COSON CALLS FOR THE RESIGNATION OF THE ACTING CHIEF JUDGE OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT, ABDUL KAFARATI

Members of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) who have since January 15, 2018 been protesting at different Federal High Court locations across Nigeria have called for the resignation of the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Kafarati, for his role in what COSON has called ‘a frightening new assault on the Nigerian Judiciary and an attempt to turn the Nigeria music industry into a gold mine belonging to no one, from where those who have made no investments nor contributions to the industry can cart away illicit billions of Naira while the true creators and investors in the industry languish in penury’.
Addressing a mammoth world press conference at COSON House in Ikeja on Wednesday, January 31, 2018, Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman of COSON on behalf of the society said that it is the position of COSON that Justice Abdul Kafarati should not be confirmed as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court. According to the words read by Okoroji, “it is clear to any serious observer that the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Kafarati, is being played like a tambourine and has become the turntable through which much of this very bad music is coming out of the Federal High Court, an important national institution. Justice Kafarati is not in control. If all these can happen while he is in an acting capacity, what will happen if he is made the substantive Chief Judge?”
Stressing the resolve of COSON, Chief Okoroji said, “We will continue to protest until the arm twisting and blackmailing of Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos is brought to an end, the Federal High Court of Nigeria is left free to do justice to all men as the judges deem fit and the Attorney–General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami is stopped from further meddling in the affairs of the Nigerian music industry.
“We will deploy our voices, drums, cymbals, trumpets, guitars and every other musical instrument available to us and we will employ our talents in our protest until the whole world hears us.
“We will continue this indefinite protest until the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is returned to the supervision of the Minister charged with responsibility for culture as expressly provided in Section 51 of the Nigerian Copyright Act”.
Decrying the recent award of the sum of almost N6 billion against Mutichoice Nigeria to the group known as Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) which is facing seven pending criminal cases at the Federal High Court and which the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami ordered the Nigerian Copyright Commission to approve in 2017, despite the protest of the NCC, Chief Okoroji said that the development is bizarre because at the time the purported infringement took place, MCSN was not an approved collecting society and that there is a plethora of Court of Appeal decisions stating that without approval, MCSN cannot collect royalties in Nigeria.
Okoroji also said that a number of the works said to have been infringed are works in the repertoire controlled by COSON for which Multichoice Nigeria has obtained a legitimate license. Chief Okoroji said that COSON has received reactions from some of its international affiliates wondering what the hell is going on in Nigeria as some of the works for which MCSN was said to have received the award belong to these COSON affiliates and at no time did they assign the works to MCSN.
He asked for a precedent for the kind of award against Multichoice asking that if a single Nigerian company providing employment to hundreds if not thousands of Nigerian citizens can be said to liable up to the whopping sum of 6 billion Naira for copyright infringement in the broadcast of 18 songs then it would require the entire national budget of Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt to pay for the entire Multichoice content.
Asked the celebrated former president of PMAN, “For a nation that continuously says that it badly wants direct foreign investment, which rational person would want to come and invest his money in Nigeria and expose himself to this kind of frightful shake down?”
Chief Tony Okoroji who is one of Africa’s most respected authorities on Intellectual Property said, “Some of us have spent practically our entire adult lives campaigning for the respect for intellectual property rights in our country. Our campaign has been for a responsible intellectual property system. Rather than help the collective management of copyright in Nigeria, the kind of shake down of Multichoice which will ruin entire companies will turn decent people against the collective management of copyright and hurt our industry and our country. After Mutichoice, who will be next?”
At the Press Conference, COSON called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call Mr. Abubakar Malami to order. The society also called on the National Judicial Council and the National Assembly to ensure that there is a full and transparent probe of what is happening at both the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal High Court.
COSON has also asked the Federal Executive Council to direct the immediate return of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to the supervision of the Minister charged with responsibility for culture as expressly provided in Section 51 of the Nigerian Copyright Act so that the Commission can be properly deployed to the promotion of the Nigerian creative industry instead of being a tool for the pursuit of devious schemes as it is presently being deployed.
The society promised that on the issues, there will be no retreat and no surrender. One of the highlights of the Press Conference was the live presentation by Reggae Star, King Wadada of his new song titled ‘Minister of Injustice’ in protest of the undue interference of AGF Abubakar Malami in the music industry.

SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

Since Monday, January 15, 2018, members of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) across the country have been protesting at different Federal High Court locations in Nigeria.

We are protesting what is a frightening new assault on the Nigerian Judiciary and an attempt to turn the Nigeria music industry into a gold mine belonging to no one, from where those who have made no investments nor contributions can cart away illicit billions while the true creators and investors in the industry languish in penury.

