By Ayo Onikoyi

There is a tribal war of sorts raging in Nollywood right now, following an interview granted by a Yoruba actress, Aishat Lawal where she asserted that the “Yorubas own Nollywood”.

Aisha Lawal’s ownership assertion threatens Nollywood’s unity as celebrities, movie practitioners from the two ethnic divisions have engaged one another in a war of words.

“We own the industry. Go back to research. The industry belongs to the Yoruba people. If you go back to research, you will hear from people like Hubert Ogunde and Ade Love. I don’t want to go into details. But, if you go and research very well, you will discover that Yoruba own this industry, we started this industry. We messed up at some point, but we are not playing catch-up. We are there already. Now, everybody wants to shoot a Yoruba movie,” Aishat had declared. It was a can of worms she opened which had been followed by a storm of disagreements and confrontations.

Actors in disagreement…

Gideon Okeke, a talented Nollywood actor, was the first to react to what Aisha Lawal said. In his post on Instagram, Gideon told Aisha to stop being ‘uber ridiculous’ with her blinded quest for individuality.

Gideon wrote: “The Nigerian film industry, Nollywood as it is called, is not owned by the Yorubas. The Gold in the North of Nigeria is not owned by the Hausas. The oil in the South and South East is not owned by the Igbo or Riverine dwellers. The acronym WA-ZO-BIA is a wrapper that ties and joins us all, by the hip. One belle botton, stop being uber ridiculous with your blinded quest for individuality. Your separatist behaviour reeks of ignorant entitlement. Your Education is nothing, if it can’t impart a positive, inclusive change in the world around you.

Another actress, Mary Remmy Njoku, also reacted with a funny post on Instagram.

“I think she is right, that’s why it’s called Yollywood. Nigerians don’t know how to pronounce it. And every Nigerian filmmaker was granted Yorobian citizenship to be part of the Industry”. Mary Njoku posted.

Woli Arole, a famous skit maker also had his own say: “Yoruba were part of the major origin of filmmaking in Nigeria. Google Hubert Ogunde. (However), Nollywood is beyond being owned by a tribe. The growth became a collective effort, we can’t take away the Sam Loco Efe, Osufia, even Northern actors and actresses from it. The Igbos too did an awesome job in that industry. It’s a collective building.” Woli Arole informed.

Actors in agreement…

Aisha Lawal got a huge support from the Yoruba veteran actors, such as Chief Adebayo Salami, better known as Oga Bello, as well as Lanre Hassan, and Iya Awero in a recent documentary by Dotun Taylor circulating online. They hold that Nollywood didn’t start in the late 80s or early 90s but as far back as the 1940s when the first cinema was opened in Yaba.

The likes of Pa Adedeji, Hubert Ogunde, Ade Love (Kunle Afolayan’s father), Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola, Bala Sala, and others were the founders and pioneers of filmmaking and theatre in Nigeria.

“Pa Adedeji Hubert Ogunde, Ade Love, Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola, Bala Sala are the founders and practitioners of filmmaking and theatre in Nigeria, and they’re all Yoruba and not the narrative by some Igbo practitioners who claim Nollywood started after the first ‘Living in Bondage’ was released in the early 90s.” They said in the documentary.

The actors were not the only ones to react, as the two major guilds in the industry, The Actors Guild of Nigeria and the Directors Guild of Nigeria, shared their views on the divisive topic.

DGN’s reaction

The president of the Directors Guild of Nigeria, DGN, and the Vice Chairman, Federation of Heads of All Nollywood Guilds and Associations, Victor Okhai, in a chat with Potpourri, believes nobody owns Nollywood.

“Nollywood is the generic name for every movie made by or out of Nigeria/Nigerians regardless of language. Just like Bollywood and Hollywood, Nollywood is sui generis the Nigerian brand!

Petty minded folks are just trying to create divisions along tribal lines like everything Nigerian unfortunately. Just like those trying to distinguish between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Nollywood.” Victor Okhai stressed.

AGN’s position

The Lagos State chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Emeka Rising, in his own assertion believes the Igbo movie producers, started Nollywood by commercializing movies in the 90’s, when they produced the movie, Living in Bondage.

“The name Nollywood was not even given by a Nigerian! The name Nollywood was the creation of a White man who was amazed at the rate the then young Nigerian movie industry was growing. Not Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba.”

“Aisha Lawal who started this debate, was probably young or not even born when the history of Nigerian movie production started, so what does she know about movie making in Nigeria?”

“Before now, Nigerians have been into movie making in the past, both Yoruba and Igbo. Most of these films then were not sold but strictly shown on Television, NTA. The first man to start selling movies in Nigeria, is the producer of “Living in Bondage”, Kenneth Nnebue.”

“No language or tribe can lay claim to owning Nollywood as it is a Nigeria thing, our own but Nollywood became commercialized by Kenneth Nnebue, like I said earlier ” Emeka Rollas posited.