The ‘confusion mode’ was virtually activated last Monday in the movie industry in Nigeria generally called Nollywood when Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos ruled that the election that produced Ibinabo Fiberesima as the President of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) in 2012 violated an earlier court order.
It was an actor named; St. Maradona Mikevine, who took Ibinabo to court, seeking the cancelation of Ibinabo’s cabinet because he said the Board of Trustees of AGN went ahead to conduct the election after the court had ordered it not to do so.
Emeka Ike had earlier filed a similar suit, but it was struck out under ‘technical ground’.
Justice Tsoho said that an earlier court judgement had ordered for a status quo ante before the November 2012 election. After the poll, Segun Arinze handed over to Ibinabo, who was inaugurated as the first female president of the guild.
But before then, Segun Arinze and Emeka Ike had been battling a court case over the AGN presidency.
Emeka Ike had dragged Segun Arinze to court, seeking to nullify his presidency of the guild. The matter was stretched even after Segun Arinze left the position for Ibinabo, a former beauty queen in Nigeria.
However, Nigeriafilms.com observed that going by the ruling, Emeka Ike may not be president of the guild after all.
This is because according to the ruling, a status quo ante was said to be maintained, which means either Segun Arinze or his predecessor, Ejike Asiegbu, would return as president of the guild and then later conduct a proper election to usher in the new president of AGN.
The latest development came just when ardent followers of the happenings in the country’s actors’ body thought the feuding factions had embraced peace.
The Ibinabo administration had effortlessly tried to sell the guild positively to the public and she was being commended for that.
However, the last Monday’s judgement, as many see it, may be a major setback for AGN and more may still unfold in the coming days.
For now, the camp of Ibinabo has appealed the judgement and has asked for a stay of execution of the order. Many practitioners have thrown their support for her.
On the part of Emeka Ike, even though he is seen as a stubborn man, who is bent on getting power, he still has the support of some people in AGN, who are happy with the court order.