We will continue to protest until the arm twisting and blackmailing of Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos is brought to an end, the Federal High Court of Nigeria is left free to do justice to all men as the judges deem fit and the Attorney–General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami is stopped from further meddling in the affairs of the Nigerian music industry.

We will deploy our voices, drums, cymbals, trumpets, guitars and every other musical instrument available to us and we will employ our talents in our protest until the whole world hears us.
We will continue this indefinite protest until the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is returned to the supervision of the Minister charged with the responsibility for culture as expressly provided in Section 51 of the Nigerian Copyright Act.

At the time we began our protest, a syndicate in the Nigerian music industry called Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) together with its henchman, one Mayowa Ayilaran who is neither a musician nor an investor in the Nigerian music industry and six other operatives of this syndicate, were facing seven different criminal cases before different judges of the Federal High Court.

This syndicate is so notorious that Justice Biobele Abraham Deorgewill of the Court of Appeal, Lagos in CA/L/925/2011, a matter brought by the NCC, an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, against MCSN used the following damning words to describe the MCSN cabal:
“I used to think that impunity was only a function of civil irresponsibility until I went through the evidence in the record of this appeal wherein the Respondents (MCSN) boldly and without any fear for the law brandished their avowed criminal breaches of the penal provisions of the Copyright Act 2004 with so much impunity with no qualms at all, and with outrageous and criminal conducts…”

The schemes of the MCSN syndicate to manipulate justice know no bounds. As I have earlier written in this column, not long ago, the cabal quietly began to trail the movement of Justice Ibrahim Buba before whom seven of their officials were facing criminal trials. Eventually, they discovered the Lagos residence of the judge who had no idea that his life may in fact be in danger. Quietly, they got one Louis Udoh, the second in command to Mayowa Ayilaran, the MCSN henchman, to infiltrate the residence of Justice Buba. Craftily, Louis Udoh began to make friends with everyone in the judge’s residence. Udoh showed up regularly for meals and watched football on TV with the unsuspecting family. On one occasion, when Buba’s driver did not show up, Udoh offered to drive Justice Buba before whose court he was personally facing a criminal trial!

Is this story made up? No! A very alarmed Justice Buba disclosed this in open court upon recognizing Lous Udoh in the dock in his court!

This is the syndicate that the Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, has forced the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to purportedly approve as a collecting society to collect copyright royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians despite the strong protestations of the NCC.

This is the syndicate that Mr. Malami is using every trick in the book to stop their trial for alleged crimes against the Federal Republic. Why is AGF Malami bent on making sure that members of the MCSN syndicate are not tried after they lost at the Court of Appeal their attempt to avoid trial?

I am not unaware that the NCC is being pressured to find a reason to subjugate me and COSON because of our resolve to bring this evil scheme to an end. The conspirators have their sights at the upcoming Private Copy Levy in which they believe that they can make billions, one of the key reasons for the rushed purported approval of the MCSN syndicate which is the vehicle they have planned to deploy to shaft the music industry.

With the jumbo award of close to 6 billion Naira recently reported to have been given to the MCSN syndicate against Multichoice Nigeria by a Nigerian judge, the shake down has begun!

If Multichoice Nigeria, a single Nigerian company providing employment to thousands of our citizens can be said to be liable up to the whopping sum of 6 billion Naira for copyright infringement in the broadcast of 18 songs as reported by some newspapers, then it will require the entire national budget of Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt to pay for the entire Multichoice content. This is simply crazy.

Where is the precedent for this kind of horrendous award? For a nation that continuously says that it badly wants direct foreign investment, which rational person would want to come and invest his money in Nigeria and expose himself to this kind of frightful shake down? There can be no worse killer of the economy than this kind of blatant conspiracy against the Nigerian nation using the MCSN syndicate.

I have spent practically my entire adult life campaigning for the respect for intellectual property rights in our continent. My campaign has been for a responsible intellectual property system. Rather than help the collective management of copyright in Nigeria, the kind of shake down being faced by Multichoice which will ruin entire companies will turn decent people against the collective management of copyright and hurt our industry and our country. After Mutichoice, who will be next?

Man proposes but God disposes. Evil men might build their castles in the sky and keep dreaming of the loot with which they will own the world but evil thrives when decent people refuse or are too afraid to take on evil. History tells me that one day soon, this crazy scheme erected by man, will crumble. It is only a matter of time.

See you next week.

SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI SUDDENLY, EVERYBODY KNOWS HOW TO RUN COSON!

In the last couple of weeks, documents have been flying all over the media authored by some guys who clearly do not like me. They make it sound like they are driven by their love of COSON, the board of which I chair. The guys know how to make COSON a more efficient and effective organization than I have done and according to them I am standing on their way of making this happen because I am a dictator and a despot!

