MEETING YOU: SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI GET READY FO...

MEETING YOU: SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI GET READY FO...: Any moment from now, the Nigerian Copyright Commission will organize a big press conference or issue a press release accusing me a...

SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI GET READY FOR MY TRIAL UNDER THE CYBERCRIME LAW!

Any moment from now, the Nigerian Copyright Commission will organize a big press conference or issue a press release accusing me and COSON of trying to bring down Mr John Asein, their Director-General alleged to be neck deep in serial corruption. They will tell you that we have declared war on Mr. Asein who is doing ‘a very good job” because we do not want him to ‘audit’ COSON.

They will not answer the weighty allegations made against Mr Asein. Did he do or did he not do the things he has been accused of? For instance, did he illegally continue to collect salary from the federal government after he had retired from service? Did he continue to sign cheques on behalf of REPRONIG, a CMO regulated by the NCC, long after becoming DG of NCC? In other words, was he heading the regulator and the regulated organizations at the same time? As a public officer, was John Asein the Director of a private company, something expressly forbidden by the Public Service Rules?

I can bet you that at the NCC, they will not see the bewildering conflict of interest or the stunning array of misdeeds fuelled by greed, Mr. Asein is alleged to have soaked himself in. I will not be surprised if I am accused of going after Mr. John Asein because he does not come from my village or because I badly want his job or because I want a contract which he did not deliver.

I have no doubt that a juju man has been engaged by his friends to get Mr. Asein out of the ‘mess’ and some prayer warriors have been employed to pray ceaselessly that I contract the coronavirus and leave Mr. Asein alone to continue to do his ‘very good job’.

Unfortunately, this is how low our country has sunk.

I will be the last person to publicly accuse anyone of doing something wrong when I know that he has not done so. I have gone to court many-many times to defend my name against false accusations. Indeed, I have several defamation cases pending in court. I believe that a man’s reputation is worth more than money and ought to be vigorously defended.

If Mr. Asein will tell the truth, he will report that I have confronted him with these allegations, not on the phone, not by email but one-on-one. I left Lagos for Abuja to see Mr. Asein over these issues. Mr. Asein was kind enough to come to my hotel room to discuss these matters. We spent hours talking. He could not offer any explanation, not to talk of any good explanation for what he did. I know what defamation means and COSON would not have gone public without giving the man a chance to clear the air.

Why does this matter? I have spent a good part of my life fighting for a decent copyright system in Nigeria. Long before it became obvious, I believed that the intellectual property economy would drive the world. Working with great Nigerians like Prof. Egerton Uvieghara, Prof. Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike, who just passed on, Prince Tony Momoh, Prince Bola Ajibola and Mr. Moses Frank Ekpo, I did everything possible to have the NCC set up. I organized risky demonstrations, served in the committee that drafted the Copyright Act and served twice on the Board of the NCC. Indeed, the memo that went to the Babangida Government to set up the NCC was written on my desk and sent to Prince Tony Momoh who was then Minister of Information & Culture. Put simply, Copyright has been my life.

I look at what the NCC has become and I shudder. The organization set up to uplift the Nigerian creative industry has become one that shamelessly decimates the industry. The civil servants have forgotten why they are called civil servants. They are determined to be the masters of those they were appointed to serve.

Maybe because the NCC is not considered politically important and is not the Customs or NNPC, it has been foisted with a succession of poor leadership whose key interest is to grab all the power they can grab whether lawful or not and chop all the money they can chop.

We have watched in wonder as the NCC became the law maker, the accuser, the judge and the jury in its own case? Without question, the NCC has become a monster and needs to be tamed.

Oh yes, I hear they are coming after me. You know what they are planning? Rather than deal with the issues, they are searching with a tooth comb and studying everything I have written in Saturday Breakfast and elsewhere. They think they can bring me down under the cybercrime law. That is how desperate they are. You know that the NCC filed criminal charges against me under the Copyright Act which resulted in nothing. Now, this! Oh! my God!

See you next week.

SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI GET READY FOR MY TRIAL UNDER THE CYBERCRIME LAW!

Any moment from now, the Nigerian Copyright Commission will organize a big press conference or issue a press release accusing me and COSON of trying to bring down Mr John Asein, their Director-General alleged to be neck deep in serial corruption. They will tell you that we have declared war on Mr. Asein who is doing ‘a very good job” because we do not want him to ‘audit’ COSON.

They will not answer the weighty allegations made against Mr Asein. Did he do or did he not do the things he has been accused of? For instance, did he illegally continue to collect salary from the federal government after he had retired from service? Did he continue to sign cheques on behalf of REPRONIG, a CMO regulated by the NCC, long after becoming DG of NCC? In other words, was he heading the regulator and the regulated organizations at the same time? As a public officer, was John Asein the Director of a private company, something expressly forbidden by the Public Service Rules?

I can bet you that at the NCC, they will not see the bewildering conflict of interest or the stunning array of misdeeds fuelled by greed, Mr. Asein is alleged to have soaked himself in. I will not be surprised if I am accused of going after Mr. John Asein because he does not come from my village or because I badly want his job or because I want a contract which he did not deliver.

I have no doubt that a juju man has been engaged by his friends to get Mr. Asein out of the ‘mess’ and some prayer warriors have been employed to pray ceaselessly that I contract the coronavirus and leave Mr. Asein alone to continue to do his ‘very good job’.

Unfortunately, this is how low our country has sunk.

I will be the last person to publicly accuse anyone of doing something wrong when I know that he has not done so. I have gone to court many-many times to defend my name against false accusations. Indeed, I have several defamation cases pending in court. I believe that a man’s reputation is worth more than money and ought to be vigorously defended.

