The prolonged crisis rocking the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, has finally come to an end following a peace agreement reached between the factions of Emeka Ike and that of Ibinabo Fiberesima at the 2017 Peace and Reconciliation Conference held Tuesday in Enugu by the AGN.
The congress then decided to set up a Government of National Unity of which Emeka Ike insisted that his group and that of Ibinabo be allowed to lead the GNU until a new election was conducted else the peace he and Ibinabo had embraced would be reverted.
His view was met with stiff opposition from the congress who said they were tired of being led by the two factions.
They resolved that both factions should step down and a new leadership be installed.
This again did not go down well with Emeka who threatened to return the whole process to status quo if he was not allowed to run the AGN.
There was impasse until the Board of Trustee, BOT decided to put it into voting. It was concluded that Emeka whose faction argued that his involvement would help harness the peace process be allowed to stand for an election.
He submitted two lists, his and that of Ibinabo as the candidates that should run the Government of National Unity, an interim government for a fixed period.
Then an election was conducted using the names in the two lists. Emeka Ike had nominated himself in his own list to run for president while the other list brought out Emeka Rollas for the post.
In an open election conducted using the delegates, Emeka Ike lost in the election, polling 12 votes as against 42 polled by Emeka Rollas.
Emeka Ike had prior to the period preceding the election refused he was not interested in an election, stressing that his men were not available for the election and that any election conducted in the conference hall would defeat him.
He was of the opinion that he should be allowed to form the interim government alongside Ibinabo since they had agreed to come together for peace without having to stand for an election.
The congress rebuffed his stand and resulted to an election in which he (Emeka Ike) lost terribly.
For the past 12 years, the guild has been bedeviled with leadership crisis, resulting in the dismissal of its National President, Ibinabo Fiberesima last year by the court, following a suit filed against her re-election by St. Maradona Mikevine, a veteran Nollywood actor.
The actor who was the National Treasurer in the election that ushered in Emeka Ike, as AGN president was not happy with the happenings in Ibinabo’s period as figurehead.
Mikevine had argued in his suit that the election that introduced Ibinabo into the system was done pending a subsisting court order containing the conduct of an AGN election, with Amb. Emeka Ike filing the initial suit.
Emeka Ike had been battling for the leadership of the guild since 2005, after the tenure of Ejike Asiegbu as National President of the guild expired.
Agenda of the summit, according to an insider is how to chart a new direction for the association.
There was jubilation from the members of the AGN who participated in the election and those who acted as observers as a new president emerged out of the troubles rocking the guild for years.
The Director of Golden Valley Hotel and sponsor of the conference, Joel Ugwuoke admonished the new executives to avoid the conflicts in leadership and to live up to the expectation of the AGN, if the industry is to compete for a better and enhanced position in the global arena.
On his part, the new president of the GNU, an interim government under the umbrella of the AGN, Emeka Rollas said his two-year term as leader of the guild would be full of positive reforms, stressing that he would work with all aggrieved parties for a better AGN.