Oh dear! After the Gambian president gave plots of land to
Nollywood stars and some actors and actresses from Gollywood, Gambian filmmaker,
Prince Bubcarr Aminata Sankanu who says the country does not have the luxury of
giving out lands to foreigners when a lot of Gambians are yet to have a good
home has called out the president reminding him he won’t be there forever and
so shouldn’t give out what belongs to all of them to foreigners. He also called
on the Nollywood and Gollywood stars not to be fast to develop the land saying
they should have a rethink.
Those that benefited from the land gift includes;, Monalisa
Chinda,Patience Ozokwor, Eucharia Anunobi, Ejike Asiegbu, Francis Duru, Segun
Arinze, Kanayo O Kanayo, Chinedu Ikedieze, Osita Iheme, Rukiat Masud, Tony
Umez, Ngozi Ezeonu, Chika Okpala (Zebrudaya) Harry B Anyanwu, and so many Ghanaian
stars.
Chinda,Patience Ozokwor, Eucharia Anunobi, Ejike Asiegbu, Francis Duru, Segun
Arinze, Kanayo O Kanayo, Chinedu Ikedieze, Osita Iheme, Rukiat Masud, Tony
Umez, Ngozi Ezeonu, Chika Okpala (Zebrudaya) Harry B Anyanwu, and so many Ghanaian
stars.
He said quite lot… find his long but interesting note after
the cut.
the cut.
First of all, various Nigerian and Ghanaian media outlets
reported that the President of my country HE Alhagie Yahya AJJ Jammeh has
recently allocated portions of our Gambian lands to some Nigerian and Ghanaian
entertainers. The fact that we Gambians have to know about this from second
hand sources speaks volumes on the way we are treated as non-humans by those
running our country. Jammeh is a temporal President and not the everlasting
private owner of the commonwealth of our Gambian fatherland. I for one respect
him and endorse his freedom to do whatever he pleases within the parameters of
the Reasonable State and Realpolitik but if he touches certain red lines, I
will speak truth to power without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.
reported that the President of my country HE Alhagie Yahya AJJ Jammeh has
recently allocated portions of our Gambian lands to some Nigerian and Ghanaian
entertainers. The fact that we Gambians have to know about this from second
hand sources speaks volumes on the way we are treated as non-humans by those
running our country. Jammeh is a temporal President and not the everlasting
private owner of the commonwealth of our Gambian fatherland. I for one respect
him and endorse his freedom to do whatever he pleases within the parameters of
the Reasonable State and Realpolitik but if he touches certain red lines, I
will speak truth to power without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.
The senseless wastage of our scarce resources on
money-hungry foreign musicians and movie stars is scratching on those red
lines. I am therefore calling on the named home video peoples not to rush in
developing the land that President Jammeh reportedly allocated them. For over
10 years, we have been reading reports on how Nigerian video film stars, and of
late Ghanaian ones, are airlifted into the Gambia to serve as presidential
event decorations. They are rewarded millions from our Gambian tax revenues
without measurable lasting benefits to our creative economy. If at all the
monies are from President Jammeh’s personal savings before he became President
of the Republic of The Gambia on the 22 July 1994, I for one would not care.
But the funds that are wasted on the Nigerian and Ghanaian hustlers are
generated through our taxes and remittances and we have the right to speak out
on it.
money-hungry foreign musicians and movie stars is scratching on those red
lines. I am therefore calling on the named home video peoples not to rush in
developing the land that President Jammeh reportedly allocated them. For over
10 years, we have been reading reports on how Nigerian video film stars, and of
late Ghanaian ones, are airlifted into the Gambia to serve as presidential
event decorations. They are rewarded millions from our Gambian tax revenues
without measurable lasting benefits to our creative economy. If at all the
monies are from President Jammeh’s personal savings before he became President
of the Republic of The Gambia on the 22 July 1994, I for one would not care.
