It was the mother of all press
conferences as the Opebi Lagos office of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON)
was on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 practically taken over by a hoard of journalists
who had come to hear about the commissioning of the ultra-modern ‘COSON House’
slated for May 20 in Lagos and the reaction of COSON to the reported orders of
the Attorney-General of the Federation that Musical Copyright Society of
Nigeria Ltd (MCSN) be approved as a collecting society
Confirming that the COSON House
commissioning will go ahead as scheduled on May 20, the COSON Chairman, Chief
Tony Okoroji who addressed the press on behalf of the organization said, “it is
instructive that we did not get one Naira assistance from the federal
government or any Nigerian government at all to finance COSON House. We did not
get one dollar from any donor agency or any foreign institution to build COSON
House. It is also instructive that we did not take a loan of any type from any
bank to finance COSON House. I am proud to say that when the ultra- modern
COSON House is commissioned on May 20, we will not be owing a penny on the
building or on any of the facilities contained therein. The building and facilities
within COSON House fully belong to musicians across Nigeria and other
stakeholders in the music industry, forever without any encumbrance whatsoever”
According to Chief Okoroji, “we have
not just set up a building that will house our corporate headquarters but
assembled compact facilities for study, research, training, retraining and
continuous dissemination of information that will ensure that the concept of
intellectual property takes root in our fatherland and that Nigeria becomes an
important player in the new global knowledge economy. In COSON House, we have
created a hub for all those who want to understand the intriguing subject of
copyright and other forms of intellectual property”
On the reported approval of Musical Copyright Society Nigeria
(MCSN), Chief Okoroji was emphatic that MCSN has not been approved. According
to him, there are laid down processes for the approval of a collective
management organization in Nigeria.
In the words of the former president of PMAN, “It
is not just that due process was not followed, no process whatsoever was
followed. This is like building something on nothing. It cannot stand”
The celebrated author of the ground-breaking book,
“Copyright & the New Millionaires” raised a number of questions which he
answered. The questions are:
·
Did MCSN send an application to the NCC in the prescribed form as
required under the Regulations? The answer is a blatant NO.
·
Did MCSN pay the prescribed fee to the federal government as required
under the Regulations? The answer again is a blatant NO.
·
Has MCSN shown anyone the proof of payment of the prescribed fee? The
answer of course is another blatant NO.
·
Did MCSN submit the many documents required to be submitted to the NCC
under the regulations which documents are required to be evaluated before the
grant of any approval. The answer once
again is an unqualified NO.
·
Who carried out the evaluation of the MCSN Application and when?
Making fun of the lack of any process, The COSON
Chairman asked, “Is it not funny that what Nigerians are being told is that
someone who never registered for an exam, never paid the exam fee and never sat
for the exam has passed! How?”
Chief Okoroji alleged that the
purported approval of MCSN Ltd, is indeed the product of a conspiracy hatched
by MCSN’s henchman, Mayo Ayilaran who is facing trial at the Federal High Court
before several judges in seven different criminal cases filed by the Federal
Government.
According to Okoroji, as Ayilaran’strial date drew
closer, he engaged his ‘mole’ at the Federal Ministry of Justice, one Salihu
Othman Isa, the AGF’s Special Assistant (Media) who conspired with one
Sylvester Imhanobe, another Assistant to the AGF to hatch a plan to truncate
the trial of Ayilaran and MCSN.
In the words of Okoroji, “Having run out of options
with trial imminent and possible jail term looming, the never-say-die Ayilaran,
in desperation contacted his mole at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr.
Salihu Othman Isah, the S.A. Media to the AGF, to save him from jail. And so
the conspiracy was hatched to take advantage of the fact that the Honourable
Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr AbubakarMalami is an incredibly busy
public officer with scanty knowledge of the history of the copyright system in
Nigeria. Pressure was therefore brought on the AGF by Mr. Othman Isa and some
of his cohorts in the ministry which from recent developments include Sylvester Imhanobe, a senior assistant to the
AGF.
“As April drew closer and the trial of Ayilaran and
MCSN became imminent, Ayilaran who is not a singer, a songwriter, a music
publisher, a label owner or an investor of any kind in the music industry,
began to increase his pressure on Salihu Othman Isa who in turn began a
relentless effort to influence his boss, the very busy Attorney-General of the
Federation who was told that the MCSN approval and the truncating of the Mayo
Ayilaran trial were in line with the desire of a wide section of the music
industry in Nigeria! Othman Isa who himself is not known to be associated in
any way with the music industry became the spokesperson of the industry. Isa
who may never have attended a copyright class in his life became the nation’s
big expert on copyright, prodding the AGF to sign on to the stunning directive
that has brought the entire copyright system in Nigerian into confusion, opened
old wounds resulting into an uproar in the music industry in Nigeria and making
the copyright system in our country the joke of the world”
To restore some sanity into the system, COSON has
made the following demands:
1. Just like it was done by President
Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005, there should be an immediate withdrawal of any
letter or document suggesting or purporting that the criminal organization run
by Mayo Ayilaran and called Musical Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd (MCSN) has
been authorized or approved to collect royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian
musicians and other music industry stakeholders or to operate in Nigeria as a
collective management organization.
2. No further attempt should be allowed
to be made by any official of the Federal Government to scuttle or torpedo the
ongoing criminal trial of Mayo Ayilaran and MCSN Ltd in the 7 different cases
before several judges of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
3. Mr Ayilaran who is presently on bail
and MCSN Ltd should be diligently prosecuted and their prosecution should be
transparent and open as deserving of every Nigerian citizen and no pressure
whatsoever should be brought on any of the judges before whom they are being
prosecuted so that at the end of the day, it will be established whether they
are indeed guilty or not of the crimes of which they have been accused.
4. Mr. Saliu Othman Isah and Mr.
Sylvester Imhanobe, implicated in the misuse of their closeness to the
Attorney-General of the Federation in the clandestine effort to wreck the
criminal trial of Mayo Ayilaran and MCSN Ltd, and who may have inflicted a big
stain on President Buhari’s war against corruption should be suspended
immediately from office and a proper investigation be carried out on their
activities.
5. An urgent and thorough audit should
be carried out on the staff of the Federal Ministry of Justice to fish out the
moles within the system and to ensure that there are no other persons in the
employ of the ministry who are deploying the enormous powers of the AGF in the
pursuit of objectives that are against national interest.
6.
The AGF should keep the promise he made to a COSON delegation
in November 2016 to strengthen the copyright system in the country so that the
system can effectively protect and promote creative enterprise in the nation
and ensure that the Nigerian economy benefits from the creative ingenuity of
Nigerian citizens and those interested in investing in our creative industries.
FOR COSON:
TOLU BALOGUN
