The dust is yet to settle on the alleged copyright
infringement by Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister
of Information and Culture, concerning the “Change
Begins With Me” campaign recently launched by
President Muhammadu Buhari.
The owner of the “Not in My Country,” project, Akin
Fadeyi, has written to Mr. Buhari, claiming the idea
behind the campaign originated from him and was
taken from his project.
Adebayo Adenipekun, senior lawyer at the Afe
Babalola Chambers, in a September 29 letter to the
President, written on behalf of Mr. Fadeyi, dared Mr.
Mohammed to make good his threat to sue Mr.
Fadeyi.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said the Afe Babalola
Chambers had enough evidence to defend its client’s
claim of being the originator of the initiative.
“Change Begins With Me” was launched on
September 8 by the Federal Government amid
fanfare as a campaign for attitudinal change among
Nigerians.
The campaign was immediately dogged by allegations
of copyright infringement, following reports that the
idea was stolen from Mr. Fadeyi, who had earlier
made a proposal to the Information Minister on a
similar project.
Associates of Mr. Fadeyi had launched a media war
against Mr. Mohammed, alleging that he stole the
idea from Mr. Fadeyi, who had fully developed the
campaign at the behest of the minister.
But the minister denied the allegations, asserting
that he had been nursing the idea of “Change Begins
With Me” long before he was appointed into office as
Minister of Information.
In Mr. Adenipekun’s letter, hemaintained that the
‘Not in My Country’ anti-corruption campaign
project was a product of Mr. Fadeyi’s lifelong vision
to do something towards ridding the society of
corrution.
“On this point alone, our client has the same goals
as the present administration in tackling corruption
effectively at the grassroots,” the letter read.
“Third, our client will not sacrifice this noblest of
goals on the altar of claiming his personal individual
rights, especially not in a way capable of being
bastardized or confused with propaganda, among
other distractions.
“That is not to say our client will not
defend his work and hard-earned intellectual
property rights in a court of competent jurisdiction
at the appropriate time.
“Indeed, our client awaits Alhaji Lai Mohammed to
make good his threats to sue him, in preparation
for which he has instructed our law firm
to commence the preparation of processes in answer
to any summons filed against him.
“Without a doubt, when our client responds to any
processes filed, his actions and motives will be clear
and unmistakable.”
Mr. Adenipekun stated that Mr. Fadeyi’s is a private
businessman genuinely concerned with advancing
the Nigerian society by innovative thinking and
development projects.
He said his client is not a politician with any vested
interests, adding that he would contribute to the
collective goal rather than be blinded by selfish
interests.
He noted that his client only decided to clear the air
on the controversies and misconceptions, following
the threat by the Minister of Information and
Culture to sue him over his ownership claims.
He also stated that the President would by the letter
come to appreciate Mr. Fadeyi’s status as a partner
in the pious goals of the present administration. He
stressed the need to thoroughly investigate the
issues surrounding the media report.
Mr. Adenipekun said his client is an enterprising
young man with over a decade experience in
initiating, coordinating, and executing national
(re)orientation and other development projects in
Nigeria.
“Specifically, our client conceived and
initiated the ‘Not in My Country’ anti-corruption
campaign project as far back as the year 2007 at
the University of Lagos,” he explained.
“In a Letter granting his request to use the
University premises for ‘ a three minutes clip demo
tape on Saturday, September 29, 2007’, the Principal
Assistant Registrar acknowledged that the ” …project
is on national re-orientation campaign aimed at
changing the attitudes of youths for the better
especially in the area of examination malpractices and
moral integrity’ (Please find attached Letter dated
September 26, 2007).
“From those days of little beginnings, our client kept
working hard at his vision for this project- an
effective anti-corruption media campaign which the
Nigerian public would easily connect with and
ultimately respond to.
“Thus, our client has records of having presented
some of his drama skits to officials of the
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC) in 2007. In 2008, our
client took the project to Messrs Joseph Adeyeye,
Casmir Igbokwe and Steve Ayorinde, the current
Honorable Commissioner for Information and
Strategy, Lagos, who was then Editor of the Punch.
“Since then, our client kept developing this
project into the media campaign to eradicate
corruption over time- using the 1-minute drama skit
model- which our client has perfected in his ‘Not in
My Country’ ’ project.”