But the funds that are wasted on the Nigerian and Ghanaian hustlers are
generated through our taxes and remittances and we have the right to speak out
on it.
After all, we are the ones sweating for the monies. The
Gambian economy is on life-support at the time of writing this piece. Without
our Diaspora remittances and the bailout from the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), we would have long seen a Burkina Faso-styled mass revolution by the
hungry and tired Gambians. President Jammeh’s strength lies on the weaknesses
and pettiness within the ranks of those fighting to end his rule. The greedy
Nigerian and Ghanaian entertainers “chopping him dry” are too blinded by our
free government money, free food and free sex with some local girls to see,
feel or understand the silent sufferings of the voiceless Gambians.
Gambian economy is on life-support at the time of writing this piece. Without
our Diaspora remittances and the bailout from the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), we would have long seen a Burkina Faso-styled mass revolution by the
hungry and tired Gambians. President Jammeh’s strength lies on the weaknesses
and pettiness within the ranks of those fighting to end his rule. The greedy
Nigerian and Ghanaian entertainers “chopping him dry” are too blinded by our
free government money, free food and free sex with some local girls to see,
feel or understand the silent sufferings of the voiceless Gambians.
Secondly, it is an open secret that President Jammeh does
not feel comfortable supporting highly professional and ethical Gambians. This
self-denial does not give the Nigerian and Ghanaian wannabe stars the birth
right to milk our poor nation dry. You don’t need to be rocket scientists to
know that Nigeria and Ghana have more geographical space and other resources
than our little Gambia with a total territorial size of just 11,295 square
kilometres. Land is scarce and highly sensitive. Our Gambian courts are
currently inundated with protracted litigations over land disputes across the
country. Governments come and go but the people and their land problems will
remain. No sane person can guarantee that the Jammeh government will continue
to rule the Gambia for the next 20 years. Being a Nigerian or Ghanaian
so-called celebrity will not immune you against future court appearances over
land and other contractual disputes. Future governments have the prerogative to
nullify land allocations and revise destructive decisions of the current
regime. Feel free to ignore my sincere advice, go ahead to develop the
“donated” land and invest in Gambia at your own peril.
not feel comfortable supporting highly professional and ethical Gambians. This
self-denial does not give the Nigerian and Ghanaian wannabe stars the birth
right to milk our poor nation dry. You don’t need to be rocket scientists to
know that Nigeria and Ghana have more geographical space and other resources
than our little Gambia with a total territorial size of just 11,295 square
kilometres. Land is scarce and highly sensitive. Our Gambian courts are
currently inundated with protracted litigations over land disputes across the
country. Governments come and go but the people and their land problems will
remain. No sane person can guarantee that the Jammeh government will continue
to rule the Gambia for the next 20 years. Being a Nigerian or Ghanaian
so-called celebrity will not immune you against future court appearances over
land and other contractual disputes. Future governments have the prerogative to
nullify land allocations and revise destructive decisions of the current
regime. Feel free to ignore my sincere advice, go ahead to develop the
“donated” land and invest in Gambia at your own peril.
Thirdly, I will not blame the local population for the
rising anti-Nigerian and anti-Ghanaian sentiments that are fuelled by the
irrational decisions of the powers that be. If you snatch away the meagre
resources of scared and disadvantaged communities and share them among fat and
parasitic entertainers from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Jamaica and
other places, you invite trouble into the nation. I am a responsible
Pan-Africanist and believer in African solidarity among the people without the
hypocrisy of the political classes. Direct exchanges among the diverse peoples
of African descent on fair terms are better for me than the divide-and-rule
tactics of the corrupt elites. Successive Nigerian governments have been
blindly sending lawyers and judges to assist in building a progressive Gambian
judiciary but most of them ended up as corrupt mercenaries ever-ready to jail
more Gambians just to appease the executive branch of the Gambian government.
