Veteran actor Jide Kosoko on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria, and the Elders of Nigerian Motion Picture Industry, has advised Iyabo Ojo and Nkechi Blessing to desist from making derogatory statements against the association and Nollywood.
The thespian said this during a press conference in Lagos on Saturday, June 26, 2021, stating that the association would no longer condone the actresses’ ‘continuous blackmail that sends negative signals across the world.’
Jide Kosoko who spoke for the Board of Trustees said, “The attention of the Board of Trustees of TAMPPAN and Elders of the Motion Picture Industry has been drawn to the malicious damages being done to our sector by some unruly individuals that lack any iota of discipline and who feel they are above the law.
“We particularly observe the continuous derogatory statements made by Iyabo Ojo against the association and the industry as a whole. As pioneers of this noble industry, if we fold our arms and allow the continuous blackmail that send negative signals across the world to go unchecked, the current situation that has impugned on our integrity will continue to grow to the detriment of humble practitioners, whose only source of livelihood is the practice of indigenous language movies (promoting language to preserve culture).
“Unfortunately, Nkechi Blessing has also joined in the ignoble tirades against the association and by extension, the industry, and we say enough is enough.
“As TAMPPAN BOT members and elders of the industry in the Yoruba genre, we daresay to Ojo, Blessing and others like them, that if they think whatever visibility they have achieved today is not through the Yoruba sector of the Nigerian motion picture industry, they should, at least, realise that the industry gave them the enabling environment for whatever they may have become today.
“An offence against one is an offence against others, and we will get other associations involved in tackling any further infringement on our rules and shared values. None of these infringements will henceforth go without repercussions.”
This is coming after the association suspended Blessing and another actor, Kehinde Adams, aka Lege, for fighting dirty on social media over the arrest of their colleague, Olanrewaju Omiyinka, aka Baba Ijesha, who was accused of sexually assaulting a minor. Iyabo Ojo had also rained insults on some actors for keeping mute about the case.
Aside from Jide Kosoko, other actors present at the press briefing include Adebayo Salami, who is popularly called Oga Bello and Ebun Oloyede AKA Olaiya Igwe.
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