The war between Clarion Chukwura and Ibinabo Fiberesima, seems not to be ending anytime soon.
The two have been throwing jabs at each other for some time now. Recently, Clarion berated Ibinabo who is the president of the Actor’s Guild of Nigeria (AGN), for paying a courtesy visit to the President, Goodluck Jonathan, at Aso Rock.
Clarion described the visit as uncalled for, adding that it was not in the best interest of the industry.
According to her, AGN is not the guild that represents the English movie actors, the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTAP) and Kannywood. This statement has continued to attract comments from other movie makers. Fiberesima replied Chukwura after a long silence in an open letter.
Read her latest article below:
I am not on the same level with Ibinabo Fibresima professionally, educationally
or in any other form. I find that she is deliberately misleading the public and wanting to push the issues at stake under the table with her so-called open letter. I will not allow her to do that. Item ‘U’ of the electoral guideline of AGN disqualified her. No convicted person can stand for election in any post.
She was convicted for manslaughter and she was given a jail sentence which she served. There is a court injunction stopping Ibinabo from parading herself as the AGN president. This is the copy of the judgment. I have it.
Manslaughter has no option of fine. Her sentence was reduced from seven years to five years and we all know she went to jail. The judgment reads in part, ‘there is proof that she drove recklessly and caused the death of Dr. Sura Giwa contrary to the roadtraffic laws of Lagos State.’ She was drunk. How could this person be the face of AGN?”
The court injunction of 2011 and 2013 was forwarded to the presidency. The criminal conviction of manslaughter was sent to the presidency. The president is supposed to be a symbol of the supremacy of the rule of law. He disregarded the law in recognising Ibinabo as president of AGN. The president is now saying there is no law in this country. So the AGN has become an ethnic grouping. This is a professional body of actors. It is not a Niger Delta solidarity platform.
Some actors have even explained to me why they followed her. They said they were taken there on a fraudulent arrangement for her to use and get what she wanted. Would she really have approached me for a thing like that?”I have the data of every government house she has been to.
No single chapter has seen a dime for running the guild. She went to Ondo State and she was given N500, 000. What chapter did she inaugurate in Ondo State? The guild wasn’t set up to go begging from one state government to another.”
In 1989 when she was running Pyramid Club in Lagos, she was 22. How can she say 25 years later that she is just turning 40? I have known her a long time. I know what I am saying when I say she is not a professional actor.