Battle for AGN's soul rages on

Since the court ruling on Monday, March 16^th, 2015 that the election through which Ibinabo Fiberesima emerged as President, Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) is illegitimate, the battle for AGN’s soul has started again.

While AGN has always been a contentious body, it has had peace and progress under Fiberesima. The court ruling has however created a situation akin to turmoil as contenders to the AGN presidency now believe they have a valid right to it.

As the situation prepares to degenerate even further, accusations and counteraccusations continue to fly at the speed of light.

A-list actor, Emeka Ike, is one personality whose name is being mentioned heavily in the current AGN crises. Some say he has declared himself AGN president. Others say he doesn’t have any right to it.

And to douse the situation somewhat, GN’s Board of Trustees have spoken out on the issue. According to the BoT’s chairman, Prince Ifeanyi Dike, “The truth is that Emeka Ike did not get any judgement or victory against members of the BoT of AGN. His case is suit number FHC/L/CS/365/2011 and it is still pending before Honourable Justice Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

“It has been adjourned to Thursday, April 16, 2015 for hearing of the objection filed by Emeka Ike against the appearance of our new counsel in the matter. If the case is still pending in court, how can the same court declare him to be the President without deciding the matter finally? This is the central issue for resolution in that case.

“The truth also is that another case filed by St Maradona Mikevine Johnson V Board of Trustees of the Actors Guild of Nigeria suit number FHC/L/CS/734/2012 was decided by the court on March 16, 2015. In that case, the court ruled among other things that the term of office of the members of the BoT of AGN has expired. We have since appealed against that decision.

“One of the planks of our complaint is that the members of the BoT, whose tenure was declared to have expired, were not made parties to that action. Despite this complaint, the court, in its infinite wisdom, found against us and we have appealed to the Court of Appeal against that decision.”

Speaking further, Dike said, “Apart from appealing, we have also filed motion for stay of execution. The implication of filing stay is that the court judgment has not become operative until the motion for stay is decided either in our favour or against us.”