ANCOP Petitions EFCC Over Akpabio’s N50m Largesse! Wants Stephaine Okereke, Others Arrested

Culled from Vanguard
The Nigerian movie industry otherwise known as
Nollywood is poised for a showdown as the
Association of Nollywood Core Producers,ANCOP,
has petitioned EFCC and SFU over the N50 million
largesse donated by Governor Godswill Akpabio of
Akwa Ibom State to support the industry.
The association is alleging massive fraud in the
disbursement of the fund. It has petitioned the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) and the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) to
investigate the matter.
According to a copy of the petition made available
to HVP, signed by the association’s President,
Comrade Alex Eyengho, the group is asking the
agencies to invite the National President of the
Association of Movie Producers, AMP, Zik Zulu
Okafor, the National President of the Directors
Guild of Nigeria, DGN, Andy Amenechi; the
Secretary General of the Actors Guild of Nigeria,
AGN, Yakubu Abubakar and actress Stephanie
Okereke- Linus Idahosa for obtaining the fund and
disbursing it without the consent of the industry’s
stakeholders.
Part of the petition dated August 19, 2013 and
addressed jointly to the EFCC and SFU, read thus:
“On June 15, 2013, news broke out that some
Nollywood stakeholders under the auspices of a
non-existent ‘Guild of Nollywood Stars’ visited
Governor Akpabio in his office in Uyo for the
purpose of collecting the N50 million pledge to
Nollywood.
“The Governor presented to the visitors a
prototype post-dated (25-06- 2013) Zenith bank
cheque number 00063639 with Akwa Ibom State
Government as the account name, issued in
favour of Guild of Nollywood Stars. “We also
gathered that the Governor, in his usual
generosity, gave each of the visitors N500, 000
cash. “Expectedly, the massive publicity given to
the entire episode by the press generated heated
debates. In fact, it polarised the industry till today.
“Suspecting fraud, ANCOP immediately raised the
red flag when it queried the use of a non-existent
‘Guild of Nollywood Stars’ to access the N50
million pledge, by those who visited Governor
Akpabio.
“We are demanding that you immediately
commence a full-blown investigation into the
alleged fraudent act over the N50 million
Governor Akpabio gave to Nollywood to carry out
a specific task but now domiciled in the account of
one of the the over 30 associations and guilds in
Nollywood…Sir, anything short of this is an
invitation to anarchy in Nollywood.”