Recently,
the National Secretary of the Actors Guild of Nigera, AGN, under
Ibinabo Fiberesima’s leadership, Abubakar Yakub disowned the newly
established caretaker committee by a group better known as AGN
stakeholders to restore peace and stability in the troubled guild,
insisting that Ibinabo remains the incumbent president.
Yakub
among other things claimed that the National Executive Committee of AGN
was not carried along by the stakeholders while setting up the said
caretaker committee.
But
debunking Yakub’s claims, chairman of the Caretaker committee, Mr Steve
Eboh revealed that all the warring factions in the guild were properly
informed about the stakeholders’ meeting and its resolutions.
He declared that the committee has come to restore the lost glory of the guild and that nobody can stop it.
“The
emergence of this committee is the best thing to happen to AGN because
its mandate is just to resuscitate AGN and conduct elections,” he said.
Speaking
in an exclusive interview with HVP, Eboh said, “I don’t know why
Ibinabo and Emeka Ike are afraid of the Caretaker Committee. The essence
of the caretaker committee is to reconcile warring factions of the
guild, stay in power for some time, conduct fresh elections and ensure
that the guild moves forward again. And some people are not happy with
the development.
Some of
them have lost their relevance in the guild. They want to remain in
power, meaning that there is something they are not telling us. If this
caretaker committee was set up by either Ibinabo, Emeka Ike or BoT, they
wouldn’t be kicking against it.
“But
because it’s set up by the stakeholders, they don’t want to identify
with the caretaker committee. Before now, they have been calling me
names. The court sacked Ibinabo, and Emeka Ike has never been the
president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria. Now, he’s laying claims to the
presidency of the guild. Emeka Ike has not been able to tell us who
voted him as the president of AGN.”
“The
same goes to Ibinabo, who is yet to tell us what legal mandate she has
over AGN now. The court has nullified her election as the president of
the guild, and she has appealed against the judgment. Legally, does it
make her relevant? No. Section 4 of the judgment instructed Ibinabo to
hand over the guild to the stakeholders. And the stakeholders have come
together to take over their guild. They set up a caretaker committee and
mandated the committee to reconcile warring factions as well as conduct
fresh election.
“They
are kicking against the move. I want to ask them, what do they really
want? They don’t want a united Actors Guild of Nigeria. Rather, they
want the division to continue so they can continue to gain. That’s
selfish interest and we wouldn’t condone it. The caretaker committee
must work according to the mandate given to us.” No matter what anybody
says, we are working to achieve unity and progress in AGN. It’s a task
that must be carried out and fulfilled whether they like it or not. We
are ready for them now.
On caretaker committee’s mandate
“We are
very much prepared to achieve the caretakers mandate because we have
the legal backing, and we also have the members’ backing. That’s the
strength of the caretaker committee. What we have done is in accordance
with the court ruling.
Both
Ibinabo and Emeka Ike have no legal backing. But we wanted peace but
they say they want to fight us. Whatever they want now, we are ready to
give it to them. But AGN must move forward. Both Ibinabo and Emeka Ike
were not there when the guild was formed. I have been there from the
beginning. Enough is enough. If it is money, they have made enough
money. If it is name, they have made enough name. Yes, thank you very
much, but please allow us to move forward.
On reaching out to the warring factions
“Of
course, we have reached out to everybody we are supposed to have
reached. In one of the publications, Abubakar Yakub claimed that he did
not know anything about the stakeholders’ meeting. He was properly
informed as well as the Board of Trustee of the guild. Emeka Ike also
knew about the meeting. Even after the formation of the committee, I
have been talking with them. I have talked to some people in Ibinabo’s
camp, I have also talked to some people in Emeka Ike’s camp as well as
the BOT, and they all assured me that they would work with us. We have
been begging them to give peace a chance. But they are taking our
leniency for granted and we are ready for any eventuality now.
Resuscitating AGN
“Meanwhile
the committee which arose from its first meeting, recently held in
Surulere, Lagos, appointed an audit firm, Vincent Anwi and Company, to
audit all accounts of AGN in line with section seven of the judgement as
delivered by Justice J.T .Tsoho on 16th of march 2016.
“The
audit will be extended to all the state chapters as well and that is why
some state chapter chairmen are ganging up against the committee. They
have never accounted to anybody. We want to let them know that it’s no
longer business as usual. The time of sharing campaign money is over.
“We
have equally reached out to St Maradonna Johnson for a possible truce.
This is because Emeka Ike is not in the picture at all. When we are done
with resuscitating the Guild we will then put Emeka Ike where he
belongs.
The committee wants to put the records straight: The emergence of this
committee is the best thing to happen to AGN because its mandate is just
to resuscitate AGN and conduct elections. Anybody who wants to cast
aspersions on the committee should first of all lay hands on the copy of
the judgement read, digest it, and if possible, get a sound lawyer to
interpret it. We are not here to thread words with anybody or to fight
anybody but to keep peace in AGN and avoid any party from holding AGN to
ransom.
It will
be contempt of court for AGN Chairmen under Ibinabo Fiberesima to hold
any meeting in Calabar as presently rumoured. The National Caretaker
committee has come to stay. We would also not hesitate to work within
the ambit of the law to stop any gathering under the guise of Chairmen
meeting anywhere. We have copies of the judgement and copies of ruling
on the stay of execution as filed by Ibinabo’s lawyer.”
Vanguard