This week, the good Lord once again showed me His awesome powers against the devil.

I have written in Saturday Breakfast about my recent health challenges. For seven weeks I was unable to go to my office at TOPS or visit COSON House where I am Chairman of the Board.

Early Tuesday morning, I was at COSON House in Ikeja for the first time in weeks. I was at the boardroom, busy on my laptop preparing my address for the COSON Annual General Meeting scheduled to hold that day. Suddenly, my phone began to ring off the hook. Some hopeless persons had posted materials all over social media that I had been whisked off by the police from Lagos to Benin-City where I was supposedly being detained and quizzed for fraud!

Naturally, my friends and family were agitated, especially with my health condition. Everybody began to call everybody and alarm bells began to ring. The COSON communication people had to take an instant photograph of me at COSON House which they posted on social media to show that contrary to the fake news, I was live at work in Ikeja and not in any police dungeon in Benin - City. It was then that nerves began to calm.

I later the same day, I chaired a full meeting of the COSON Board and thereafter, a fantastic 10th Annual General Meeting of COSON, at the COSON House Arena. While the AGM was ongoing, another fake news story popped up all over social media declaring that COSON House had been sealed off by the police and the AGM which was streaming live to thousands of people on Zoom had been aborted! Unfortunately for the imbeciles, the COSON 2020 AGM turned out to be probably the most successful COSON AGM ever and photos from the AGM are everywhere for all to see. Nobody sealed off COSON House. There was no reason whatsoever to do so.

I instantly knew who was behind the stupid and desperate scheme to discredit me, take over the COSON AGM or abort it. I know the make-up of the Yahoo-Yahoo Gang, who so badly want to milk the music industry and feast on music copyright at the expense of the true musicians of Nigeria. While they deploy some innocent musicians in their scam, none of the ring leaders is a musician. They are all carpet baggers and opportunists who consider music copyright their new gold mine and musicians their “mugu”.

Their problem during the week was that in their desperation, they counted their chickens before they were hatched.

There was indeed a diabolical plan to ‘arrest’ me in Lagos, quickly drive me all night to Benin City, get a magistrate to remand me on some trumped up charge and lock me up in Benin, through my birthday, December 22, the Christmas and the New Year celebrations. The fact that my health is presently not very good made the wicked plan more sumptuous to the chief architect of this madness for which a large some of money had been made available. The plan was that if I died in detention, the better!

The chief architect of the evil plan lives in Benin City. He so badly wants to make himself the emperor of music copyright in Nigeria, using the police to harass and intimate organizations and individuals to pay money to him for music which he neither owns nor has been assigned to him. He has no visible source of livelihood. He wants to milk the music industry and feast on music copyright and become rich at the expense of the musicians of Nigeria. I have been identified as the major block to his mad ambition and I have to be taken care of.

The first stage of their plan may have worked. On Monday evening, I was accosted by four men in front of my TOPS office which I was visiting for the first time in weeks. They said they were police officers from Benin City and that I had to follow them to Area F Police station in Ikeja. I immediately called James Ononiwu, the COSON lawyer and he came immediately and accompanied me to Area F. The plan was to detain me at Area F and drive me away to Benin City, early in the morning without food, without my drugs, without a bath, wearing the same clothes. The plan failed.

I made some calls and instructions were given to the policemen to let me go. My traducers did not know what had happened. They were already celebrating. They could not wait to see my downfall and had sent the word to their social media hacks that I had been arrested and was being “quizzed” in Benin. Early morning on Tuesday while I was at COSON House Ikeja, they went to town with their fake news.

I flew to Benin City on Wednesday on my own volition. I went to Benin to confront the buffoon who signed the lousy petition they concocted and used to try to bring me down. Their stupid story is that I pocketed the coronavirus distribution which COSON sent as palliatives to its thousands of members during the COVID 19 lockdown. The coward was invited by the police in Benin to show how but failed to show up. In Benin City, I was treated with every courtesy by the police.

Fortunately, of the thousands of COSON members who got the palliative, nobody was paid in cash. It was all done by bank transfer. The records are there of all the people, their bank details, when they received the money, etc. In the distribution, there was no rancour or quarrel whatsoever. I am proud of the way it was done. If you know any member of COSON, you can please ask him if he got the COSON Covid 19 palliative.

