The Association of Movies Producers, AMP, have accused the Director General of the National Film and Video Censors Board of holding hostage one of them on Saturday in Asaba, Delta State, in order to force him to endorse the factional group led by Peace Anyiam Osigwe as the President.
The DG, Mr. Adedayo Thomas was said to have prevented Mr. Zeb Ejiro from leaving the hotel room where he lodged in order to endorse Osigwe factional election that took place in Asaba as the authentic.
It was reported that another election took place at the AMP secretariat in Surulere, Lagos where, Mr. Mykel Parish Ajaere was declared the winner of the election and defeated one Peace Anyiam Osigwe.
CASEFILE gathered that the censors board director general was supporting the Osigwe faction against those in Lagos.
In a statement Sunday by the Ajaere factional group who claimed that the news reaching them from Asaba in Delta State on Saturday was that the DG of censors board, a government agency has been the one forcing some members of the association to support the candidacy of Osigwe, using the name of honourable Minister of information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed as the sponsor of the Osigwe.
“When the association felt the undue interference of the government agency, they called for an extra ordinary congress meeting and postponed the Asaba elections and handed over the guild to the board of trustees to dissolved the Ralph Nwadike led Excos whose tenure had expired since November last year.
“We appointed Mr. John Brown to midwife the election that produced Mr. Ajaere as the president, in ordered to ensure that Osigwe emerges, the DG censors Board held Mr. Ejiro hostage at Vienna Hotels Asaba and forced him to endorse the factional election in Asaba. The question is is the DG a member of AMP?”
In his reaction, the DG, Mr. Thomas debunked the story, saying it’s not true. “It’s all lie and I wonder how anyone will say I held someone who arrived the venue hostage, in fact it was Ejiro and the Commissioner for Art and Culture that declared the event open.
“I don’t know where the story originated from, because other people were there and about 16 states were represented.
“I was invited by AMP to monitor the election and the way it was held, it will be difficult to endorse anyone with what I saw yesterday.
Even Ejiro can’t confirm this story too, because it’s not true. We all had an open ceremony and nothing was done hidden.“I don’t even know where this story is coming from, and I think those who wrote it are just being mischievous.
