The recent N5m donation made by the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki to ailing stakeholders in the movie industry is still generating some controversies. The money received by the National Chairman of the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Emeka Rollas, may soon become a subject of litigation and mudslinging, no thanks to the ‘dubious’ disbursement of the funds, which has left unsavory taste in some quarters.
Rising from an emergency meeting, the Save Stanley Okoronkwo Committee, a group set up to solicit for funds to treat ailing filmmaker, critic and reporter, Stanley Okoronkwo has washed its hands off the donation, following a recent newspaper publication which included Okoronkwo’s name as one of the five ailing Nollywood personalities who benefitted from the 5m naira fund. The group’s spokesman, Kennedy Jones Okey, said the group was shocked to have seen the name of Stanley Okoronkwo on the list of the 5 beneficiaries. According to him, “We are shocked that AGN authorities will boldly come out to publish the name of Stanley Okoronkwo as a beneficiary of the Senate President’s donation after the Chairman of AGN, Emeka Rollas made what we believed to be a personal donation of N30,000 (Thirty thousand naira only) Stanley sometime in December sent an sms to Emeka Rollas Ejezie who is his friend and ask him to help him out with 10k to buy his routine drugs.Our understanding is that in Jan Emeka asked for his account and proceeded to credit him with 30k. It is thus highly deceitful grossly unfair and extremely wicked to list Stanley as one of the five beneficiaries of Saraki’s 5m. We will seek every legal means to seek redress because this is very embarrassing. With that publication, people who are willing to help us meet Stanley Okoronkwo’s financial needs are backing out, claiming he has received money from the Senate President. As I speak with you, Stanley is still looking for money to buy drugs, yet the information out there is that he has received money from the Senate President. That is wicked to say the least”.
Stanley Okoronkwo took ill in 2016 after the doctors diagnosed him of ‘an unfolded aorta, enlarged heart and major av blockage, which usually resulted in frequent tiredness and occasional blackouts aside a major heart attack, which he graciously survived.
In order to save Stanley Okoronkwo, donations towards his treatment can be received through accounts with the following details: STANLEY OKORONKWO, ZENITH BANK..2174892102 or STANLEY OKORONKWO 3020383386 in FIRST BANK.
Okoronkwo’s contributions in the industry are indeed enormous. Aside being behind great productions like ‘Omugwu’, ‘Killing Machine’, ‘Innocent Blood’, ‘York Street’, ‘Have Mercy’ and ‘Weep No More’, he has written for several news publications and is the brain behind the Nollywood Personalities Awards, NOPA, which has been honouring personalities of note in Nollywood since 1997. He was the National PRO, Association of Movie Producers as well as the Secretary of the Screen Writers Guild of Nigeria. Stanley has also been honoured for contributing to the growth of AGN on four different occasions. He is equally a media consultant to Actors guild board of trustees.
Ripples in Nollywood over Saraki’s N5m donation