You now wonder about the sources of anti-Nigerian slurs that you could hear on
the streets of the Gambia? That said, African solidarity does not mean taking
away from the poorer Africans in this case Gambians, to pamper the richer and
fatter Africans, known here as the hustling Nigerian and Ghanaian home movie
people. Personally, I have put more money into the Nigerian film industry since
2006 without insisting on quick returns on investment. I love Nigeria and I
believe in the Pax Nigeriana – that is Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa and
the Black Diaspora but that does not mean I should not question things that go
wrong between Maiduguri and Calabar. I visited the country in 2008 and
deliberately avoided the limelight but my behind-the-scene contributions
towards mutually beneficial inter-African solidarity in the creative industries
remain strong. I have people across the various segments of the Nigerian Cinema
between Kano and Lagos to confirm my silent activities. I don’t need to be
running after the Nigerian or African politicians and business leaders for
charities and photo opportunities in order to show the whole world that I am
contributing my quota towards the advancement of Africa in my natural fields of
expertise and passion. Ghana is also not absent on my agenda. I have been screening
Ghanaian films in Germany, welcoming promising Ghanaians talents and
cooperating with Ghanaian Diaspora groups in Cologne since 2006. I need not
talk about other African or Afro-Caribbean countries.
rising anti-Nigerian and anti-Ghanaian sentiments that are fuelled by the
irrational decisions of the powers that be. If you snatch away the meagre
resources of scared and disadvantaged communities and share them among fat and
parasitic entertainers from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Jamaica and
other places, you invite trouble into the nation. I am a responsible
Pan-Africanist and believer in African solidarity among the people without the
hypocrisy of the political classes. Direct exchanges among the diverse peoples
of African descent on fair terms are better for me than the divide-and-rule
tactics of the corrupt elites. Successive Nigerian governments have been
blindly sending lawyers and judges to assist in building a progressive Gambian
judiciary but most of them ended up as corrupt mercenaries ever-ready to jail
more Gambians just to appease the executive branch of the Gambian government.
You now wonder about the sources of anti-Nigerian slurs that you could hear on
the streets of the Gambia? That said, African solidarity does not mean taking
away from the poorer Africans in this case Gambians, to pamper the richer and
fatter Africans, known here as the hustling Nigerian and Ghanaian home movie
people. Personally, I have put more money into the Nigerian film industry since
2006 without insisting on quick returns on investment. I love Nigeria and I
believe in the Pax Nigeriana – that is Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa and
the Black Diaspora but that does not mean I should not question things that go
wrong between Maiduguri and Calabar. I visited the country in 2008 and
deliberately avoided the limelight but my behind-the-scene contributions
towards mutually beneficial inter-African solidarity in the creative industries
remain strong. I have people across the various segments of the Nigerian Cinema
between Kano and Lagos to confirm my silent activities. I don’t need to be
running after the Nigerian or African politicians and business leaders for
charities and photo opportunities in order to show the whole world that I am
contributing my quota towards the advancement of Africa in my natural fields of
expertise and passion. Ghana is also not absent on my agenda. I have been screening
Ghanaian films in Germany, welcoming promising Ghanaians talents and
cooperating with Ghanaian Diaspora groups in Cologne since 2006. I need not
talk about other African or Afro-Caribbean countries.
Fourthly, Gambians don’t value their own talents. For years,
they preferred patronising Senegalese and other fly-by-night musicians while
expecting them to build the local music Gambian industry. The same blunder is
being repeated in the movie industry. Our local movie talents are living from
hand to mouth while the hustling fly-by-night Nollywood and Ghana folks are
pampered with our taxes and remittances. If you try to reason, they would say
you are jealous. Why would we be jealous when some of us are blessed with the
expertise, global connections and confidence to thrive across the international
film scenes? I for one can afford the luxury of staying out of the competition
for publicity, movie roles and photo sessions with politicians and remain a
relevant behind-the-scene thinker on African Cinema. I just pity the local
talents who cannot speak their honest minds on the state of affairs. No one
will build Gambia for Gambians. The Kenyans, Ghanaians, Tanzanian, Sierra
Leoneans, Liberians, Ugandans and others used to wait for some Nollywood
noise-makers and hustlers when the digital home video phenomenon started 20
years ago but along the line they realised that they had to take the lead in
building their respective national film industries. In the Gambia, it is a
crime to be innovative and think out of the box. Patriotism there is about
telling lies to the powers that be and inviting foreign stars to collect
presidential gifts that will be shared among those who facilitated the access
to “His Excellency Professor Doctor President Alhagie Yahya Abdul Aziz Jemus
Junkung Jammeh, Babili Mansa, Lord of the Bridges and the greatest Pan
Africanist of all times.” Correct me if at all I left something out of the
glorious name!
