Okoroji and others at COSON Meeting

Tony Okoroji was the center of critique in an article by Chris Ihidero,  where he described Tony Okoroji as “do these guys not know of Okoroji and his penchant for power? If you set yourself up as the new generation that is bringing change, what are you doing in bed with a controversial veteran player like Okoroji? Beyond that, do they know that at the moment, Okoroji is tackling Cool FM (yeah, easy target, foreigner, blah blah blah…) and is asking that radio stations in Lagos should pay COSON, his new baby, N15million each for their use of Nigerian music. Cool.”  Dampte also wrote a critique exclusive to QMarkMag. Taking to Facebook, in a note The Former PMAN President and COSON board chairman responded to the several critiques, calling it all propaganda.

Tony Okoroji writes:

In the last two weeks, a cheap propagandist has been unleashed to work overtime to impugn my integrity in the media. He has seized upon the events of the recent PMAN Oshogbo conference to orchestrate widespread falsehood about me and to concoct much fiction which has been printed in several newspapers as fact. I have read words like “coup”, “takeover”, “harassment”, “police”, etc used to link me with what happened in Oshogbo. In one publication on the net, I was even referred to as a “trickster” by someone who has never spoken to me.

How short, memories can be. A few years ago, a propagandist was hired in a similar fashion to use the media to destroy me. He went about his task with the same zeal. The charlatan boasted to everyone that he would write me off the streets. In practically every newspaper in the land, tales were told condemning me to terrible things I knew nothing about. I was invited to the EFCC, ICPC, SSS and everywhere else. The propagandist and his sponsors were very happy. They ate, drank and celebrated. One fine day, they were invited, one after the other, to the High Court of Lagos State to establish the foundation of their tales. To the surprise of many, the propagandist and his sponsors had nothing to show. Lo and behold, judgment days came and millions of naira in historic damages were awarded to me, month after month. The once pompous propagandist and his principals began to shake and shamelessly started appealing to my “understanding” The story is very well known. I thought that I have proven that I can fully defend myself. I also thought that my experience ought to be an indelible chapter in the development of good journalism in Nigeria but it is clear that people never learn.

I am one hundred percent for freedom of expression. I fully believe in the freedom of the press. Some of my best friends of all times are to be found in the media and I believe that without full discourse of every issue, society will not make the desired progress. What I say no to is to conscript the media to spread malice against those who have a different point of view.

The tragedy is that the blood sucking mosquitoes who think that they can hide under a great profession like journalism to execute their wicked contracts against me do not write better English than I do neither do they have better media contacts than I have. What then gives them the impetus to openly boast that they can write me off the streets? I have seen them operate. Once they get their nasty briefs and a little money, they run off like little animals and immerse themselves in their shameless assignment until reality catches up with them. Then, they and their sponsors send endless emissaries and crawl before one begging for forgiveness when at every point they fully knew what they were doing. I hereby serve notice that henceforth it will not be business as usual. They will pay appropriate price for the shameless activities they engage in.

Recently, there have been stories in several newspapers that I inspired a new generation of artistes who went to Oshogbo in a move to take over the leadership of PMAN. They miss the point. I will rather say that I have been inspired by the new generation of Nigerian artistes who have sought to inject new blood into PMAN. Their intellect, vision, commitment and values give me hope that there is a future not just for the Nigerian entertainment industry but for our country. I am proud of the likes of el Dee, Banky W, Sunny Neji, MI, Mr. Kool, KSB, Sound Sultan, D’ Banj, Wande Coal, Don Jazzy, 2 Shotz, Efe Omorogbe, Ed Jatto, Baba Dee, Don T, D’Prince, Dr. Sid, K-Switch, Ice Prince, Jesse Jagz and the others who made the decision to undertake the long trek to Oshogbo at personal cost. They gave me a chance to break bread with them and share water and to speak honestly with them about the Nigerian entertainment industry and our country. I am very proud of the camaraderie we established and the opportunity it offers our industry and our nation.

The way the propagandist has orchestrated it, I am supposed to be ashamed of my link with these great Nigerian artistes and should apologize for having been found with them. I plead guilty to sharing their aspiration and values. I plead guilty to caring enough to do something when many others would rather hide their heads and shame in the sand and complain endlessly. I plead guilty to having walked out with them when they made the correct decision that they would not give one naira to anyone to be voted into any office.

I know a lot of “specialists” in Nigerian politics who believe that the end justifies the means and that the young people should have stayed behind, been part of the bazaar in Oshogbo and battled it out, naira for naira, slander for slander. I plead guilty to agreeing with my younger brethren that no one ought to sell his soul for any office, no matter how high or attractive. I plead guilty to having left Oshogbo a very happy and proud man. Indeed, I am a proud signatory to the Oshogbo Declaration.