I hear that the stupid people want to blackmail the police AIG in Benin. They tried to use him and it did not work. Now, they are floating another fake story that I gave the AIG N10 million to protect me! Protect me from what? If I have N10 million, I will not give it to the police. I have poor people in my village who need money. I have an unfinished building in my village that needs money.

Whoever funded the embarrassing and historic failure of the Yahoo-Yahoo Gang of the music industry this week must ask for his money back. They are a letdown. Chai!

See you next week.

 

UDEGBUNAM CALLS PRETTY OKAFOR THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY’S MINISTER OF CONFUSION

Frontline COSON Board member, Honourable John Ewelukwa Udegbunam has asked Nigerians and the international copyright community to discountenance what he has termed a campaign of falsehood unleashed by the controversial factional leader of PMAN, Mr. Pretty Okafor, against COSON, Nigeria’s biggest copyright organization. He has also described the never-ending attempt by Okafor to destroy the name and integrity of COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji as deplorable, especially so soon after Chief Okoroji floored the loquacious Okafor at the Lagos State High Court in a libel case decided recently by Justice A.A. Oyebanji. Speaking to www.beats-onit.com,  Udegbunam repeated his description of Pretty Okafor as “the entertainment industry’s blatant Minister of Confusion, Disinformation & Fabrication”.

According to Udegbunam “Pretty Okafor very well knows that COSON is not proscribed, delisted or operating illegally yet he continues to trumpet and spread the falsehood everywhere. The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has in writing said that It has not delisted and is not delisting COSON which has consistently met its obligations to the commission, yet Pretty Okafor continues to spread his falsehood and confusion vigorously. Okafor knows that COSON is the only organization in Nigeria that is today providing succor to musicians across Nigeria yet this Minister of Disinformation who poses as PMAN President desperately wants to kill COSON. The truth is that COSON is working…one hundred percent working! Anybody who visits the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja today will find that despite Okafor’s nonsense, all systems and personnel at this fantastic Nigerian organization are operating efficiently.

Speaking further to www.beats-onit.com, Hon. Udegbunam said ”It is the same way that Pretty Okafor trumpets the falsehood that he was not aware of the case in which Chief Tony Okoroji recently got a resounding judgment against him.  Most people in the music industry will recall that when the case was filed over two years ago, it was widely publicized on practically every media platform. Pretty Okafor may have forgotten that he once claimed on Facebook that he was in court for the case and neither saw Chief Okoroji nor his lawyer and boasted that Chief Okoroji would never get judgment against him. I was a witness in the matter and I know that for a while, Pretty Okafor did everything to evade service until the judge ordered that Pretty Okafor should be served by pasting. The judge’s order was carried out. I was in court and I saw Pretty Okafor’s lawyer in court. He announced himself for Okafor before the judge and participated in the trial and inspected all the exhibits tendered in the case. How can this Okafor man suddenly claim that he was not aware of the case that went on in an open court for more than two years? Maybe he thinks that by his behaviour, he can avoid the consequences of the judgment. I really don’t know what brand of alcohol Pretty Okafor is drinking. Chief Tony Okoroji has Pretty Okafor by a corner and I can assure you that he will not escape”

The vastly respected Udegbunam is the immediate past National President of the powerful Music Label Owners & Recording Industries Association of Nigeria (MORAN), Nigeria’s biggest association of owners of copyright in sound recordings. From inception, he has been a member of the Management Board of COSON, Nigeria’s most respected and successful copyright collective management organization. The no nonsense activist is a trained musicologist, composer, music teacher, producer and label owner and National Music Director of the Praise & Worship Ministry of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN). 

COSON CHAIRMAN CHIEF TONY OKOROJI CALLS FOR A REVISIT OF THE NEW AMENDMENT TO THE BROADCAST CODE

Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, has joined the many stakeholders in the creative and broadcast industries calling for a revisit of the recently amended 6^th edition of the National Broadcasting Code.

Chief Okoroji says that the objectives of the code which he believes are to offer more participation of Nigerians in the creation and dissemination of broadcast content are commendable. Hehas however expressed a belief that the amendments have been crafted in such a manner that they are unworkableand unenforceable and will lead to unending litigation and even significant divestment in the creative space.

