Nkiru Nwauzor who is crying out for help
Another disaster is brewing in the Nigerian movie industry popularly referred to as Nollywood, which the security agencies MUST intervene now that the ugly story is still unfolding.
A recent development of crass harassment, intimidation, and threat to life of Nkiru Nwauzor, a renowned Nollywood Costume Designer is something that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Kayode Egbetokun and his men MUST not take for granted. Nkiru who resides in Lagos, who has been plying her trade as a costume designer in the Nollywood industry for over twenty years remains a law-abiding citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has decided not to take the laws into her own hands, which is why she is using this medium to appeal to the conscience of the IGP to quickly intervene and call one recalcitrant Mr Martins Gbados (@GBADOS) to order for defaulting in their contractual agreement and threatening to kill her.
Narrating the news to NewsBitsng.com, Nkiru said that she now lives her life in fear because Mr Martins Gbados who is indebted to her to tune of N2,000.000.00 is seriously threatening to kill her. But from investigations from NewsBitsng.com, Nkiru, unknown to the Gbados comes from a lineage of top military brass including serving and retired Generals, and Senior Police officers. But even at that Nkiru told NewsBitsng.com that she has continued to toe the path of peace to recover her debt from Martin Gbados who contracted her to costume the movie “Father Chris”.
Narrating her story, Nkiru said, “A lot of things happen in this creative industry called Nollywood, which is saddening. The so-called big players in the industry usually treat the people who help them to create the movies as thrash. Without mincing words, I have been treated badly by Mr Martins Gbados, a producer in Nollywood that I worked with sometime ago and I have been civil enough thus far over the money he owes me but at this point, I just have to voice out because he is threatening to kill me rather than pay the debt he owes me after I delivered my side of the contractual agreement. Here is my story.
Mr Martins Gbados the embattled debtor
“As I said earlier, my name is Nkiru Nwauzor, I have played in Nollywood as a Costume Designer for more than 20 years now. I was recently contracted by Mr Martins Gbados @GBADOS, the producer of A Soldier’s Story and The Pyramid Game Show @pyramidshowng currently running on DSTV @DstvNg. He had requested that I create the costumes that were used in his forthcoming movie – Father Chris, which is currently in post-production. Revo Plus @Revoplus_ are the sponsors of the movie.
“As we do many times in the industry, we deal based on trust, so we just agreed verbally without a written contract, believing that each one would fulfil his own part of the deal. As is usually the case when movies are under production, many others worked on the different aspects of the project but unfortunately, none of the crew members had any written contract with the producer. As somebody that is known in the industry, we had no inkling that he was setting us all up for fraud.
“In my own case, Martins Gbados, and I negotiated and agreed on a fee of N3,000,000.00million that will consist of creating the costumes as well as my professional fee. Of the agreed amount Mr Gbados paid N1million as deposit with a promise to pay more as the production progresses. I eventually sourced for funds to add to the initial payment when he claimed he hadn’t been paid at the time I needed more funds to buy some costumes.
“Now we have finished filming, the sponsor through their representative on the team, Ms Phoenix said that all the funds for the production have been disbursed to the producer. These monies I understand are a lot of millions, yet Mr Gbados @GBADOS has refused to pay the N2,000,000.00million balance that we agreed on. He has resorted to harassment, intimidation, and threatening my life just to avoid payment of the balance.
“As a matter of fact, in one of the days I went to his office to recover the debt he boasted that he would arrange for his boys to shoot me on the street of Lagos State as a common dog, which is why I have decided to appeal to the Inspector General of Police to please do not allow Martins Gbados to kill me because of the money he owes me. I have also reported to my kit and kin in Mbaise where I come from that they MUST hold Martins Gbados responsibly if anything happens to me. The fact is that he owes me N2,000,000.00, which he is not denying, but has bluntly refused to pay. He said if I like, I should report to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and nothing would happen.
“I am currently indebted to my assistants and the places where I got money from to fund his production. Nigeria is not a lawless country so, I am using this platform to reach out to the IGP, to intervene, and to appeal to Mr Martins Gbados @GBADOS to pay my balance. A labourer deserves his wages.”
@Kayodeegbetokun
@PoliceNG
@PoliceNG_Lagos
@fijnigeria
@fisayosoyombo
@davidhundeyin
@instablog9ja
@bod_republic
@Jude Nwauzor
@Arike Oladipo
@phinix
@Revo Plus
