Nollywood actress cum producer,
Stephanie Okereke-Linus was recently accused of copyright
infringement by Miss Daniella Madudu over the script of her advocacy
movie, “Dry.”
Stephanie believes that most stories
online were 'unbalanced and defaming with no truth whatsoever in the
allegations.' She, has now responded to the allegations, and here is
her story:
“Character assassination is at once
easier and surer than physical assault; and it involves far less risk
for the assassin. It leaves him free to commit the same deed over and
over again, and may indeed win him the honors of a hero in the
country of his victims.” – Alan Barth (1906 – 1979)
On the 19TH of May, 2017, I received a
letter from one Rafiu Bello acting on behalf of one Daniella Madudu
accusing me of appropriation of an “original literary work” that
was allegedly stolen from her by Ms. Joy Ndidi (an allegation that
has been roundly refuted), copyright infringement and all manner of
impropriety as relates my movie ‘DRY’ and demanding that I credit
this Daniella Madudu with ownership of my work, pay the sum of
N60,000,000 (SIXTY MILLION NAIRA) and royalties; or face a “campaign
of calumny”(which by the way is already afoot) both home and
abroad.
Naturally, my initial reaction was to
ignore it as something so ludicrous as to be able to find firm
footing in the mind of any normal or rightly thinking individual and
only routinely passed it onto my lawyers at a later date and thought
nothing more of it. They (my lawyers), as a matter of course
responded to it.
That these persons have since gone
ahead with their premeditated plan to defame me upon allegations they
know to be baseless, spurious and glaringly untrue is no longer news
as the media is presently awash with the ‘fruit of their labour’
and ordinarily I would not have dignified it with a response but for
the sake of posterity and lest my silence be termed an admission of
any wrongdoing whatsoever, I will simply proceed to state the facts
here, viz:
• That since my undergraduate days at
the University of Calabar, I have been very passionate and deeply
concerned about Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF), the plight of the
girl-child and sexual violence against the female gender.
• That in 2006 whilst still on
crutches as a result of my ghastly automobile accident from the year
before, I volunteered with the Mercy Ships Aberdeen West Africa
Fistula Centre (as it then was) in Sierra Leone all out of my own
personal savings as this was and will always be a cause very dear to
my heart.
• That in 2007/08 I visited the
Mariam Abacha Women and Children’s Hospital, Sokoto where I
personally made donations to the victims of VVF.
• That in 2008 I was invited by The
United Nations and the Government of Liberia to participate in the
anti-rape campaign, Stop Rape and the Liberia Fistula Project.
• That through my non-governmental
organisation, The Extended Hands Foundation and our numerous
partners, over 150 women and young ladies across the country have
successfully undergone reconstructive surgery and have gone on to
live wholesome fulfilling lives free of the stigmatization and the
sheer pain and discomfort that comes with VVF.
• That I registered the script for my
movie ‘DRY’ with The United States Copyright Office on November
28TH, 2011.
• That I registered the script for my
movie ‘DRY’ with The Nigerian Copyright Commission on July 27TH,
2012.
• That my movie ‘DRY’ was shot in
the months of August and September, 2012 in Nigeria.
• That the unofficial trailer for
‘DRY’ was released to lend my voice in support of the ‘Child
Not Bride’ campaign.
• That I never met you (Daniella
Madudu ) before in my life
• That Ms. Joy Ndidi’s first ever
contact with me was in 2013 (DRY was already a finished project at
this time) and it was not until June 2013 that she was officially
engaged to provide content and ad-placement for my personal blog,
‘The Stephanie Daily’ for all of six (6) months and this she did
from the comfort of her home. She Joy claims to have meet you
(Daniella Madudu ) 2014 and like I said before DRY was already a
finished project.
• That the so called “original
literary work” of the Daniella Madudu, I was supposed to have
appropriated in my movie has never been registered at The Nigerian
Copyright Commission even as we speak.
These are easily verifiable facts that
any half-hearted attempt at investigative and responsible journalism
would have turned up if indeed uncovering the truth for the benefit
of the public was the primary motive behind the malicious
publication.
It is truly a sorry pass we have come
to as society when all it takes to ruin a person’s reputation
overnight is the spewing forth of mere accusations just because he or
she happens to be in the public eye.
I choose to speak out and address this
vice that has suddenly become the norm in our society and the
acceptable standard of modern day “journalism”. We used to be
better than this as a people; my prayer is that we still are.
DRY is more than just a movie; it is a
righteous cause for voiceless women and young girls who have suffered
the most debilitating kind of emotional and physical abuse, and
anyone who seeks to denigrate this painful sacrifice with a smear
campaign, with the intent to make gain or attract cheap publicity,
simply lacks wisdom.
I want to take this opportunity to
thank all those that have shown tremendous support and spoken up
these past few days to end these words the same way it began.
“An error does not become truth by
reason of multiplied propagation, nor does the truth become error
because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public
support. It is self-sustained.” Mahatma Gandhi
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