Thursday, February 15, 2007

No more romance with politicians, actors' body warns members
By Justin Akpovi-Esade

"ELECTION time is here again, this is when they (politicians) know that we are important. For almost eight years now, nobody recognised our importance, nobody patronised us. About this time seven years ago, we were cynosure of all the eyes of politicians, after then, we became the work clothes that must be discarded after the toiling in the farm and new clothes take the glory."

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Those words said in anger came from the president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Ejike Asiegbu. He was reacting to an invitation sent via mobile phone SMS to him and other members of the body by a popular politician, a serving Senator who is aspiring to be governor of a state believed to be the commercial nerve centre of the country. The politician was requesting the stars to attend a dinner party he was organising in their honour last week.

"They (politicians) still believe that actors, musicians and other popular artistes are the same dumb people they think we are some years ago. Has this man (names withheld) sat down to think that he should go through the proper channel to invite me and other members of AGN to a dinner? What kind of dinner anyway? Yes, he wants us to come and eat while the camera is focused on us; he wants endorsement of Nollywood, but through the backdoor!"

Asiegbu berated the politician and others for what he termed an attempt to continuously "use the head" of actors. "Look at the manifesto of almost all the candidates vying for one position or the other, what is in there for artistes, actors and other creators of works? Nothing, yet they want our endorsement for their selfish political ambition. I want to let them know that we are now very wise, our eyes are open. If you don't have any sincere plans for us in your government, then there is no need for you to earn our endorsement."

The actor warns: "Henceforth, if it is discovered that any actor attended that dinner with clandestine intentions, he would be sanctioned by the national executive. This warning is also against any of such invitations in the future, actors would not allow themselves to be pawns in the hands of politicians. They have to come out in clear terms to tell us what they have for us. We are not saying give us money, what we are saying is that they should tell us what structure they plan to put on ground that would be of immense benefit to actors nationwide. Then, the national body would decide on who to support because he or she has the interest of practitioners at heart."

Mr. Acho Ugenyi, secretary general of the actors' body corroborated his president's claim. "We (national executive) would ensure that actors do not cheapen themselves in this election period. We are stars and as such we should not be seen as charlatans who are ready to dance and clap for any politician. Like what my president said, we would study the manifesto of any politician who wants our support as the case may be, and decide if his policies if he eventually wins, would be favourable to artistes and actors in particular."

Ugenyi said a committee would be set up to monitor and ensure compliance with the directive of the national executive on the issue.

Artistes since 1999 have been engaged in the thick of political activities especially during electioneering times. Perhaps as Asiegbu rightly said, that is when politicians seem to remember that actors, musicians among others in the creative community, exist. But over the years too, these set of artistes have benefited greatly from the performance fee they get at several political rallies across the country, or monies from cameo appearances at political fundraising dinners such as the one last week that has sparked off this issue, among others. One would recall that hip hop/Afro highlife act Sunny Neji, made a whole lot of money from political jingles both on television and radio over the years. Former Oziddi music exponent turned gospel artiste Evangelist Sonny Okosuns performed in virtually all the re-election campaign rallies of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003. He was about the most popular face seen on the podium as the train travelled across the country.

"That is what I am saying, after the 1999 and 2003 elections that we had so many artistes playing vital roles in the campaigns, yes they were paid quite alright, what were the lasting gains they got? Nothing. Money you get today must surely get finished if you have to wait till four years to make another one. What would you be feeding on till the once-in-four-year money comes? This is what AGN wants to change. We want to make politicians make a commitment on a structure that they want to create in the movie industry. This outgoing government to a limited extent, has done something for Nollywood. They have tried to create a structure, so what we want to hear from the people angling to take over is on how they hope to consolidate on the little on ground, not just inviting us to dinner, eat food and smile with mouths wide open."

Asiegbu said the crisis between the Board of Trustees of the body and the national executive, that was recently settled, had nearly truncated the laudable plans of his administration. "You know that for over a year, we were embroiled in a feud, that really affected some plans that we had for the association. Now that the war is over, we hope to continue what we have in our manifesto when we put ourselves up for service."

He described the feud as "regrettable" even as he assured that "all is well in AGN again. We are one indivisible unit and anybody trying to cause more disaffection would be summarily disciplined by the national executive. We hear that some people are going about spreading false allegations that the peace was a fluke, I think they should do a rethink or face the full wrath of the law. Anybody still parading himself as president of AGN has a date with the police at Alagbon (Close, Lagos)," he warned.