GROUP CALLS FOR DISAPPROVAL OF MCSN, PROSECUTION OF MAYO AYILARAN

IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – A group has called for the prosecution of the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) and its Director General, Mr. Mayo Ayilaran in the seven cases at the Federal High Court.

In a statement, national President, Music Producers And Marketers Association of Nigeria (MUPMAN), Egnr. Sharon Wilson Essco Joshua said that if the attempt to stop the legal process in that regard succeeds, the music industry in Nigeria would have no option but to conclude that the Buhari government’s war against corruption was after all a joke.

MUPMAN further warned that with the conspiracy to have Mayo Ayilaran and MCSN escape justice through the back door, there would be no justifiable reason to prosecute any other pirate in Nigeria, adding that the entire Nigerian copyright system would have been buried.

MUPMAN also expressed shock that it would even be contemplated that an organization and its Chief Executive Officer, both facing seven different criminal cases instituted by the Federal Government of Nigeria would be given approval by the same government to collect and distribute royalties in Nigeria, describing the development as mind-boggling, and an affront on common sense which exposes Nigeria as the laughing stock of the world.

Engr. Sharon who claimed that the members of MUPMAN are the owners of a substantial amount of Nigeria’s musical content marketed across the country, in the statement wondered on whose behalf Ayilaran and MCSN are expected to collect royalties or whose content will MCSN be licensing.

Sort to react on the issue, the spokesperson for MCSN, Halim Mohammed, promptly dismissed the group, pointing out that they were touts.

Halim insisted that the fate of MCSN or that of its chief executive officer was beyond any group to decide as long as the relevant authorities had formally given the go-ahead for MCSN to legally function as a Collecting Management Organisation (CMO) in Nigeria.

He further went forward to quote the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, SAN as saying during a recent visit by MCSN delegation: “The decision to license your organisation as a collecting Society is in the best interest of the nation and the citizens and it is in accordance with international best practices”.

However, Engr Sharon disagreed, postulating in the statement: “Let it not be forgotten that all ten of the biggest national associations in the Nigerian music industry came together and resolved that we want ONLY ONE collective management organization for musical works and sound recordings in Nigeria. With the approval of COSON, it is not arguable that there has been substantial progress in copyright royalty collection and distribution in the country. The approval of COSON which has been very professionally run has brought peace and progress to our industry. For the avoidance of doubt, MUPMAN is happy, indeed very happy with COSON.

“The government of President Muhammadu Buhari needs to quickly call the bluff of Mayo Ayilaran and his gang of perennial trouble makers in the Nigerian music industry. In 2005, President Obasanjo called the bluff of this gang by ordering that their purported approval be withdrawn and torn to shreds.

“To restore sanity and growth in the music industry, the very fraudulent purported approval of MCSN needs to be withdrawn without delay. Ayilaran and MCSN should go and face their day in court like other Nigerians.”