Giving details of Mr. Fadeyi’s meeting with the
Information Minister, Mr. Adenipekun said it was
this fully developed 1-minute drama skit model that
Mr. Fadeyi’ presented in a proposal to
Mr. Mohammed on December 30, 2015.
“The point of the proposal, which was the sole
purpose of that meeting, was to enlist the
cooperation of the Hon. Minister to facilitate the
broadcast of our client’s already prepared skits on
the nation’s largest free- to- air network (Nigerian
Television Authority),” Mr. Adenipekun narrated.
“Our client showed three 1-minute skits to the
Minister and his team. Indeed, the Hon. Minister
was so impressed with the project that
he commended our client for having effectively
harnessed the ‘ power of drama and time (one
minute)’ and agreed in principle to partner
with him on this project .
” However, the Hon. Minister indicated that he was
yet ruminating on a ‘Change Begins with Me’ idea of
his own, which he wanted our client to reflect in the
‘ Not in my Country’ project.
“Thus, it was agreed at that meeting that our
client should go back to location and re-shoot the
drama skits to reflect the Hon. Minister’s ‘ Change
Begins with Me’ as the pay-off line in the ‘ Not in My
Country’ videos.”
According to the lawyer, Mr. Fadeyi’ set out to work
immediately with his crew at his own cost and
upon completion of the video re-shoot, sent the
minister text messages intimating him that the job
was done.
“Our client later met with the Hon. Minister at the
Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the
minister was meeting with some musical artists. The
minister gave our client his email contact and asked
that the reworked videos be sent to him via email,”
he stated
“Accordingly, our client sent the files to the
Minister’s email (acnprs@yahoo.com ) with a Cover
Letter dated 3rdFebruary, 2016. Receipt of the letter
was duly acknowledged.
Mr. Adenipekun accused Mr. Mohammed of holding
on the drama materials sent to him after receiving
them.
“All attempts to reach and meet with him again were
evidently rebuffed by the Hon. Minister,” he said.
“Undaunted, our client reverted to the original skits
first presented to the Hon. Minister and produced
many more skits of the Not in My Country drama.
This was launched publicly to wide media coverage
on the 3rd of May, 2016 in a well-attended event
at Leadway/Protea Hotel, Maryland, Ikeja.
“The countless media coverage of news stories,
opinions and columns are available in print and
electronic media for all to see.
“Thereafter, our client embarked on an aggressive
nationwide stakeholder engagement. Despite the
Minister’s silence after receiving the work, our
client sent him a reminder letter, newspaper
cuttings of his launch and a comprehensive copy
of his Not in My Country project on the 9th of June
2016. Till date, the Hon. Minister has not replied any
of these correspondences.”
He noted that when on September 8, the Federal
Government launched a drama skit
model of the Change Begins with Me campaign,
certain persons who were privy to Mr. Fadeyi’s
project and others who witnessed his protracted
exchanges with the minister made statements and
accusations.
“Rather, contrary to all the Hon. Minister has said
about him, our client has neither released
nor commissioned anyone to release any comment
on this matter before now,” Mr. Adenipekun said.
The lawyer admitted that on the flip side of Mr.
Fadeyi’s private rights in the media reports, was a
very crucial project of the Federal Government of
Nigeria by which the government seeks
to encourage individual change in the citizenry in
the hopes of a holistic national change.
He said such a project is not one that ought to kick-
off dogged with debate and controversy,
underscoring that an important orientation project
was being overwhelmed by negative reports
and backlash.
“We consequently urge Your Excellency to initiate
a thorough investigation of the respective positions
of the parties in the ultimate interest of the all-
important war on corruption,” he stated.
“We also wish to reiterate to Your Excellency that in
the event that Alhaji Lai Mohammed makes good his
threat to go to court, which our client urges him to
do, our client reserves his right to come all out to
put up his defence, and that whatever steps our
client takes in defending his right should not be
interpreted as fighting the government.
“Our client has no intention of taking up any
dispute with the government in appreciation of
its laudable anti-corruption campaign. Whenever our
client is called upon to defend himself and his work
before a court of justice, he will do so to the full
extent allowed by law as the matter is
strictly between Akin Fadeyi
and Alhaji Lai Mohammed.”
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