Nigerian media mogul, Mo Abudu has reacted to accusations of copyright infringement by one Tobore Ovourie, over ‘Oloture’ movie.
Tobore Ovuorie had sometime last week accused Mo Abudu and
the film’s producers of adapting her 2014 investigative
However, she warned that her production will not take likely
threats from Tobore on media despite their earlier agreement.
She said: “Premium times said she cannot lay claim to the
project, only Sam chronicles can claim copyright to the report, we do not take
kindly to those saying otherwise.
“We dare not make a film without addressing rights and
paying for them.
“In May 2019, we reached out to Tobore and granted her a
private screening and offered her 5% of our cinema rights to go to her NGO .
‘Oloture’ was an important movie but due to COVID-19 we could not release it.
“A day after Oloture was released on Netflix in October
2020, Tobore sent us a message and made accusations making demands and
threatening us.”
However, Mo Abudu explained that before the release of the
movie, she had a cordial relationship with Tobore and even sent her some money
for her father’s burial and so on.
She stressed that her relationship with Tobore suddenly
changed after the release of Oloture and its success on Netflix.
Abudu mentioned that Tobore immediately changed towards her,
hired a lawyer and demanded for payment of N2.5bn which has lingered till now.
“A month after Oloture was launched we got a letter from her
lawyer demanding a whooping sum of N2.5bn which is not what we signed up for.
“We knew we did not infringe on her rights we settled all
that before the movie. Her demands have become threatening, blackmailing .
“My relationship with Tobore immediately changed after the
growing popularity of Oloture on Netflix.
“Let me state for the record ‘Oloture’ is a story inspired
by true events involving situations created by script writers , several parts
of the films were created however some parts were similar to Tobore’s life
which is why she and premium times were given credits,” she added.
The
philanthropist and former human resources management consultant, Mo Abudu urged the public to educate themselves on how the
movie industry works before being judgemental.
“Tobore’s experience is what most ladies experience due to
trafficking worldwide. I stand for integrity, we did not exploit Tobore and
would not be intimidated but fight in court if necessary,” she concluded.