Award winning Nollywood actor,
director and producer, Elvis Chuks, is seen by many as responsible for the
drama that has kicked off following the completion of the 2014 edition of the
Best Of Nollywood awards, during which Gov. Rotimi Amaechi was said to have
insulted Nollywood and its practitioners.
Chuks, the CEO of Diamond Groove
Pictures spoke exclusively to NET, giving a full account of events which took
place in Port Harcourt during the 7th edition of the BON Awards, held at the
Government House in Port Harcourt on Thursday, October 16, 2014, and the
resultant controversy.
According to him, ‘They bought
economy tickets for all the celebrities expecting us to sit with people who are
our fans in economy class, how else can you belittle actors. Desmond Elliot,
Sola Sobowale and others all flew economy class, only I and Iyabo Ojo bought
our first class tickets. We got to Port Harcourt, and they brought a luxury bus
to carry celebrities, I left them and hired a private car that took me to the
hotel. When we got to the hotel they wanted us to stay in, the hotel was
nothing to write home about. I moved out of that hotel and checked into a
better hotel. It got to the time they wanted to leave for the venue and they
started calling me, so I came from the hotel where I was and joined them at the
same hotel where they lodged actors and they brought yet again a luxury bus to
carry us.’
When asked if he was the only
celebrity who complained while all this was going on, he said, ‘other people
were complaining, but you know how people are, they don’t want to say it the
way it is.’
Chuks, who has produced a number of
movies in the industry himself, added: ‘When we got to the Government House,
they asked us to alight at the gate and walk to the venue, everybody there
walked to the venue, when we got to the hall, not a drop of water was on the
table for everyone including Mama G, Liz Benson, Kenneth Okonkwo, Bob Manuel
and others.
The stage was another problem, it
was so bad that people fell from it several times, it was designed with
plywood, Desmond Elliot almost fell on the stage.
As if that was not enough, the
governor then stood up and his first statement was: ‘Nollywood is a product of
Necessity.’ Dickson Iroegbu, who works with the presidency sat beside me and he
shouted ‘Jesus.’ We were all shocked and then he started explaining the
statement and still said when Joke Silva and Kate Henshaw come to see him in
Port Harcourt, they go with cartons of money. Those statements are uncalled
for. And I stood up and walked out; because that is the height of insult
anybody would want to take.
Both Seun Oloketuyi and his Amaechi
are not good people, and all these wishy-washy award ceremonies have to stop;
the likes of BON Awards and ZAFAA awards that dupe people should be stopped.
They are
bunch of liars, Oloketuyi and Amaechi are losers. I told Oloketuyi himself that
100 of his governor friends cannot feed me, I’ve done well for myself, I
attended the award because of my nomination, I cannot be treated like a nobody,
how can they carry celebrities with luxurious buses. I’m sure you heard what
happened last year to people that went to the BON dinner in the same Port
Harcourt, most of them were stranded at the airport.
Culled - TheNet.ng
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