GANGS OF LAGOS IN THE DOCK
-Court okays application seeking the seizure of proceeds accrued from the streaming and N10billion fine on the producers
Victory Aduragbemi
In actualisation of its promise to defend Lagos state cultural values and capital, the Isale Eko Descendants’ Union (IDU) approached a Lagos high court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square to apply for judicial review and to seek an order of mandamus directing and compelling the attorney general and Lagos State Video and Film Censors Board to perform their statutory duties.
According to news sources, IDU among other requests, asked the court to compel the Lagos attorney-general and the state video and film censors board to seize the proceeds accrued from the streaming of the project and impose a fine on the movie producers because the film violates the cinematograph law of Lagos, hence committing a “criminal defamation”.
The “Gangs of Lagos”, a Nollywood film streaming on prime video, has been the talk of the town since its release on the 7th April 2023. Aside from the fact that it was a huge project for the producers, Jade Osiberu and Kemi Lala Akindoju, the A-list actors involved include Tobi Bakre, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Chioma Akpotha, Ikorodu Bois, Chike Osebuka, Olarotimi Fakunle and others.
The film “Gangs of Lagos” has been condemned and tagged as a cultural misinterpretation and mockery of Lagos’s heritage by the Lagos State Government.
The commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, expressed her disappointment with the producers of the film, Jade Osiberu and Kemi Akindoju, for portraying the Eyo Masquerade as a gun-wielding villain while adorning the full traditional regalia.
Mrs Uzamat Akinbile further said that the production of the film “Gangs of Lagos’ is unprofessional because its content slanders culture to violate the sacredness of the heritage of Lagos.
Similarly, Shodipe-Dosunmu, the Eyo Custodian, said, ‘Lagosians are not gangsters. According to him, “In their reckless, disgusting distortion of the sacred illustration of the Lagosian culture, the film-makers reduced the Eyo masquerade into a gun-toting killing machine, clothing their misfit actors in the full regalia of the Eyo and with the Aga depicting some secret assembly.
“This is a total abomination. It is not only a distortion of our culture but a dark, insidious profiling of our people as criminals and murderers rampaging across Lagos.” He quipped
The presiding judge, Justice Alakija granted the leave for judicial review in an ex-parte application prayed in pursuant to section 3 of the Cinematograph Law of Lagos State and Order 44 Rule 3 of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules, after hearing arguments of Counsel for Isale Eko Descendants Union and two others, Mr Olasupo Shasore (SAN), Mr Adeniji Kazeem (SAN), Mr Aderemi Bashua (SAN), Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, Akinwale Irokosu and Adesamola Alebiosu, Temi Tayo-Tiwo, Oyinkansola Tunde -Braimoh among others.
The applicants comprise Isale Eko Descendants’ Union, Chief Ayodele Bajulaiye, who sued on behalf of the Bajulaiye Chieftaincy Family and Eyo Iga Bajulaiye, and Chief Abdul-Waheed Ayeni, who sued on behalf of the Sasore Chieftaincy Family and Eyo Iga Sasore.
Meanwhile, encomium continues to pour in from film buffs who have seen the controversial flick, applauding the producers and actors. To the viewers, everything in the movie seems appealing from the storyline to the setting to the cast and crew.
Picture credit: Internet