I have done a careful assessment of our guy who is pushing and coordinating this narrative. He is close to 70 years old. I do not see what exceptional thing he has done with his life all these years except that he is a prolific writer of petitions and meaningless position papers. My book, ‘Copyright & the New Millionaires’ is being read and studied across the world. With the skills of my all-knowing guy, I am not aware of any book or even a pamphlet authored by him. He presents himself as an expert at building institutions but every institution he has been given to build is either dead or on death row.

Rather than spend time on the once vibrant record label handed over to him which is dying in his hands, his full-time job has become the pursuit of Tony Okoroji. I know my guy very well. His kind populate our country - very good at talking but can’t get anything done.

A few years ago, there was nothing like COSON. Almost no one in Nigeria gave COSON a chance when we announced it in 2010. I was told repeatedly that it would not work. Today, without any kobo from the public purse or a loan from any bank, the beautiful COSON House is standing. By the way, it is called COSON House and not ‘Tony Okoroji House’. The edifice does not belong to me but to the musicians of Nigeria. It is located in Ikeja and not Owerri, my state capital.

COSON employs and pays as at when due some very brilliant and very well-trained Nigerians. COSON is distributing hundreds of millions of Naira to its members every year. The organization has reciprocal representation agreements covering about 140 collective management organizations in every corner of the globe. Its accounts are audited and filed every year with every relevant agency and never one day late. Every year, every COSON member gets a copy of the audited accounts and financial report which are scrutinized at our Annual General Meeting held without fail every year at the time stipulated by law.

In November 2017, we brought to a close the amazing 2017 COSON Week: eight back to back events organized over eight days in eight different venues: some of the best organized events in Nigerian history. Some of the events were broadcast live across the world. At COSON Week, we played host to three Ministers of the Federal Republic, the representatives of the Senate President and the governor of Lagos State. On all indices of growth, COSON is a very successful Nigerian story.

I was once President of PMAN, the musicians’ union. PMAN was a most respected Nigerian institution. We were celebrated. People like my guys started their petition writings and agitations. I left PMAN for them. Everyone can see what has become of our once great PMAN.

Oh yes, I have encouraged some young people to come on to the Board of COSON so that they can gain experience in the intricacies of managing a complex organization like COSON and thereafter, take over.

With the glittering COSON House, the millions in the bank, the significant name recognition, COSON has become very attractive. Suddenly everybody knows how to run COSON better and they can’t wait to chase me out.

COSON was started in a two-bedroom flat. At some point, I spent 60 days and nights at the COSON office, only going home periodically to pick up a change of clothes. My bed was the office floor. I was writing legal documents, press releases, accounting documents, organizational charts, etc. Many times, I worked 20 hours in a stretch. None of the people who now love COSON more than myself offered to spend one night with me in the labour that has built COSON.

Without the compliment of staff that COSON now has, the building blocks were laid and held together by incredible self-denial and iron clad belief that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. I have been attacked left, right and center and have lost count how many times I have gone to court to defend my name and to defend the COSON legacy. They have told tales of fabulous property owned by me but no one can give you the address of one such property because the property exists only in their warped minds.

I am human and not indispensable. I however understand the COSON vision, its very foundation and how the building blocks have been laid. I know the unique strengths and weaknesses of the organization. There is no question that there are people who dream of being in the leadership of COSON not because they want to defend the interest of the members but because they think that COSON has money that they can get their hands on. They neither have the knowledge nor the training to deal with the very complex subject of collective management of copyright. They lack the liver to take on the many enemies who are determined to destroy COSON. They do not possess the skills to manage the many contending interests but they are very hungry for office. The covet the beautiful COSON Boardroom. In less than six months, such people will destroy the wonderful organization we have carefully built. Oh, the trajectory of this incredible Nigerian success story will dive south.

On December 19, 2017, the members of COSON from across Nigeria said in very clear words that they do not want me to leave. They told me that they trust me. I was touched by their confidence in me and Indeed, I cried.

I have decided that I will not be bullied out. No amount of falsehood, half-truth or twisted logic published against me will push me away. As long as the members of COSON genuinely want me to protect their legacy, I will be there to protect what belongs to them. Let the petition writers continue to write their petitions and watch COSON grow bigger and bigger. COSON will not be another PMAN. Let the music pay!

See you next week.

Breaking News!!! Massive protest going on now at the Federal High Court Benin City

Massive protest going on now at the Federal High Court Benin City against the bizare withdrawal of case file from Justice Ibrahim Buba as he was about to deliver judgment in case brought by COSON against the MCSN syndicate and AGF Malami.