they preferred patronising Senegalese and other fly-by-night musicians while
expecting them to build the local music Gambian industry. The same blunder is
being repeated in the movie industry. Our local movie talents are living from
hand to mouth while the hustling fly-by-night Nollywood and Ghana folks are
pampered with our taxes and remittances. If you try to reason, they would say
you are jealous. Why would we be jealous when some of us are blessed with the
expertise, global connections and confidence to thrive across the international
film scenes? I for one can afford the luxury of staying out of the competition
for publicity, movie roles and photo sessions with politicians and remain a
relevant behind-the-scene thinker on African Cinema. I just pity the local
talents who cannot speak their honest minds on the state of affairs. No one
will build Gambia for Gambians. The Kenyans, Ghanaians, Tanzanian, Sierra
Leoneans, Liberians, Ugandans and others used to wait for some Nollywood
noise-makers and hustlers when the digital home video phenomenon started 20
years ago but along the line they realised that they had to take the lead in
building their respective national film industries. In the Gambia, it is a
crime to be innovative and think out of the box. Patriotism there is about
telling lies to the powers that be and inviting foreign stars to collect
presidential gifts that will be shared among those who facilitated the access
to “His Excellency Professor Doctor President Alhagie Yahya Abdul Aziz Jemus
Junkung Jammeh, Babili Mansa, Lord of the Bridges and the greatest Pan
Africanist of all times.” Correct me if at all I left something out of the
glorious name!
Fifthly, the pioneers of postcolonial Nigeria Cinema before
the digital age relied on some healthy degrees of social responsibility and
self-reliance to build an industry from scratch. It is a shame that for the
past decades some of Nollywooders and accidental home video people have been
prostituting themselves to political desperadoes across the African continent.
Their filmmaking is no longer about checking and balancing the African
political classes or raising social consciousness. The derogatory names “Nollywood”
and “Gollywood” are synonymous to the “greed is good” mentality. It is all
about playing, partying and vanity at the expense of taxpayers. Their
monotonous home videos are mainly regurgitating the missionary and jihadist
propaganda that everything culturally African is evil and backward while
promoting the aggressive proselytization of the Western neo-colonialists and
Middle Eastern Trans-Saharan slave traders as the only superior options for
acculturation that Africans must copy at all costs or end in hell. Hallelujah!
Allaw Akbar! To the lords of the White and Arab masters must be the great glory
at all times: say ameen! The perpetuation of the self-hate coupled with skin
bleaching, fake hair and the obsession with “Onyibo” America and materialism
aside, some of the so-called stars over-rated their political levels by
aggressively campaigning for the defeated Doctor Goodluck Jonathan in the last
Nigerian presidential elections of 2015 and took home millions in fees or
gifts. They over-rated themselves by mistaking the hype and photo opportunities
with dictators and questionable business people as political gravitas. If I
were Dr. Jonathan, I would have asked them for a refund. Yes, they have the
right to be actively involved in the domestic politics of Nigeria and their
home countries but when our ill-advised Gambian government waste our meagre
public funds on them, I for one will challenge them. As a film director and
producer, I make stars but I don’t worship them. I don’t care if you win all the
film or TV awards under the sun and get all the global publicity and the
fattest bank accounts in your industry. That will not make me run after you
like demi-gods. You will only get the respect you earned through your
comportment, sincerity, modesty and social responsibility. I am allergic to
greed!
the digital age relied on some healthy degrees of social responsibility and
self-reliance to build an industry from scratch. It is a shame that for the
past decades some of Nollywooders and accidental home video people have been
prostituting themselves to political desperadoes across the African continent.
