L-R: Favour, Emmanuel and Chika “My dream in Nollywood is far beyond the praises I have received so far; my target is to set pace for others to follow and to take the industry to the next level,” said the talented movie director, Favour Akakabota, in Saturday Mirror edition of May 7 the publication that triggered off the anger of Emmanuel Ehiosun and Chika Onyeoziri, two of the movie superstars’ wannabe, who are now alleging that Favour is a fraud.
The two young chaps, who shared similar experience actually called SS on phone to counter the claims of Favour in the said publication. True to Saturday Mirror’s policy of all sides, all facts policy, SS invited them over for a one-on-one chart. Chika Timothy Onyeoziri said, “I saw the advert for movie audition on a poster by Zenox movies and I later went for it in Ikeja, late last year. I was among 25 others, who were shortlisted for the movie shoot.
“He sent a message requesting us to pay N3500 to an Oceanic Bank account. He also told us about his office at Surulere and I personally went there to see him before paying the money. I met him with some guys on that day not knowing that he rented and paid those guys. He assured me of the genuineness of the auditioning that I should go ahead to pay. I later decided to take the money to the audition venue the next day, but I met him on my way and he told me to lend him N1500. He said that he needed the money urgently that his ATM card had problem. He said he was going to refund the money the next day and promised to give me the lead role.
“I went the next day to pay in cash, and those, who paid through the bank, submitted their tellers. He later gave us the photocopies of the script for episode one of the movie titled Lost Opportunity, to rehearse with. “He told me to study the Kelechi role very well. The day I went for audition, I got to know that he was arrested and detained for duping a lady of N25000 for modelling stuff. He later sent a message that there was no need for the audition and since last year, his number has been unavailable.”
When SS reached Favour on phone for his side of the story, the director, who told SS that he is in Delta State for movie shoot, debunked the allegation but admitted that it is true he called for audition for a soap opera titled Lost Opportunity. “Yes there was audition for Lost Opportunity but the lucky ones got the roles, as you know that we cannot feature everybody in the flick. I have never duped anybody in my life,” he said. Interestingly, when SS asked Emmanuel and Chika the reason why they waited this long and what they wanted from Favour, “ We know that our money is not refundable, we just want Nigerian youths to know that he is a liar and a fraud, Press should stop promoting him, he duped us of our hard earned money,” they concluded.
