Expectant Nigerians looking forward to the return of popular TV series, ‘Village Headmaster’ courtesy of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Wale Adenuga Productions (WAP) in April might have to wait longer.
A copyright infringement case instituted by the Estate of the late Ambassador Segun Olusola against the two organisations will cause the delay.
The late diplomat’s Estate secured an interim injunction order on March 1, 2021, from the Federal High Court Lagos, presided over by Justice A.M. Liman, restraining the NTA and WAP from producing or airing the series.
A notice from counsels to the plaintiffs, Messers B. Sodipo, F. Fajolu and Segun Suliaman, indicated that further hearing in the matter would hold on Thursday, March 11, 2010
Explaining the Olusola Estate’s decision to block the broadcast of the series after the news broke, the son of the culture patriarch, Jimi Olusola, disclosed in a video that it was an unfortunate action taken after failed outreaches.
He said that the NTA took a unilateral decision in 2013 when his father passed to revive the series, but the family wrote the national broadcasters to desist.
Years after that warning, the NTA again unilaterally awarded the production to WAP. The current court case, the junior Olusola said, is to make the organisation do the right thing.
He said, “unfortunately, it’s an action that we had to initiate after some outreach. Very reluctantly, we had to do that because this had been going on for a while. Shortly after the Ambassador passed, NTA wanted to start this production. They wanted to do it unilaterally without recourse to Village Headmaster Family or Estate. We wrote them a letter saying that it’s not possible. You can’t do that behind our backs. They eventually aired the program but called it a funny name. That was in 2013.”
He added that the Village Headmaster Family, comprising old and new cast/crew members with the late Chief Tunde Oloyede in the vanguard, continued trying to raise funds for the production but failed.
According to Jimi, the most annoying part for the Estate, which owns Ambassador Olusola’s creative works, was the commissioning of WAP to produce the series without informing it and family.
“There was no opportunity to reach an understanding or agreement. The NTA just singled out Wale Adenuga and commissioned him to produce Village Headmaster. That wasn’t the way to proceed. Where’s that done? There was no explanation forthcoming,” he said.
Jimi, who further explained that the Olusola Estate owns the copyright to Village Headmaster published some 20 years ago by Ariya Productions, asserted that it is stated in the book.
The Estate’s spokesperson, who said he has no financial expectations, also didn’t foreclose the dispute’s amicable resolution. “Do it in a civilised manner. That’s all. We are in a country of laws. When they do that, we can proceed to other things.”
Reminded that Ambassador Olusola created Village Headmaster as a staff of the old National Broadcasting Commission, and it might have been part of his employment terms, Jimi said the NTA could test that argument in court.
On the potentially far-reaching implications the Estate’s suit might have on other NTA productions like ‘New Masquerade’ and ‘Cockcrow at Dawn’, Jimi expressed surprise that “no one has tried to take possession of their creation.”
The revised ‘Village Headmaster’ series by WAP in conjunction with the NTA contains a mix of the original and new cast.
Veteran, Dejumo Lewis, has retained his original Oloja role, as did Ibidun Allison as Amebo and Melville Obriango as Oghene.
Jide Kosoko plays Chief Eleyinmi while Chris Iheuma is the famous Oja village headmaster.
Racheal Oniga is Iyalode, Mr Latin as Councillor Kogberegbe, Ronke Oshodi as Iya Oloja, Rykardo Agbor as Iginla and Yemi Sodimu as Dr Lekan.
Kate Adepegba plays the new role of Folake, a sewing mistress replacing Sisi Clara.
‘Village Headmaster’ started as a radio programme in Ibadan, Western Nigeria, in 1958 with the late Chief Segun Olusola as creator and producer.
It debuted on TV in 1968 under Sanya Dosunmu, now the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Ogun State. Dosunmu and other producers and scriptwriters, including Dejumo Lewis, late Uncle Ted Mukoro, Demola James, Fela Davies, Nelson Olawaye and Alex Akinyele, turned it into a toast of Nigerians.
