On Friday, policemen attached to the Idimu station in Lagos State, arrested and detained Emmanuel Ugwunna, an actor, after accusing him of defaming advertising company Insight Communications Limited and Banji Omotayo, an advertising agent.
One ASP Jide called Ugwunna on Tuesday to invite him to the station after Omotayo reported the matter. Jide said during the phone call that Omotayo visited the area commander to accuse the actor of defamation.
This came after FIJ’s Sunday report on how Insight Communications withheld actors’ wages for four months.
A day after FIJ published the report, the company paid the actors through Omotayo, but the agent then went after Ugwunna with threats of an arrest.
READ MORE: Insight Communications, an Ad Agency, Owes Actors Who Starred in FCMB Advert in May
In the earlier report, FIJ spoke with anonymous sources who detailed how they signed contracts but did not get copies. Via a telephone conversation on August 9, Kayode Ajayi, one of the agency’s managers, confirmed the company’s dealings with the actors and pledged to pay them a month from that date. The company failed to honour its pledge.
On Friday, Ugwunna honoured the police invitation in the company of a lawyer from the Festus Ogun-led FOLegal.
After Omotayo and Ugwunna explained their individual accounts of events, the police resolved to place Ugwunna under arrest and detain him. They threw him into a cell. Several hours later, the lawyer secured his release on bail.
“The police listened to Omotayo and did not listen to me,” Ugwunna told FIJ after the experience.
“The DCO of the station said, “You did not do well by going to the press to report the matter instead of coming to us”. Omotayo said my contract was with him and not Insight Communications and that I defamed both parties.”
During FIJ’s Monday call with Omotayo, he confirmed the company’s indebtedness to the actors. Ajayi also confirmed the events as documented in FIJ’s report.
Despite this, Omotayo still accuses Ugwunna of defamation because, according to him, he went to the press and not the police.
The police have continued to use the legal definition of criminal defamation to arrest and harass members of the public. In recent times, they have used it to abduct, detain and subject journalists to inhuman treatments.
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One reply on “Lagos Police Detain Actor for ‘Reporting Insight Communications Debt to Press’ — Not Them”
This is malicious of the Agent, on no grounds should this be justified or allowed to be swept under the carpet.
What is wrong is wrong, models and talents have been reduced to insignificant objects simple because of the peanuts they are paid for multi million naira brands they model for.
I look forward to the end of this dance.