Let me clarify that I was not a gatecrasher at the PMAN Oshogbo conference. I was invited in writing by the leadership of PMAN. My friend, Dele Abiodun, personally handed me the keys to VIP 7 at Gazal Hotel. I did not sleep there but chose to lay my head in more modest quarters elsewhere. Maybe the expectation was that I will show up in Oshogbo to lend my name and imprimatur to the infamy that was going on. Those in the PMAN leadership ought to know me enough by now to know that I do not play hanky- panky. I do not operate in the dark. I call a spade a spade.

I was at the meeting which the young artistes held with Admiral Abiodun by the swimming pool of Gazal Hotel in Osogbo. Each of the artistes showed Dele great courtesy and respect. No one used an expletive, no one raised his voice and there was no threat or even the slightest hint of violence. There was certainly no gun and no police called by anyone. The artistes simply said to Admiral Dele Abiodun that they have come of age and were ready to serve their elders and appealed to him for his support. At that point, Dele had not given any indication that he wanted to return as President of PMAN.

It is my belief that my friend, Dele Abiodun, missed a great opportunity to make history in Oshogbo. He would forever have been remembered as the one who rescued PMAN and ensured the needed generational shift. He has worsened the matter by unleashing his propagandists on the young artistes, the true face of today’s Nigerian music industry whose “sin” is that they sought to participate in determining their destiny. The people he has sought to humiliate are the most important assets that would have been deployed to turn PMAN around in weeks.

For many years I have resisted every invitation to join in forming an alternative union to represent musicians in Nigeria. I was President of PMAN at 29 years old and worked day and night with a team of very dedicated people to spread PMAN across the country. We rallied musicians, young and old, to turn PMAN into one of the most admired professional organizations in Nigeria. Our vision was clear – to create a positive direction for the music industry and generate respect for Nigerian musicians. We set targets and toiled to achieve those targets. We were so engrossed in our task that no one was concerned with privileges. These days all I hear about is endless battles over privileges. Every small disagreement or difference of opinion within the PMAN leadership in recent years has ended up at a police station and become intractable.

With all humility, no group can honestly claim to have sacrificed more than the team I led to the building of the PMAN brand and no one can desire more than me that PMAN be rescued. The brand has however become badly tarnished and there is too much disconnect between PMAN and the musicians it is set up to serve. Any attempt to clean up PMAN is fiercely resisted by persons who act as if their entire lives depend on clutching on to the tarnished brand and milking it. When you get to this point, you must ask yourself very serious questions about the true objectives of the organization. Is it a means to an end or an end in itself? I was Chairman of PMRS. When it became obvious that PMRS was not delivering the right results to the stakeholders, I supported the killing of PMRS. Today, working with others, we have set up a world class organization in COSON. It is doing things that PMRS could not do. I have promised the good Lord that as long as He gives me the opportunity, I intend to contribute towards a better Nigerian entertainment industry. I will work with any well meaning group, young or old, in or out of office, in that direction. No propagandist will scare me away and if giving everything I can to make the industry better for the good of everyone and the growth of our nation is a crime, I plead guilty!

Chris Ihidero.

The news if you missed it was a new association to represent the Nigerian musician. This association would take over from the present PMAN still headed by Admiral Dele Abiodun. Already a list of the new association has been released in a press release. Recording artiste Dampte had written against the very motive of this. Writing again to Thenetng, Renowned writer, MADE Magazine’s pioneer editor and film maker lashed at Tony Okoroji and the entire process. Chris Ihidero questioned  the change and the major proponent – Tony Okoroji, raising interesting facts and expressed his concern over the “new messianic exco is tilted too heavily in favour of the Hip hop, R&B and Rap sectors of new Nigerian music”

Read what really happened at the PMAN convention.

Read his opinion below:

As providence would have it, my first article for this column a couple of weeks ago was written in celebration of the phenomenal success of new Nigerian music. I refer to that article as being providential because, had I not written that article before this, some people may erroneously conclude that I am an enemy of new Nigerian music. Especially the hip-hop and rap brands.

About two weeks ago, news filtered in that some of the leading lights of new Nigerian music had stormed Oshogbo, Osun State, where the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) was holding its convention and demanded for change of personnel at the helm of affairs, with a new exco in tow. I immediately dismissed the news as one of the many rumours that circulate on Twitter daily. Some hours later, I read Banky W’s post on the Oshogbo trip on his blog and thought ‘Wow, this is interesting…’, but left it as that since I strongly believe that everyone has the right to say whatever he/she likes on his/her blog. A blog, in my view, is as personal as a pocket diary and should be filled with whatever information the owner deems fit.