Their filmmaking is no longer about checking and balancing the African
political classes or raising social consciousness. The derogatory names “Nollywood”
and “Gollywood” are synonymous to the “greed is good” mentality. It is all
about playing, partying and vanity at the expense of taxpayers. Their
monotonous home videos are mainly regurgitating the missionary and jihadist
propaganda that everything culturally African is evil and backward while
promoting the aggressive proselytization of the Western neo-colonialists and
Middle Eastern Trans-Saharan slave traders as the only superior options for
acculturation that Africans must copy at all costs or end in hell. Hallelujah!
Allaw Akbar! To the lords of the White and Arab masters must be the great glory
at all times: say ameen! The perpetuation of the self-hate coupled with skin
bleaching, fake hair and the obsession with “Onyibo” America and materialism
aside, some of the so-called stars over-rated their political levels by
aggressively campaigning for the defeated Doctor Goodluck Jonathan in the last
Nigerian presidential elections of 2015 and took home millions in fees or
gifts. They over-rated themselves by mistaking the hype and photo opportunities
with dictators and questionable business people as political gravitas. If I
were Dr. Jonathan, I would have asked them for a refund. Yes, they have the
right to be actively involved in the domestic politics of Nigeria and their
home countries but when our ill-advised Gambian government waste our meagre
public funds on them, I for one will challenge them. As a film director and
producer, I make stars but I don’t worship them. I don’t care if you win all the
film or TV awards under the sun and get all the global publicity and the
fattest bank accounts in your industry. That will not make me run after you
like demi-gods. You will only get the respect you earned through your
comportment, sincerity, modesty and social responsibility. I am allergic to
greed!
Sixthly, the Boko Haram neo-jihadist group is engaged in
genocide against Nigerians and Africans in the name of Islam but not a single
Nigerian director, producer or actor has so far shown the bravery with patriotic
and social responsibility to make a serious film on the Boko Haram mass murder.
The Malians and Mauritanians were brave enough to make a film on the misuse of
Islam for violence. Watch “Timbuktu” (2015) directed by Abderrahmane Sissako.
Another Malian sensitization and resistance movie against religious
fundamentalism titled “They Will Have To Kill Us First” (2015) directed by
Johanna Schwartz will be in circulation next year. Nigerians cannot say money
is the problem as they have more resources at their disposal than the brave
Mauritanian and Malian filmmakers and actors. Frustrated by the apparent
cowardice in Nollywood, I recently asked one of my local Nigerian contacts to
write and send me a movie script on the local war on terror so that I can take
the risk of making a film that will challenge the senseless killings in the
name of Islam. If the Malians were to waste their meagre resources on the
Nollywood stars to tell their African stories, the religious war of the Tuareg
region would still be boiling hot like the Boko Haram cancer. For the citizens
would not have had the local content and credible chance to be sensitised on
the menace of religious bigotry through the power of film. Boko Haram is
technically doing what countless Nigerian home videos are doing to the African
Personality – destroying the African social fabric and values and replacing
them with imported lethal ideologies. People will readily attack President
Obama and the Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) for defending
homosexuality but would blindly support Nollywood and Boko Haram for promoting
ungodly acts of adultery, cheating, lying, greed, rape, robbery, corruption,
decadence, hypocrisy and fake un-African lifestyles. My powerful article titled
“Are Nigerian Filmmakers Afraid of Boko Haram?” will be published soon.
genocide against Nigerians and Africans in the name of Islam but not a single
Nigerian director, producer or actor has so far shown the bravery with patriotic
and social responsibility to make a serious film on the Boko Haram mass murder.
