AMBASSADOR OLUSOLA'S BURIAL CAUSES BAD BLOOD

Justus Esiri

TROUBLE IN THE VILLAGE
A few weeks ago Ambassador Olusola, the great culture icon, Nigeria's former ambassador to Ethopia, owner and curator of the Moniyan Ajibula arts gallery and most importantly producer of one of Nigeria's National emblems, television programme, Village headmaster which held the nation spell bound through the seventies and eighties passed on. Ordinarily it was supposed to be a time to celebrate the life of a man who had impacted so much on the National Psyche and cultural landscape however a lot of angst has been generated following the announcement of his burial arrangements, especially amongst the cast and crew of his television soap Village Headmaster.

Late Ambassador Olusola

From what transpired, the cast had been scheduled to perform during the Ambassador's obsequies and the former Director and producer of the soap Chief Tunde Oloyode who had incidentally been preparing to put the soap on the Big Screen and back on stage - a project that is likely going to be financed by the Lagos State Government- had called the Cast together to commence rehearsals. Unfortunately he was not going to be around since he had previously been scheduled to attend a lecture instituted to honor the name of his late daughter in the UK. Caught in a bind with nobody to direct the stage peformance, he had reached out to the Oloja of Village Headmaster Dejumo Lewis to help out. Dejumo refused to respond at first ignoring Chief Tunde Oloyode's phone calls and text messages. When Chief Oloyode pressed the issue, Dejumo we heard blew his top and accused Oloyode of taking him for granted and being presumptous by informing him late.

Dejumo Lewis

Chief Oloyode said "My daughters' annual lecture was instituted by her University two years ago when she passed on. My wife and I had already bought our tickets and assured the University we were going to be there before the Ambassador passed on. The arrangements for his burial were not announced by the family until Friday last week and immediately i found out i was not going to be able to handle the plans, i reached out to Dejumo and other members of cast. i don't see how that makes me presumptous. All i was trying to do was to honor the memory of a man who gave so much to us, to this country. I felt that he was the oldest perrsona nd the most experienced that i could hand things over to. If Dejumo did not want to be part of this all he would have done was to say i can' be part of it and we would have known what to do instead he shouted at me over the phone and accused me of disrespecting people who are older than me. But i take it all in good faith. it is painful though that cast of Village Headmaster might not be part of this whole burial arrangement of a national icon."
We will keep you posted as events unfold but from what we hear, other members of cast like Justus Esiri have stepped into the fray and are working towards calming frayed nerves and injured egos so that the show will hold.

KOBI RANA'S HOTEL BABYLON FOR NIGERIAN MARKET

He is just 26 years old but Ghanaian film maker and musician Kobi Rana seems to be already building a larger than life image in the African movie insdustry. A few years ago he came out with his debut effort, simple, romanctic-comedy, Kiss Me If You Can, a movie that was recieved with critical acclaim and one that firmly established delectable Martha Ankomah as an A-list star. This was quickly followed by another block buster, 2bad, then to Crazy. This Year the hardworking youngman who is known for choosing quirky themes and not being afraid of trying new talents and new models, Kobi has shot and premiered Hotel Babylon, a no holds barred, no clothes on thriller. In shooting the movie he ruffled a few Ghanain feathers when he looked beyond the plethora of Ghollywood leading men to cast Nigerian superstar Ramsey Noauh in the lead role. Now Kobi who has also shot the comedy Azonto Boys is set to push Hotel Babylon into the Nigerian video market and it looks as if marketing giants O'Gabby Innovations and Reginald Ebere's new online platform Gudugudu TV are the ones chosen to market the movie.
When we reached Kobi, this is what he said.
"I am careful about who i give my movies to market. i value my product and i believe that only the best should market them. O' Gabby marketed my first movie in Nigeria, KISS ME IF YOU CAN and Reginald is somebody i have always admired and looked up to. He is an innovator and is very concerned with quality. I hear that his new platform is ready to revolutionize the industry as we know it. So i will go with them. Right now we have just opened discussions. Nothing is cast in stone. I am excited at these new collaborations and developments. Lets see how it goes"