It was when I read the official press release on the trip that I started getting worried. While I firmly believe that all Nigerian performing musicians have the right to seek to lead PMAN, I wondered out loud if the ‘representatives’ of new Nigerian music were registered, dues-paying members of PMAN. If they were, wasn’t it better (perhaps easier) to have bought forms, sought for support across ranks and stood for office? If that was impossible, could they not have severed their relationships with PMAN, insisted on not being represented by the body in any way? If enough Nigerian performing musicians dissociated themselves from PMAN due to age-long non-performance of the leadership, can PMAN stand?

As I thought through all of this, I felt that something was amiss. Surely, you can’t have too many brighter minds in new Nigerian music than the guys that made the trip. So, how come they didn’t see that this move had failure written all over it ab initio? So I made a few calls and happened upon a startling discovery: Tony Okoroji had a hand in this move. Ah ah! I knew it! Now, Tony Okoroji is an interesting character: he has released all of one album but has had a hand in all the pies of Nigerian music for decades. He is either forming, collapsing or re-forming one association or the other at all times. Give a man his due: he was fantastic as President of PMAN; brought a lot of visibility to the association and held what’s possibly still the best Nigerian Music Awards (the one Patrick Doyle hosted) show ever. He was so ‘good’ that presidents after him looked colourless and PMAN lost its lustre.

So, my question is: do these guys not know of Okoroji and his penchant for power? If you set yourself up as the new generation that is bringing change, what are you doing in bed with a controversial veteran player like Okoroji? Beyond that, do they know that at the moment, Okoroji is tackling Cool FM (yeah, easy target, foreigner, blah blah blah…) and is asking that radio stations in Lagos should pay COSON, his new baby, N15million each for their use of Nigerian music. Cool. But at what point did he consult with new Nigerian artistes on this? When and where did they agree on that figure? What was the sharing formula agreed? How many Nigerian artistes gave COSON the mandate to collect royalties on their behalf?

Let us move beyond the Okoroji distraction and pay a little more attention to the composition and content of the press release, which was signed by my good friend, Bayo Omisore. After initial back-grounding, the 3rd paragraph hits the bull’s eye: “A new, younger and more vibrant exco had been put forward in an attempt to steer PMAN away from its image of perpetual in-fighting and endless legal wrangling which had kept the association in state of rapid decline. The proposed new PMAN leadership was to be headed by eLDee the Don. Ex-officio members included but were not limited to Sound Sultan, MI and Efe Omorogbe.” So, let us all agree that PMAN has been ineffective for too long (truly it has been) and the time has come for a change of direction in its leadership; is this how to go about it? These are the same artistes who have been in the vanguard of advocacy concerning the coming April elections. If you cannot practice democracy in your own constituency, what moral justification do you have to ask same of others?! Beyond this, should it not be worrisome that the composition of this messianic exco is tilted too heavily in favour of the Hip hop, R&B and Rap sectors of new Nigerian music. Is this truly representative of the younger generation? I suspect that there are younger fuji musicians in Mushin, highlife artistes in Enugu and someone who fancies himself as the next Dan Maraya Jos in Kano; is this saviour self-elect exco representative of their realities? Even with the best intentions, this just reeks of a messianic complex.

For me, the most interesting (and possibly most telling) part of the press release is the 5th paragraph: “The presence of the new generation acts was not lost on the delegates to the convention who had the opportunity to rub shoulders and minds with their more popular counterparts. They were also able to exchange contact details so as to record collaborations.” I actually laughed out loud on reading this paragraph. Doesn’t this just smack of infantile arrogance? I mean, really? So, let’s pick the PMAN president, Admiral Dele Abiodun for instance. He must have something like 30 albums to his name. However inadequate his leadership qualities are, he is a legend where Juju music is concerned. So, he must be glad then to be rubbing shoulders with, let’s say, M.I right? Riiiiighhhttt!

Lest my true intentions be lost in whatever may follow, let me state clearly here that I have nothing but love and utmost respect for many of the guys that are involved in this. Like them, I want to see a change in how things are done in PMAN. I have followed the careers of eLDee and Soundsultan for over a decade, sometimes at pretty close quarters. A couple of years ago, towards the end of my time as pioneer editor of MADE Magazine, I interviewed Banky W and M.I; those two interviews were prophetic and are amongst my favourites of all time. I will publish them on this page someday soon. I hold Efe Omorogbe in very high esteem for the work he has done in artiste management; 2face is a shining example. However, in spite of my admiration for them as individuals, I strongly believe that the Oshogbo episode was a wrong move and they should have known better. I believe that their intentions are noble but the process is wrong.

By the way, I hear a new musicians body has been formed to run counter to PMAN…like the Chinese say, may we live in interesting times!

[Courtesy

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