By Patricia Uyeh

Omoni Oboli

Chima Okereke, a film producer, has called out Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli after her movie – Okafor’s law was stopped from showing by the court at its movie premiere in Lagos.

According to him, Omoni Oboli was careless and she was thinking like an actress instead of a film maker or business woman.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the copyright infringement case slammed on Oboli by Jude Idada, a script writer would not have arisen if Oboli had taken steps to address the issue critically. She did nothing, claimed Okereke only to be embarrassed by Idada’s court order.

Idada, who is a Canadian-based Nigerian script writer accused Omoni Oboli of copyright infringement in producing her movie – Okafor’s law. It was gathered that trouble started in September 2016 when Oboli strongly defended her ownership of the script, stating that she owned and wrote it 100 per cent. When both parties could not reach an agreement, Idada took the matter to the court.

He got an injunction to stop the release of the film, scheduled to hit the cinemas on 31 March and Oboli was served the court injunction at the Filmhouse IMAX, Lekki, venue of the film’s premiere on March 25. She was forced to obey the court injunction by cancelling the premiere as she stood the risk of being charged with contempt if she had declined the court’s order.

Speaking on the issue, Okereke said that, “There were options she ought to have followed; options that would have been beneficial to both parties. Some people could have been called upon to intervene on the matter.

“Every profession has its risks, especially a rapidly growing one like Nollywood. And this is one of them. It is a mark of Nollywood growth.

“There will always be room for compromise, no matter how little,’’ he said.

Okereke said it would have been a forgotten issue if the case was handled well through their association, but Oboli ignored Idada and went ahead to shoot the controversial film. He said:

“There are procedures in handling this kind of case and both sides, especially Oboli, missed the point. It is now fight to finish and that is not good for a producer,’’ 

“Nollywood is a big beneficiary of this case; writers now see what they can do when their intellectual property rights are breached.

“Producers now understand the implication of minor  mistakes; distributors will now be more circumspect of controversially produced films.”

He advised Oboli  to weigh her options now and in future act fast with caution.

Photo credit: Instagram @omonioboli