The Malians and Mauritanians were brave enough to make a film on the misuse of
Islam for violence. Watch “Timbuktu” (2015) directed by Abderrahmane Sissako.
Another Malian sensitization and resistance movie against religious
fundamentalism titled “They Will Have To Kill Us First” (2015) directed by
Johanna Schwartz will be in circulation next year. Nigerians cannot say money
is the problem as they have more resources at their disposal than the brave
Mauritanian and Malian filmmakers and actors. Frustrated by the apparent
cowardice in Nollywood, I recently asked one of my local Nigerian contacts to
write and send me a movie script on the local war on terror so that I can take
the risk of making a film that will challenge the senseless killings in the
name of Islam. If the Malians were to waste their meagre resources on the
Nollywood stars to tell their African stories, the religious war of the Tuareg
region would still be boiling hot like the Boko Haram cancer. For the citizens
would not have had the local content and credible chance to be sensitised on
the menace of religious bigotry through the power of film. Boko Haram is
technically doing what countless Nigerian home videos are doing to the African
Personality – destroying the African social fabric and values and replacing
them with imported lethal ideologies. People will readily attack President
Obama and the Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) for defending
homosexuality but would blindly support Nollywood and Boko Haram for promoting
ungodly acts of adultery, cheating, lying, greed, rape, robbery, corruption,
decadence, hypocrisy and fake un-African lifestyles. My powerful article titled
“Are Nigerian Filmmakers Afraid of Boko Haram?” will be published soon.
Finally, I don’t blame the Nigerian and Ghanaian hustlers
that much for exploiting the gullibility and destitution of some narrow-minded
African cabals and peoples. As I pointed
out above, Gambians don’t sincerely value their own talents and President
Jammeh or those who control his presidential ears are repeatedly showing that
they are more comfortable dishing out luxury vehicles, land, villas, cash in
foreign currencies and diplomatic passports to visiting praise-singing stars
some of whom could be struggling to pay their bills as all that glitters is not
gold, while badmouthing, marginalizing, imprisoning or neglecting the sincere
Gambian talents. The “lucky” few Gambians will get some hundreds of thousands
of Dalasis, from time to time but in exchange for blind loyalty or maximum
shut-up. Personally, I see it as a blessing in disguise that President Dr.
Yahya AJJ Jammeh has so far not given me a dime for my Gambian film industry
projects. This has granted me the clear conscience, creative freedom, street
credibility and elite authority to talk freely, do my things independently on
my chosen terms and speak truth to power whenever I deem necessary without
hypocrisy and the guilt of eating his presidential monies. I will be in Gambia
later this year to continue from where I stopped in contributing my quota
towards the development of our Gambian creative scenes without begging or
waiting for anyone.
that much for exploiting the gullibility and destitution of some narrow-minded
African cabals and peoples. As I pointed
out above, Gambians don’t sincerely value their own talents and President
Jammeh or those who control his presidential ears are repeatedly showing that
they are more comfortable dishing out luxury vehicles, land, villas, cash in
foreign currencies and diplomatic passports to visiting praise-singing stars
some of whom could be struggling to pay their bills as all that glitters is not
gold, while badmouthing, marginalizing, imprisoning or neglecting the sincere
Gambian talents. The “lucky” few Gambians will get some hundreds of thousands
of Dalasis, from time to time but in exchange for blind loyalty or maximum
shut-up. Personally, I see it as a blessing in disguise that President Dr.
Yahya AJJ Jammeh has so far not given me a dime for my Gambian film industry
projects. This has granted me the clear conscience, creative freedom, street
credibility and elite authority to talk freely, do my things independently on
my chosen terms and speak truth to power whenever I deem necessary without
hypocrisy and the guilt of eating his presidential monies. I will be in Gambia
later this year to continue from where I stopped in contributing my quota
towards the development of our Gambian creative scenes without begging or
waiting for anyone.
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