By Chukwudi Nweje

Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Publishing Limited, Mr. Eric Osagie, has tasked the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) to use its movies to teach moral lessons, preach peace and unity as well as promote national cohesion.

He said the genre of movies turned out by the entertainment industry has far-reaching affects on the society and tasked members of the Guild to see themselves as nation builders.

Osagie gave the advice when the new leadership of the AGN, led by the president, Emeka Rollas Ejezie, paid a courtesy visit to the corporate headquarters of The Sun in Lagos. The visit was the first outing of the AGN executives since the body settled its protracted leadership tussle.

Welcoming the AGN exco, Osagie said: “If you talk about a truly national newspaper, it is The Sun.”

He assured the AGN that The Sun will continue to promote the truth, emphasising: “We are the voice of the nation and support good causes.”    

The AGN team, included the National President, Ejezie; National Secretary, Onibiyo Dayo; Vice President (South-West) Aremo Babayemi Tope; National Treasurer, St. Maradona Paulvine; National Public Relations Officer, Frank Dallas Ebulukwu; Secretary, Board of Trustees (BoT), Sonny Mcdon and Chairman of the BoT, Prince Ifeanyi Dike.

Chairman of the Guild’s BoT, Dike, said the team’s visit was the first to any media organisation in the country. He said the visit was to introduce the Guild’s executives to The Sun as well as explore areas of partnership with the company.

He expressed happiness that the leadership crisis that plagued the AGN was resolved after the organisation’s last congress at Enugu, where Paulvine who earlier secured a court judgment against the AGN, called for truce, for the sake of the AGN.   

Paulvine had gone to court to challenge the leadership of Ibinabo Febaresima, who succeeded Segun Arinze as president and the court ordered that the status quo should remain.

Dike said the Enugu congress, which was attended by 29 out of the 32 chapters of AGN, resolved the issues at stake and elected the new leadership.

He said Febaresima and another factional president of the Guild, Emeka Ike, were privy to the Enugu congress and the outcome.

Dike said the leadership crisis was uncalled for, as the progress of the AGN was more important than personality clashes.

He said  since Febaresima held the office of president for two terms of two years each, the dissolution of her exco and election of new executives were constitutional.

The new AGN president promised to do his best to move the Guild forward. He also solicited more support from the government, saying: “The AGN, as a creative industry, cannot progress without government’s full support.”

On the directive by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, that movies should no longer be shot abroad, Ejezie said the absence of film villages in Nigeria forced the Guild to produce movies abroad.

He said no producer would go abroad to shoot films if there were film villages, with standard facilities.