Attendee at the BON award tells what Rotimi Amaechi actually said + photos from the event

Best Of Nollywood (BON)’s Head of Jury, Niran Adedokun, has reacted to the viral reports that Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, ‘insulted’ Nollywood practitioners and described them as ‘products of circumstances because they had failed in other fields.’

According to Adedokun, Amaechi was only trying to explain the current situation of the country viz massive job unemployment. He said:
“Amaechi never said that. What he said was that a lot of people are into acting because of the situation of things in the country. He said many of them probably studied other courses and didn’t get jobs in those fields. He wasn’t talking about the movie industry alone; he actually mentioned the case of people who read Engineering but work in banks…that was exactly what he was talking about; that because there are no jobs in the country, a lot of people are working in fields they didn’t study for.

Speaking on the quality of the event, Adedokun said, “My assessment of the award ceremony was that everybody was pleased with the event. It went well, and I was glad,” he said.

On reports of low-turnout of actors, he said, “There wasn’t any low turn-out. As a matter of fact, we had a lot of actors in attendance. I really can’t speak much on that because I wasn’t in charge of that aspect, but to be frank with you, I was shocked because 90% of the awards we presented were collected by the recipients themselves, either individually, or by a member of the production team. To say that there were few actors there is totally wrong,” he stated.

BON has also issued a press release:

"At no point did Governor Amaechi insult Nollywood practitioners. Instead, he commended them for growing the industry into a multi billion naira industry without any form of institutional or government support.

Nollywood, he says, now employs hundreds of thousands of Nigerian youths who, despite their qualifications, may have remained jobless because of the unemployment challenge in Nigeria which has led to a situation whereby graduates of medicine, law and other such disciplines end up in Nollywood.

At that point, popular entertainer, Okey Bakassi, interrupted the governor, saying he is an agricultural engineering graduate of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, which threw the whole hall into laughter.

The Governor then recalled that at the 40th birthday party of Kate Henshaw a while back, Basorge Tariah Jnr reminded her how they used to slap the streets in search of jobs and that it was Nollywood that rescued them.

Governor Amaechi also cited the example of the banking industry which has become a dumping ground of sort for graduates of different disciplines that are not even remotely related to the banking profession.

More so, at no point did the Governor say he gives Kate Henshaw money. He did, however, say that the state has contracted Mrs Joke Jacobs to turn Chinua Achebe’s political satire, A Man of the People, into a movie because of its inherent, timeless social message.

We therefore want discerning Nigerians to discountenance this ill-intentioned report as it is not only the product of warped reasoning and deliberate misinterpretation, it is most uncharitable to Governor Amaechi and demeaning to the Nollywood stars and stakeholders that were at the event."

See photos from the event and full winners' list below:

Here are a few photos from the Best of Nollywood Awards which held last night in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. See more pics and full list of winners after the cut...

 

BON 2014 Winners...

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (ENGLISH)

WINNER: TOPE TELEDA IN A MILE FROM HOME

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING( YORUBA)

WINNER: YINKA QUADRI IN AREMO ITE

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (HAUSA)

WINNER:  SADIQ SANI IN HADARIN GABAZ

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE(IGBO)

OKEY BAKASSI IN ONYE OZ1

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE(ENGLISH)

WINNER: IVIE OKUJAYE IN BLACK SILHOUETTE 

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE(YORUBA )

SEYI ASEKUN IN FIFEHANMI

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING (IGBO)

WINNER: QUEEN NWOKOYE IN ADAMOBI 

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE (HAUSA)

WINNER: ASMAU ABUBAKAR HADARIN GABAZ

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (ENGLISH)

WINNER: FEMI JACOBS IN DREAM WALKER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (ENGLISH)

WINNER: RITA DOMINIC IN THE MEETING 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (YORUBA)

WINNER: DELE ODULE IN KORI KOTO

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (YORUBA)

WINNER: AYO ADESANYA IN SANBE

MOST PROMISING ACTOR

WINNER: ABDULATEEF ADEDIMEJI IN KUDI KLEPTO

MOST PROMISING ACTRESS

WINNER: IJEOMA AGU IN MISFIT

BEST CHILD ACTOR

WINNER: OLAMIDE DAVIDS IN BLACK SILHOUTTE 

BEST ACTRESS 

WINNER: KANYISOLA ENIOLA IN ORITOKE

AND PRISCILLIA OJO IN SILENCE

MOVIE OF THE YEAR

WINNER: SILENCE

COMEDY OF THE YEAR

WINNER: 30 DAYS IN ATLANTA

MOVIE WITH THE BEST SOCIAL MESSAGE

WINNER: OUR DIFFERENCE 

MOVIE WITH BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

WINNER: A MILE FROM HOME

BEST KISS IN A MOVIE

WINNER: MICHEL MAJID AND BEVERLY NAYA IN FORGETTING JUNE

BEST USE OF MAKE UP IN A MOVIE

WINNER: COBRA

MOVIE WITH THE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 

WINNER: APAYE

MOVIE WITH THE BEST SCREENPLAY

WINNER: RENDER TO CEASER

BEST SHORT FILM

WINNER: BRAVE

BEST DOCUMENTARY

WINNER: BAD BUDGETTING FOR DEVELOPMENT 

BEST TV SERIES 

WINNER: LEKKI WIVES

BEST EDIT IN A MOVIE

WINNER: A MILE FROM HOME

BEST USE OF FOOD IN A MOVIE

WINNER: BEING MRS ELLIOT

MOVIE WITH THE BEST SOUND

WINNER: RENDER TO CEASER

MOVIE WITH THE BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN 

WINNER: OSUNFUNKE

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

WINNER: DESMOND ELLIOT 

REVELATION OF THE YEAR (MALE)

DANIEL K. DANIEL

REVELATION OF THE YEAR (FEMALE)

LINDA EJIOFOR