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Omoni Oboli’s “Okafor’s Law” not registered as claimed, Censors board witness reveals

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Omoni Oboli’s “Okafor’s Law” not registered as claimed, Censors board witness reveals

A Senior Censors Officer of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) simply identified as Mrs Obasi has denied that Nollywood actress Omoni Oboli registered her controversial movie Okafor’s Law in 2014 as claimed by her lawyers.

Mrs Obasi, a witness, revealed that much at a hearing presided over by Hon. Ibrahim Buba; rather she informed that the movie was registered on March 21, 2017, by Filmone Distribution, following a successful public viewing at Ozone cinemas, Yaba, Lagos.

The witness, who has worked with NFVCB for 10 years, also posited that if the movie was registered in 2014 as claimed by Dioni Visions, it would then be impossible for Filmone to get a licence in 2017 as there is a standard procedure by the NFVCB to search their database for existence of a similar film title to avoid unnecessary repetition.

The hearing of the copyright violation and script theft case between Omoni Oboli’s Dioni Visions and Raconteur Productions was however adjourned till June 13, 2017 by Hon. Buba for further hearing.

Recall that controversy started to trail the movie when a Canada based writer who goes by the name Jude Idada accused the actress of intellectual theft.

Jude alleged that Oboli lifted his script which he said she adapted for her yet-to-be-released movie titled “Okafor’s Law” which got a nod at the Toronto International Film Festival TIFF (one of the top 5 film festivals in the world).

In an interview with TNS, Jude claims Oboli did not seek permission from him before copying his script for the unreleased movie which the actress, producer and director described as her “most ambitious movie project.”

Read also: Omoni Oboli laments court injunction on movie premier, says it’s not true, I didn’t steal the story

In her reply to Jude’s claims, Oboli while address scores of movie goers who bought tickets in the month of March to come see the premiere ‘Okafor’s Law’ but were prevented from entering IMAX Cinema to see the premiere due to a court injunction over copyright infringement, said she did not steal the story for the movie as it was her idea 100%

“What anybody says, what anybody does, it’s all a lie. I don’t know why this is happening, I work hard. ”

“It’s a shame that anybody would want to stop this. I mean, it has been a long process, we shot this movie last year, we have gone everywhere, we have put in so much money, publicity and everything, and some people are trying to stop it.

“God is on the throne and its fine. It will all come out in the wash. This is not going to stop me; I’m going to keep pushing.

“I could have gone ahead to show this film today, but, I’m a law abiding citizen and I have to follow the law, unfortunately.

“I believe that it is bullying, I believe that it is abuse of the law, and we are going to take this up”, Oboli said.


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