SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI
During the week, the Board of COSON which I chair, issued a statement asking the Government of Cross River State to obey the Orders of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal and pay the debt of 500 million Naira awarded to COSON against the state government since 2018.
Observed the Board, “the Cross River State Government is displaying the kind of recklessness and lawlessness a democratically elected government should never contemplate. We are not asking Governor Bassey Otu for a gift or a grant. We are asking him to obey court orders. We have followed due process. He is not above the law and has a duty to obey the Orders of two of Nigeria’s most prominent courts, the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Please, what are the facts?
Something truly historic for the creative community in Nigeria happened on Monday, May 14, 2018.
On that Monday, in Calabar, the Federal High Court delivered a landmark judgment in which it awarded the sum of Five Hundred Million Naira to COSON against the Cross River State Government for copyright infringement at the Calabar Carnival. The court went further to grant a perpetual injunction against the organizers of the Calabar Carnival from further infringement of copyright in the musical works in the repertoire of COSON deployed at the carnival.
I had since requested every creative person in Nigeria to massively celebrate the judgment, not just because of the monetary award but because the judgment redefined the place of creativity in Nigeria and said it clearly that no one is above the law, including our governments, and no one has the right to publicly deploy the intellectual property of free citizens without authorization. The judgment is a huge victory for every creative person in Nigeria.
I am a great fan of the Calabar Carnival. I have no doubt that the event is one of the greatest legacies of my good friend, His Excellency, Governor Donald Duke, himself, a fantastic musician who once visited Imo State, my home state, on my invitation. I have commended his successors for keeping the fire burning. Courtesy of the Cross River State Government, I was for several years an official adjudicator at the Calabar Carnival which attracts tremendous attention across the nation and across the continent. The spirit of the carnival is infectious. That however does not authorize the organizers to break the law.
If you think that we rushed to court on the matter, please bury the thought. We made countless efforts to resolve the matter out of court and were continuously tossed this way and that way. Even while the case was ongoing, I was pleading with officials of the Cross River State Carnival Commission that the matter be resolved out of court. Like most officials of governments in Nigeria, they concluded that the government is above the law.
The case lasted close to five years. I had to travel to Calabar so many times, sometimes travelling some dangerous roads in the middle of the night with so much frustration along the way. The judge to whom the matter was initially assigned, unfortunately died before commencing trial. There were so many fruitless trips to Calabar and so many adjournments.
Not satisfied with the judgment, the Cross River State Government took the matter to the Court of Appeal. The appeal took another five years but on 26th June, 2023, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Calabar, delivered yet another important judgment on the issue. Once again, Cross River State Government lost to COSON. Altogether, we spent about 10 years in court.
It is now more than two years since the Court of Appeal Judgment. If my arithmetic is right, we have spent all of 12 years on this same issue! I have spoken to everyone I can reach to resolve this matter, to no avail. A couple of months ago, I spent about one hour on the phone with the Cross River State Attorney-General, Hon Ededem Ani. This distinguished lawyer gave me one excuse after another why the State Government has refused to obey the Order of Court. Meanwhile, the musicians, the ultimate beneficiaries of the money, are hungry and the money has lost much of its value.
Today, the governor of Cross River State is governor and wields the power he wields, because of the rule of law. The Attorney-General is AG because of the rule of law. When our politicians lose elections, they rush to court. When they assume office, they turn their backs on the law that brought them to powerand obey only the court orders that favour them. They must be made aware that they cannot pick and choose. They must obey all court orders.
In our democracy, the judiciary is an equal branch of government.
The executive branch cannot be allowed to emasculate the courts and make our judges impotent. The consequences will be dire. If the state will not respect court orders, we all will have no choice but to resort to machetes, cutlasses and short guns, to settle our disputes.
I love the people of Cross River State. Some of the leaders of the carnival bands in Calabar are long term friends of mine. I am not sure there is anyone who knows me well who does not know the long-standing friendship I have enjoyed with Senator Florence Ita Giwa who has supported me in so many ways over the years. Late Nchewi Imoke, elder brother to Lyell Imoke, former governor of Cross River State, was best friend to my elder brother, Victor. We spent many great moments together in my Lagos residence. I consider former Minister of Culture, Edem Duke, as my person. Former Chief of Staff to Governor Imoke, Alex Egbonna remains a cherished friend of my family. I used to consider Gab Onah, Chairman of the Carnival Commission, a friend.
I so badly wanted the matter sorted out in a friendly manner. I am confident that I tried very hard, very-very hard, maybe too hard.
There comes a time when push must turn to shove. This is that time.
See you next week.
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