lagos to the production houses, the owners of the movies and negotiate and sign deals with these guys so they can finally get remunerated for their hard efforts," Mr Njoku told the BBC's series African Dream.

"Primarily, Nigeria's movie distribution has been via DVD so we've basically created another way for them to make money. They're very very happy about that."

Fifty films a week

Nollywood is the second largest film industry in the world by volume and its estimated annual revenue is $590m (£364m).

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Jason Njoku

• Age: 31
• University of Manchester graduate in chemistry, 2005
• Moved to Lagos, Nigeria, and started Iroko Partners in 2010
• The firm has become the largest online distributor of Nigerian films and music
• Iroko Partners has 81 employees in Lagos, London and New York
• The company recently raised $8m, led by US-based hedge fund Tiger Global

The low-budget films, often involving love-triangles and/ or witchcraft, are hugely popular across the continent.

According to data from Iroko Partners, approximately 50 movies are produced each week and they cost $25,000-$70,000 to make.

So how does Mr Njoku find the right films in such a huge industry?

"When I first started, there was a lot of literally... just wandering into the market, trying to find these production houses," the entrepreneur told the BBC's Alice Lander.

"I say production houses but they are literally just one guy, a mobile phone and just a lot of enthusiasm and his own personal capital to go out, develop and create these amazing movies."

Mr Njoku pointed out that things have changed and at the moment whenever a movie is released, the producers take it to his company.

"We can't buy every single movie out there but we can try and see the best ones if we believe our viewers will enjoy them," he said.

'Spectacular failure'

Mr Njoku said his first venture after graduating from the University of Manchester in 2005 was launching a student magazine which "ended in spectacular failure".

"People loved the magazine. We just never were able to figure out how to make money from it.

"I think it taught me many things. One was that my youthful enthusiasm just wasn't enough to actually run a successful business but also it taught me obviously about hard work and focusing on the right things."

Then in early 2010 he started thinking about making a living out of Nollywood but did not have any money of his own to start the business.

At the time he "struggled to get a bank account", and thus could not get a loan from a financial institution.

"I'm from a solidly working class family in south-east London. I was the first person in my family ever to go to university," he said.

"My best friend from university, he just had this blind belief that I was on [to] something interesting. I'd always work hard. I always worked the most longest hours, with the most intensity, and always got paid the least [compared] to every single person I knew."

According to him, his friend started injecting small amounts of money into the business.

"After about nine months, it still hadn't worked and by that time we had spent around £30,000, so in the end he said: 'Look, for this thing to work we need to be in Lagos. You need basically to move there', so in the end it ended up costing around £100,000 of his money to be able to do that."

No red carpets

But now the risk that his friend ran has paid off and other people who believe in his vision have backed his efforts to bring Nigerian entertainment online.

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“Start Quote

I'm an internet geek. I sit by my computer, that's all I do”

"I wake up every single day super-excited about just being in control of my own time, and about having a real impact and change the world, in my little own way," he said.

And what advice does he have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

"You just have to do it. I'm of the really simple opinion that you can listen to all the advice in the world but you have to be able to [make] own your mistakes… the biggest barrier is ourselves."

To many people in Nigeria and elsewhere his own goals probably seem as though they come from a Nollywood film.

In his blog he says he has set himself the target of having $100m in asset wealth by the time he is 40. He is now 31.

And in his private life he has also probably out-dreamed many film fans: His girlfriend is a well-known Nollywood actress.

But he pointed out that they are not very interested in glamour.

"We are both very simple people. You won't see us on red carpets and stuff like that. I'm an internet geek. I sit by my computer, that's all I do, and she supports me as I sit by computer."

African Dream is broadcast on the BBC Network Africa programme every Monday morning.

Every week, one successful business man or woman will explain how they started off and what others could learn from them.

Producer Threatens To arrest Tonto Dike.

Jumping from one set to another among movie stars has become a recurring decimal in Nollywood. Just last year, an Onitsha based film production outfit, AMACO Investment Limited, owned by Solomon Apete dragged sultry actress Uche Ogbodo before the leadership of the industry, accusing her of a breach of contract  and demanding the sum of N2million from her as a compensation.

Tonto Dike

However, while this ugly incident is yet to go down well in the industry, another case of abandoning set has erupted. This time, involving Tonto Dikeh and a notable producer based in Asaba.

HVP gathered that the controversial actress disappeared from the set since Monday, and has never bothered to show  up till this moment.

Our source said, Tonto left the set, on the pretext  that she was travelling to Lagos, only for her to  resume work in another production.

As it stands now, the producer is said to have alerted the leadership of the Actors Guild of Nigeria(AGN), and he is threatening to get the actress arrested should she fails to return to his set latest this weekend.

“This is the height of indiscipline in Nollywood. Tonto claimed that she was travelling to Lagos and would be back on Tuesday. Only for her to join another production. We have reported the matter to the Secretary-General of AGN.

“Her absence has delayed the completion of our production which we started nine days ago. We are supposed to be rounding off this weekend but we can’t. Tonto cannot disappear  with all the money we have paid her.” an angry source fumed.

Directed by Nonso Ekene Okonkwo, Tonto is starring in the movie alongside Frank Atus, Queen Nwokoye, Oluchi Ukaku among other stars. The movie is titled “ Blood Rage.”

‘I Faced Rejection, Hatred In Nollywood’

Celebrated Nollywood actress, Halima Abubakar, has said that her road to success in the motion picture industry was not paved with gold. She said she faced challenges ranging from rejection, hatred and of course, jealousy from her colleagues.

Halima Abubakar

The Kogi State born actress, who currently ranks among the most sought-after, reiterated that but for perseverance, hard work and focus, she would have let go.

Speaking on the pains she went through before emerging a celebrated diva, Halima said “One of it is rejection, hatred for no reason. Basically, I am going to say rejection because some people might smile at you and deep inside of them, they don’t want you to do well or be greater than them, so a lot of people like to take advantage of people because they know you are in need.I went through all of these in the hands of colleagues and friends.

“I want to believe that some of them are regretting now but at the end of the day, those things I went through made me a stronger person because I am not the type of person that pays evil for evil, so I just let them go. That is just the truth but still, I have no negative impression about anybody and I forgive them because I am not God.”

Asked if there is jealousy among actresses as widely speculated, Halima said: “Yes, there is, because the females actually have all the time for hatred and back-stabbing. I don’t know why some ladies are like that, because it shows inferiority complex, but I think that my style of acting is different from the way you act and you have your own part and then I have my part, afterall we are not fighting over anything. I can only do as much as I can do and you can only do as much as you can. You can’t do more than what God wants you to do, but I don’t know why you hate another person. Yes I am going to say 75 per cent of female actresses are not naturally happy with another person’s success and I just don’t know why.”

Meanwhile, what many of Halima’s fans and colleagues don’t know is that she started her career as a footballer, and was actually on the verge of playing for the Super Falcons before an injury thwarted that dream.

The screen goddess reminisced: “I was actually planning on playing for Super Falcons for Nigeria with my short legs and I have tried so many things that didn’t work out and when I look back, I just smile. I had to quit due to injuries probably because I wasn’t destined to be a footballer. I was going for training at the National Stadium but that was many years ago and I was supposed to go on trial with Jegede Babes and eventually play for Falcons or in the U.K or America, but as usual God has a way of changing things or your destiny decides, and I think that was what happened.”

—Bayo Adetu