If Mr. Asein will tell the truth, he will report that I have confronted him with these allegations, not on the phone, not by email but one-on-one. I left Lagos for Abuja to see Mr. Asein over these issues. Mr. Asein was kind enough to come to my hotel room to discuss these matters. We spent hours talking. He could not offer any explanation, not to talk of any good explanation for what he did. I know what defamation means and COSON would not have gone public without giving the man a chance to clear the air.

Why does this matter? I have spent a good part of my life fighting for a decent copyright system in Nigeria. Long before it became obvious, I believed that the intellectual property economy would drive the world. Working with great Nigerians like Prof. Egerton Uvieghara, Prof. Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike, who just passed on, Prince Tony Momoh, Prince Bola Ajibola and Mr. Moses Frank Ekpo, I did everything possible to have the NCC set up. I organized risky demonstrations, served in the committee that drafted the Copyright Act and served twice on the Board of the NCC. Indeed, the memo that went to the Babangida Government to set up the NCC was written on my desk and sent to Prince Tony Momoh who was then Minister of Information & Culture. Put simply, Copyright has been my life.

I look at what the NCC has become and I shudder. The organization set up to uplift the Nigerian creative industry has become one that shamelessly decimates the industry. The civil servants have forgotten why they are called civil servants. They are determined to be the masters of those they were appointed to serve.

Maybe because the NCC is not considered politically important and is not the Customs or NNPC, it has been foisted with a succession of poor leadership whose key interest is to grab all the power they can grab whether lawful or not and chop all the money they can chop.

We have watched in wonder as the NCC became the law maker, the accuser, the judge and the jury in its own case? Without question, the NCC has become a monster and needs to be tamed.

Oh yes, I hear they are coming after me. You know what they are planning? Rather than deal with the issues, they are searching with a tooth comb and studying everything I have written in Saturday Breakfast and elsewhere. They think they can bring me down under the cybercrime law. That is how desperate they are. You know that the NCC filed criminal charges against me under the Copyright Act which resulted in nothing. Now, this! Oh! my God!

See you next week.

COSON WARNS THOSE DEPLOYING ITS MEMBERS WORKS TO OBTAIN A COSON LICENCE OR FACE POWERFUL LITIGATION

Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) Nigeria’s biggest Copyright Collective Management Organization has asked all organizations deploying the musical works and sound recordings of COSON members and affiliates to immediately obtain a COSON licence or face huge litigation.

At the massively attended World Press Conference held on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at which COSON demanded the immediate resignation of Mr. John Asein, the DG of the Nigerian Copyright Commission(NCC) for serial corruption, COSON said that the purported suspension of the COSON operating licence is a ruse not founded on Nigerian law or the Nigerian constitution and requested all those deploying works in the COSON repertoire to ensure that they take immediate steps to obtain a COSON licence or face huge litigation.

At the conference attended by its lawyers, COSON also asked the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC)  to make appropriate restitution to COSON for harassing, intimidating, maltreating and bullying COSON and several of its officers with powers not founded on the laws and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and denying the Nigerian music industry billions of naira in revenue due to the industry.

COSON said that it was amazed to discover that some senior officers in the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) a federal government agency, were neck deep in the almost 3 years old conspiracy to hijack COSON and turn it into a private ATM and a private piggy bank for them and their friends with a plan that if their conspiracy fails, they must destroy the organization which has become the flagship of the Nigerian copyright system across the world.

Speaking at the Press Conference, Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman of COSON said, “Gentlemen of the Press, despite all the hounding and intimidation, you are witness to the fact that COSON House continues to stand tall and remains sparkling clean. 7 days ago, the Board of COSON met at COSON House. Not one member of the Board was absent and not one member left the meeting before its adjournment about 7 hours after the meeting began. It was the Board that directed that this press conference be held. The Board also approved the acquisition of new state of the art software that will make royalty distribution in COSON unquestionable and fully transparent.

“Gentlemen of the Press, the COSON Management stands strong. Our membership on Dec 7, 2017 when the coup took place was 3631. The membership as of today is 4700, an increase of 29.44%. We wish to inform all those who are deploying works in the COSON repertoire that the purported suspension of the COSON operating licence is a ruse not founded on Nigerian law or the Nigerian constitution. We therefore request all those deploying works in the COSON repertoire to ensure that they obtain a COSON licence without delay or face powerful litigation.

“Both the NCC and those who have conspired with them to hound us and drive us out of existence have not read the game well. They have underestimated the vision, mission, passion, dedication and determination of the members and leaders of COSON. We are 100% committed to ensuring that COSON will not be one of the failed organizations in the creative industry.

“We have become freedom fighters for the Nigerian creative industry. We are fighters against the use of state power to muscle and overwhelm innocent citizens. We will not slumber, and we will not tire. We refuse to be made slaves in our nation. We will fight the tyranny that has been unleashed on us until we gain total victory for the artistes of Nigeria.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the Press Conference, renowned COSON lawyer, Mr. James Ononiwu of WhitedDove Solicitors said, “We forcefully challenge the NCC to show Nigerians under which law it obtained the power  to unilaterally intervene in the choice of the Chairman of a CMO, the power to, on its own, suspend, revoke or restrict the approval given to a collecting society or embark on an audit of a collecting society or order the freezing of the bank accounts of a CMO without ever going to court and seeking the order of a court. It is absolutely crazy that the NCC is said to be acting under internal regulations made by it, not founded under any Nigerian law.

How can the NCC in a democracy be the law maker, the accuser, the judge and the jury in its own case? I agree that the NCC has become a monster and needs to be tamed.

This terriblescam to decimate one of the few Nigerian organizations bringing pride to our country across the world must be condemned by all serious Nigerian citizens.This idea of every small man who gets a government appointment using the opportunity to visit mayhem on innocent Nigerians must stop. Enough is enough. We will make the NCC an example”.

FOR COSON.