The current crisis in the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, seems not to be ending anytime soon as the president, Ibinabo Fiberesima went to the Court of Appeal to challenge the Federal High Court ruling on Monday, March 16, 2015 which nullified the election that brought her into office as the president of the guild.
Justice James Tsoho who gave the ruling, said the election was conducted against court order and ordered all parties involved to maintain the status quo of the annulment.
Popular actor, Emeka Ike, in reaction to the court ruling threatened Fiberesima to tender an apology within 24 hours and vacate the office or he would drag her to court for the umpteenth time.
He said: “She has not appealed. Do you know what an appeal of a judgment means? The judgment was given on Monday and I ask, ‘has she received a copy of the judgment she wants to appeal at the moment? Don’t insult my integrity. Before you make any appeal, you have to write papers and take the papers to the right places and you make an appeal with that.
“If you don’t have the judgment papers in your hand, how do you appeal it? And when you appeal, before you get the court’s attention, you must serve it, you must give a notice of it for at least 29 days in a newspaper.
“There are ways things are done logically on issues like this. It is not for you to do things anyhow. This is a very sensitive case. You are dealing with an A-list person. Your mindset is your mindset, it should not affect the other.
I give her (Ibinabo) 24 hours to tender an apology to the guild, 24 hours for talking about appealing this case, if not, I will serve her court papers and her cohorts; I am not joking on this matter.
“I am not using thugs, I am not using OPC, I am not using any cult members, I am not using the police, I am applying the Nigerian justice system and that is the civilized way of doing things.
She should cover her face in shame and to say she wants to appeal is provoking. What does she want to appeal and on what grounds? She was kicked out with the board of trustees that put her there and she was still ignorantly saying that she was put there by the board of trustees. Can’t she read? They were fired! Going everywhere to say that she wants to appeal is a sign of desperation. She should just go to apologise to Nigerians.
“I give her 24 hours to apologise to Nigeria for the arrant show of stubbornness to the rule of law. A court of competent jurisdiction has told you what to do and all you needed to do was to adhere to the ruling. She knows that she was guilty and she had no locus standi. If she does not apologise to Nigeria after 24 hours, we would commence a process of court contempt and nobody would beg me out of this one.”
On his own part, the former president of the guild, Segun Arinze through a Blackberry Messenger forum took a swipe on Ike, urging the members of the guild to reject his ‘evil plans’.
Arinze said: “It’s all a sick joke! I find the judgement shady and a kangaroo arrangement. Emeka Ike is a non issue as far as we AGN members are concerned. I call on all members, including our A-list actors and Nollywood as an industry to resist the evil plans of Emeka Ike and his cohorts. We have gone past all that. We shouldn’t condone one man trying to embarrass the industry.
“Emeka Ike needs help to save himself from himself. We need to declare him persona non grata in the industry. We are moving forward. Cest fini!!Ibinabo Fiberesima is our bonafide President. Enough is enough. This shenanigan has to stop!”
However, Ike did not hesitate to react to Arinze’s tantrums which he referred to as just ‘market talk’ from an “illiterate who should be ignored.”
He said, “Reacting to the comment of a man that the court has disenfranchised shows that I don’t have respect for the rule of law. His statement does not matter as much as the statement of the judge. It is a very trivial statement. It can be likened to a market talk. His wish is that he can keep taking the lots of the Nigerian youths by going to the strong places to vanguard for money meant for Nigerian youths.
“All the money they have collected, how was it spent? What have they made out of the money that they have been getting after visiting various government officials? Such people eating such largesse would not want you to get them out of the seat in a hurry. They would do anything to keep themselves there for a long while.
“Let Segun Arinze disenfranchise me but if he doesn’t have the power, he should shut up or I will disenfranchise him. I went the legal way and won, I did not employ thugs. Anybody that is not satisfied should do the same.
“Segun Arinze talking this way shows that he is not educated. He is an illiterate that found himself in a position and they used him. From the beginning of this case, I had said that he did not go to school but nobody investigated my claims.
“Segun Arinze has disappointed me with that statement. I am utterly disappointed because he is my friend and I thought I was equally saving him from the hands of this board of trustees. But if he has totally taken sides with them against the Nigerian nation, then he would be disgraced along with them.”
