Okoroji charges Dangote to join hands with others to banish injustice in Nigeria
Nigerian music industry leader, writer and Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, has called on Nigerian industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, to join hands with others in making Nigeria a place where wickedness, as an instrument of leadership, is banished forever.
Writing in a special edition of his widely-read weekly column, “Saturday Breakfast with Tony Okoroji”, titled ‘I AM VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE FRUSTRATIONS OF ALIKO DANGOTE’, the copyright guru said, “I have experienced the Nigerian way and I know the energy that the cabals in the Nigerian leadership employ in destroying anyone that promises to give Nigeria a chance to grow. It is with gloom that I have recently watched Aliko’s current palpable frustration with the Nigerian system. There are many who would be surprised that Dangote who was considered by many to be a special beneficiary of the wicked Nigerian system, would become a victim of the same system. The important lesson to learn here is that the wicked have no friends.”
Okoroji continues, “there are people in Nigeria who have humongous amount of money but when you examine them, you cannot point to any tangible thing they have done to earn the money. These men might have laughed with Aliko Dangote these many years but they don’t like him. His immense success exposes their laziness. Aliko’s unbridled astuteness and patriotism exposes their self-centered nature. One of Nigeria’s biggest problems is that the bulk of the money fleeced from the people of Nigeria is not invested in Nigeria, at least to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed young Nigerians who unfortunately have been forced into yahoo-yahoo, kidnapping and other violent crimes.
Nigerian money is scattered all over the world in funny bank accounts fueling the economies of other nations. Is it not funny that our celebrated new national monthly minimum wage cannot buy a bag of rice? Please think of it: N1000, the biggest denomination of our national currency, can no longer buy one loaf of bread!”
Chief Okoroji who told a very detailed story of the manipulations of the instruments of the Federal Government and the intimidation of a Federal High Court judge to thwart the growth of COSON which protects the rights of copyright owners in the Nigerian music industry, wrote “I thought I would never see a day in my fatherland when the rule of law would be so violently and brazenly assaulted. The courts were supposed to be the last refuge of the common man. I was startled by the precedent set: by a judge being arm-twisted so that he does not deliver judgment in a case as he deemed fit. For me, it was crazy!
“I demonstrated for days and carried placards in front of the Federal High Court in Lagos and insisted that the case file be brought back to Justice Buba. They became embarrassed. The case file in Suit No FHC/L/CS/1259/2017 was eventually brought back but by then so much water had passed under the bridge…
“Thereafter, I was subjected to unbelievable torture and torment for having the boldness and audacity to insist on the rule of law in my country. I was subjected to unending defamatory statements. The Police, EFCC, DSS, NCC and NFIU were unleashed on me. One evening, I was abducted by five men bent on driving me to Benin City in the middle of the night and possibly wasting me on the way. The Almighty saved me. COSON bank accounts, my personal bank accounts and my private business accounts were all frozen even though no penny in any of the accounts can be traced to any unlawful activity. At some point, it was difficult for me to even buy food for my family”.
Okoroji recounted how Nigerian government officials had repeatedly told him how proud they were that everywhere in the world they went, the world of intellectual property hailed Nigeria for the incredible work COSON was doing for the Nigerian nation.
In “Saturday Breakfast”, the man who created the famous Nigerian Music Awards, wrote, “you would expect that a patriotic government would be prompted to protect COSON. No! It became clear to me that there was a big attempt in high places, using government machinery to crush COSON for personal gains. The clear objective of all the shenanigan was for a cabal to kill what was clearly good for the Nigerian nation and uphold an unsavory special purpose vehicle they would deploy to fleece major organizations operating in Nigeria of billions of Naira in the name of “music copyright royalties” which they would share among themselves with no accountability whatsoever to musicians in Nigeria in whose name the money is earned” He gave the example of billions of Naira which he said was grabbed not long ago from Multichoice Nigeria and shared in a way nobody can explain.
Writing that he recently watched a comprehensive interview on CNN given by Aliko Dangote telling his story to CNN’s Eleni Giokos, Okoroji said, “as a Nigerian, I was very proud of the man’s articulate presentation, his doggedness, vision and unbridled patriotism. To destroy Aliko, they have termed him a “monopolist”. To neutralize me, I was also termed a monopolist. Despite what views you might have about Aliko, everywhere I go in Nigeria, I can see with my eyes the products of the incredible labour of this man. He is a great national asset”.
The COSON Chairman said that he is familiar with the abuse and misuse of the regulatory authorities of Nigerian government agencies to knock down and frustrate anyone targeted by the cabals operating around government, insisting that what is happening to Aliko has happened to many industrious Nigerians who have been frustrated from existence and destroyed, especially from his part of the country.
Inviting Aliko Dangote to join hands with others to make the Nigerian nation a place where injustice to anyone is scorned, he wrote, “the days of “siddon look” are over. I invite Aliko Dangote, whom God has so richly blessed, to now work to give hope to the young generation of Nigerians, from the East, West, North and South of our nation, who are today hopeless and who desperately look up to us to do something for them even at the cost of our lives”
The celebrated former President of PMAN wrote, “I have long decided that I will not run away from Nigeria for anyone. I beg Aliko not to allow himself to be frustrated. I hope that at this stage of his life, he would have understood that injustice done to one is injustice done to all. He has a duty to dedicate his incredible energy and resources to making Nigeria a place where wickedness, as an instrument of leadership, is banished forever”.
Concluding the piece, Chief Okoroji insisted that the important lesson to learn is that the wicked have no friends.
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