As the heat created by crisis that marred the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) election in Benin, Edo State continues to linger, veteran actor, Victor Edogun, writes on the problems and proffers solutions. Enjoy the exclusive write-up:
That the last AGN Election was an abysmal failure or that it was a grandiose exercise in futility is putting it mildly. The nation of theatrical and film entertainment coverged in the reverred ancient city of Benin from all over the country to elect officers and put its erstwhile darling Guild on a proper functional dais with enthusiastic gusto via a properly conducted electoral process.
A successful exercise would have restored the desired integrity to the image of the umbrella body of actors, but, alas, that lofty mission would have to tarry a little while more.
To what does one ascribe the Comedy of Errors in Benin?
Well, perchance there was method to this madness!
As titans of the motion picture industry re-allign once again to put back the pieces of this glamour humpty dumpty, many scripts are inevitably hung up and shooting locations are precariously saddled, unsteady, sparse and generously deserted!
When in the close future, the discordant tunes in the Guild’s ranks have abated and a worthy, credible leader is in place, the body must finally settle down, not only to ensure a viable, functional, responsible and representative structure, but must also tackle headlong, the hydra-headed monstrosity of perennial fracas, mission short-sightedness and short-cuts, ethnic bias, executive recklessness, incoherent programmes and agenda, piracy, short-changing by cable media, copyright abuses as well as the absence of articulated welfare packaging for its teeming membership who loyally remain hopeful for a glorious dawn when skills and talents are copiously compensated with fame and fortune and not sacrificed on the altar of conceit, insincerity, mediocrity and crass insensitivity.
—Bayo Adetu