Speaking on both the STV flagship public affairs program, NEWS SCOPE WITH PATRICK DOYLE and THE MORNING SHOW on Arise News, Chief Okoroji said that the drafters of the amended code may have acted ultra vires their legal mandate as they appear to have strayed beyond their limited powers to draft a subsidiary legislation and usurped the powers of the National Assembly to make laws. According to Chief Okoroji, some of the provisions may indeed be unconstitutional. He singled out the provisions for exclusivity, advertising and payment of royalties for musical works and sound recordings and said that the provisions in the code may be overreaching as they seem to have ignored the rights of the parties to a contract to agree on their terms.

The COSON Chairman who is a much respected expert in Intellectual Property and in his own right, a content producer, expressed concern that the views of a lot of key stakeholder groups who will be affected by the code were not sought before or during the amendment process which he said took place during the Corona virus lockdown when the movement of many people was restricted.

Others who have called for a revisit of the code to avoid unending litigation include Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, former Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) who says that a number of the issues have already been better covered by the APCON Code.He called on the Minister of Information to reconstitute the APCON Council which can better deal with the issues related to advertising. Mr. Chris Ehindero an independent movie producer has expressed the view that the code will kill investments in the creative space at a time the industry is about to start enjoying investments in big productions.Renowned lawyer, Mr. Richard Akinnola said that the amended code went to the extreme and is too over-bearing. He said that he does not know how the code can withstand legal scrutiny.

The Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (IBAN) has also asked the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to suspend the implementation of the amended 6^th broadcasting code.

On THE MORNING SHOW on Arise News, Chief Tony Okoroji said that he suspects that the hold that Multichoice DSTV has on the English Premiership is driving some of the provisions in the revised code. He suggested that rather going it alone, some Nigerian broadcasting stations should pull their resources together and challenge Multichoice DSTV. He complained about the recent penchant of Nigerians to attack Nigerian companies with foreign origins saying that such behaviour may lead to serious divestment in Nigeria and massive loss of jobs held by Nigerians. In the words of Chief Okoroji, “Multichoice DSTV may have originated from South Africa but Multichoice Nigeria is a Nigerian company, the Chairman of the company, Mr. DewumiOgunsanya, is a Nigerian, the CEO, Mr. John Ugbe is a Nigerian.Thousands of Nigerians make their living through Multichoice. What do we gain by hounding the company?”

Continued Chief Okoroji, “Alhaji Aliko Dangote is presently investing in many countries across the African continent and providing jobs in these nations. How will Nigerians feel if those investments are threatened simply because the initial promoter of the business is a Nigerian?”

SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI (GUEST COLUMNIST -AZEEZAT ALLEN)

I received this piece just this morning from the great singer and my colleague, Azeezat whom we love to call the Queen of Love. In the last two years, Azeezat has lived in North America. She was a member of the COSON Board and worked hard towards the building of the COSON brand. She also served for a while on the PMAN National Executive Council. Please read on:

THIS IS NOT AN OKOROJI TESTIMONIAL!

I am a proud Okoroji protégée. He has encouraged me to be a better version of myself.

Chief Tony Okoroji speaks in parables and leaves you with many quotable quotes. In his words: “Man is not blessed by what he takes but by what he gives”. So, I work harder at being more of a blessing to others.

“I drive on a full tank of faith”. So, I expand my vision, dream bigger, work harder at it, knowing that even if it doesn’t look feasible at first, I have learnt from Chief Okoroji that if I keep trudging on, everything will align itself with time.

“Never conspire with anyone to loot or commit a crime, because when the tides turn, they will use the information against you”.

I was present about six years ago when Pretty Okafor came to COSON to present a PMAN project for Chief Okoroji’s endorsement. It was clear that Chief Okoroji had never previously met Okafor.

The first question Chief asked him was: how did he (Pretty Okafor) become PMAN President?

Pretty gave a long narrative about how a court case made him president. Chief listened, and then pointed out that this was not part of the PMAN constitution. He advised him to follow the constitution in order to ensure the legality of his position.

