BENJAMIN NJOKU

In a move to restore peace in the troubled Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, the leadership of the body has reached an agreeement to elect new national executives to pilot the affairs of the guild for the next two years, inNovember.

Meanwhile, the inauguration of the body’s electoral committee known as AGNEC is scheduled for next month, just as the sale of forms and campaign for different elective positions commence in August and would last till October, 2011. The general elections proper will hold in November, while the inauguration of the new national executive committee is expected to take place in December.

The body also has set up a seven-man constitution review/amendment committee to review and amend the 2007 constitution of the guild. The committee is billed to look into the areas of contention that has brought crisis to the Guild. It has also been given enough time to work and produce a credible constitution for the Guild.

These were part of the resolutions taken at the end of the 1st ever national congress of the guild, which held between Monday May 16, and Wednesday, May 18, at Zukanda Hotel, Igando, Lagos.

In a two-page communique issued at the end of its congress and signed by the guild’s Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Sanusi Yakubu, the guild directed all state chapters that has not held its elections to do so, on or before the end of August, 2011.

While re-affirming Segun Arinze as the only President of the guild, the congress condemned in totality the actions of actor Emeka Ike and his “so called cohorts for his unending legal tussle to derail the present administration”, calling on him, however to “embrace peace for the progress of the guild.”

The communique reads in part:

Salient issues affecting the guild were discussed and the following resolutions were taken:

*That the congress re-affirmed Segun Arinze as the only President of Actors Guild of Nigeria. His administration is the only recognized national executive committee of the guild.

*That Emeka Ike was never elected as the President of Actors Guild of Nigeria by any state chapter.

*That Emeka Ike was never nominated nor voted as a member of the Board of Trustees or President of the Guild.

*That the congress condemned the actions of Emeka Ike and cohorts in trying to bring the Guild to disrepute with his unending legal tussle to derail the present Administration.

*That the congress is calling on Emeka Ike to embrace peace for the progress of the Guild.

In attendance at the meeting were all members of the national executive Committee, and 26 states chairmen and secretaries . They include Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kogi, FCT, Kwara, Plateau, Nassarawa, Benue, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Taraba and Adamawa.