That all is not well with the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) is stating the obvious as things have fallen apart in the entertainment society following accusations of deceit, high handed, manipulations and incompetence against the leadership of the body, led by Chief Tony Okoroji on one side and Efe Omorogbe on the other side.
In 2010, the Copyright Society of Nigeria was born with the aim of negotiating, granting copyright licences and collecting royalties, distributing same to copy- right owners and curbing the bitting case of piracy that has plagued the Nigerian music industry. Prior to its set up, there were multiple music bodies including the Nigeria Copyright Council, Music Collective Society of Nigeria (MCSN) and the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PIMAN) who had promised to represent the interest of creators (musicians).
Their failure to deliver on these promises led to the call for a singular body/Collective Management Organisation (CMO), as a result. The following organisations, WASPAN, MCSN and COSON joined to become the sole body that represents Nigerian musicians, but COSON backed with the support of other national associations, including PMAN won the battle and was fully licensed to collect royaltics and other rights on behalf of Nigerian artistes.
Almost eight years since operations kicked off, one cannot make a boast of COSON’s stability as it has been faced with unending crisis and more recently is the seeming power tussle between different factions within the body. It all came to the knowledge of the public on December 7th 2017 when COSON announced after an emergency board meeting that Okoroji had been rid of his position as COSON chairman.
Following a vote of confidence conducted by 10 active members of COSON management board, including Okoroji the vote which was conducted at the COSON House at Ikeja had stakeholders and representatives of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) responsible for regulating the activities of COSON in attendance, Okoroji was said to have lost to fellow board member and renowned talent Manager, Efe Omorogbe, who was immediately declared chairman of COSON.
Brief introduction of the prime parties involved in the crisis:
Chief Tony Okoroji: Tony Okoroji is an author and retired musician whose musical works reigned supreme in the ‘70s and ‘80s. At 29, Okoroji was elected National President of PMAN. Thereby making him the youngest president in the association’s history. The award winning entertainment stakeholder is the CEO of Tops limited, a Lagos based entertainment and events consultancy film.
Efe Omorogbe: Also a very respected executive in Nigeria entertainment, he is a co-founder of music publishing company, 5ive music group, founder and CEO music management and record company, now music limited, co-founder and director of 960 music group and longtime manager of Nigeria Pop Icon 2 Face Idibia.
On December 19, nearly a forthnight after Omorogbe took over the leadership of COSON, things took a different turn after Sir Victor Uwaifo, Head of the Organisation’s General Assembly announced the reinstatement of Tony Okoroji condemning the previously conducted change of chairmanship procedure as conspirational, the management board was also reconstituted and six members who were in support of Tony Okoroji’s removal including Efe Omorogbe were taken off COSON management board.
Omorogbe saw the action as ridiculous and unconstitutional explaining that board of directors are elected by members of COSON and as such it is impossible to dissolve/inaugurate a new board without the knowledge and participation of the members. He staged his purported comeback and reinstatement, created a lot of drama and claimed he had been reinstated by the General Assembly members who did not elect him as chairman in the first place.
According to him, you elect directors and directors choose a chairman, but in their desperation, they didn’t put all of these into account. He said the board’s decision to sack Okoroji stems from excessive cases of unethical practices and improper procedures for approval of funds releases.
Omorogbe had earlier in the year released a lengthy 9-point statement that accused Okoroji of gross abuse of power, alleging that Okoroji paid himself the sum of N22, 500,000 (twenty two million, five hundred thousand naira) through his company, Tops Limited.
He alleged that the amount was from MTN’s settlement payment for royalties without the approval and signature of both the Finance Committee Chairman, Mr Joel Ajayi and other board members which contradicts COSON’s rule that all payments above N2,000,000 (two million naira) must be approved by the board. Okoroji was also accused of misappropriating a quoted sum of N26,200,000 (twenty six million two hundred naira) as incurred by his company, Tops Ltd in the execution of the COSON’s week.
A series of events which contractually are allowed to hold on the condition that Production Company can independently generate the funding, as a collective management organisation, matters are discussed internally by members of the board before implementation, but the embattled Chairman, Tony Okoroji according to Omorogbe continues to unapologetically take actions without consulting the directorial board thus leading to cases of misrepresentation.
“He run the society like his personal hustle, it was difficult for Okoroji to separate himself from COSON as he sees COSON and himself as one” Omorogbe said. He further alleged that Okoroji has been orchestrating manipulative and deceitful devices presenting the well deserved benefits of right owners as an act of benevolence in a bid to buy over their loyalty.
He stressed that the movies are collected to be distributed, if you are a member that is what is due, you either based on general distribution or specific distribution and no single person has the power to determine whether you get stuff or you don’t get stuff, he stated.