Then Pretty went ahead to present his new PMAN scheme: something about members paying Five Thousand Naira to gain a huge sum of money. Chief Okoroji simply asked him how he planned to finance this.

The answers he gave didn’t add up: If you are a numbers person, it is easy to know how 2+2 makes 4. If someone told you 2+2 makes 400 you would definitely question it. It appeared like a scam and if you know Chief Tony Okoroji, he does not touch scams. He said a loud NO to Pretty Okafor.

From that point on, the relationship seemed to grow sour. Which makes me unsurprised about everything that Pretty has been doing in recent years to support anything or anyone with an axe to grind with Okoroji.

As I was moved to do this writeup, I went online and googled Pretty Okafor’s PMAN in order to make sure I didn’t get my facts wrong. I found an array of promises by Pretty Okafor to Nigerian artistes back in 2015 when he said he had become president. This made me wonder; can any Nigerian artiste come out and say what they have benefited from Pretty Okafor’s PMAN?

No matter what you say about Chief Okoroji, he does not make promises he does not work extremely hard to keep. Testimonial to that is the thousands of Nigerian artistes, home and abroad, who keep sending him prayers regularly, thanking him for the efforts he keeps making in the pursuit of their rights. Chief Tony Okoroji has never asked any Nigerian artiste to pay one kobo to him or COSON yet COSON has distributed hundreds of millions of Naira to Nigerian artistes.

But like this write-up is titled, this is absolutely not an Okoroji testimonial. It is about how some pots in the Nigerian music industry keep calling the kettle black:

How come no one has ever really publicly questioned Pretty Okafor the same questions he openly poses to others on social media?

I truly wish artistes could come out and claim that they have benefited from Pretty Okafor’s varied PMAN schemes for Nigerian artistes. For instance, one of such schemes is the PMAN Health and Life Insurance Policies where a PMAN member pays 5k registration fee and he is automatically entitled to a Health and Life insurance scheme, worth N5million. My question is this, this scheme was announced in 2015, can any artiste who knows someone who has benefited from this scheme come out and declare?

I understand that Lagos based artistes are more liberal, but Nigerian artistes from other parts of the country appear to be more regulated by their PMAN state chapters; they pay their dues religiously. How many of them have benefited from Pretty’s schemes?

A 5 million Naira Life insurance policy that was announced in 2015, definitely dues-paying members of PMAN have passed away since then, please can we identify one single member that has been paid this money?

This is just one. What about the biometric scheme that was also celebrated with pomp and pageantry back then? How has that impacted on Nigerian artistes? Let the artistes that have benefited come out and give testimonials.

I’m not done, Pretty keeps joining others to call for the audit of COSON’s accounts by KPMG. This is a COSON that is religiously audited annually. How come no one has called for the audit of PMAN and how Pretty Okafor manages its funds? Surely, what is good for the goose is definitely good for the gander? If he cannot even afford a KPMG, he should use a K-P-anything. #AuditPMAN FULLSTOP.

I can go on and on. But I will stop with only one thought: why would Pretty Okafor go on social media and accuse Chief Okoroji of all sorts of things but does show up in court at all to present his evidence? Why? Why make accusations, tarnish someone’s image when you can’t even show up like a man to back it up?

This is definitely not an Okoroji testimonial. There are thousands of musicians in Nigeria who will proudly give a testimonial for the great Chief Tony Okoroji. The Copyright Act is an Okoroji testimonial. The Nigerian Copyright Commission is an Okoroji testimonial. The amazing Nigerian Music Awards is an Okoroji testimonial. The beautiful glass house on Oluwaleimu Street in Ikeja called the COSON House is an Okoroji testimonial. The power packed seven days of spectacle called the COSON Week is an Okoroji testimonial. The PMAN presidency which Pretty Okafor has taken over and uses to spew his hatred is an Okoroji testimonial.

Just recently with the Corona virus lockdown, Okoroji supervised the distribution of over 70 million naira from COSON to relieve the pain of suffering musicians all over Nigeria. That is an indelible Okoroji testimonial. The Okoroji testimonial is everywhere. This is a call for well-meaning Nigerians to come out and ask @PrettyOkafor for his testimonials.

Thank you for reading.

- AZEEZAT ALLEN – Guest Columnist
See you next week