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Olamide Babatunde
Nigerian author, Chuma Nwokolo, who, in November, 2019, had dragged filmmaker Bright Obasi for using part of his 2010 short story “Ten Commandments of Nigeria Politics”, has received compensation over unauthorised use of his work.
The author, who took to his Instagram page to disclose his displeasure over the act, made it known that the semblance between his work and scenes from Obasi’s 2018 film, If I am President, could not be ignored since he hadn’t been given due credit as the author of the work.
In a recent post on his website, he said a formal apology had been tendered and all three translations of the film amended to give due credits with a seven figure compensation. The court proceedings in the case described as Nwokolo v. High Definition Studio had ruled “five paragraphs that could have been available for free, by prior request, license and credits were for want of due process licensed after needless strife, for a seven figure compensation.”
Though the author had filed a lawsuit against this act of plagiarism to forestall future occurrence, he said he was encouraged to settle the matter on seeing that If I Am President is work done by a “fellow soldier in battle for national good governance”.
Meanwhile, he hinted of another legal action against another culprit he claimed to have discovered in a local bookstore in Africa where he found some of his books printed and shipped in from UK.
Another online website has also been spotted by him having displayed four of his novels, Diaries of a Deaf African, The Ghost of Sani Abacha, How to Spell Naija vol. 1 and One More Tale For the Road as published by Fourth Dimension Pub.co.
Nwokolo said he had no arrangements with those behind these business for any compensation neither had he granted permission for it and, as such, would again take a legal action against the culprits.
