PMAN crumbles again

The roof is on fire again at the musician’s head quarters and the the members seem to need no water. Let it burn! A group of renegade members of the association assembled in Osun State during the week, and declared that the president, Admiral Dele Abiodun has been impeached.

The proclamation came as a huge shock to many because there seemed to have been a rare calm in the association for some time now. Little was known that there had been internal squabbles that had left many members disgruntled. The impeachment proclamation has however removed the plaster from the nasty sore.

After Admiral Abiodun was made the president of the troubled Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, there seemed to be calm among its members.

First, many of them had been fighting tooth and nail to make sure that Tee Mac who was not elected but appointed was booted out of the association’s presidential seat.

After the court decided in favour of Abiodun and his group, Fluitist Tee Mac was literally booted out of the Ikeja Head quarters, guerrilla style. This has been a common episode that had continued to play out through out the life span of the association. There had always been a tussle for the top echelon.

Abiodun’s emergence however was like water pouring on a heated plate. At that point, everyone seemed to be tired of the long fighting, and wanted peace. Many organisations that are affiliates of PMAN, including the popular FUMAN (Fuji Musician’s Association) and GOMAN (Gospel Musician’s Association) amongst others all came together to usher in Abiodun. Ever since, there has been a lot of commendation coming the way of the leadership of the association. So where is this impeachment talk coming from?

The renegades

All the alliances were scattered and PMAN as a whole went back to being a factionised entity on Tuesday when a group consisting of some members called an emergency National Executive Council meeting of PMAN. The meeting took place at No. 18, Adegbola Street, Ikeja. The National Secretariat of the Union. At the end of the meeting Admiral Dele Abiodun was declared impeached as President of the Union for non-performance, fraudulent practices, unaccountability, lack of transparency and anti-union activities.

In a similar way, the suspended Secretary – General of the Union, Mr. Idowu Blessing Akinnehin was also dismissed from office. In his place, Barrister Ademola Odetunde was confirmed as the new Secretary-General to move the Union forward.

The NEC meeting was attended by some delegates from Zamfara, Enugu, Lagos, Ekiti, Kaduna, Rivers, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Cross Rivers, Niger, Delta, Imo, Taraba, Abia, Anambra, Plateau and Adamawa states.

Also in attendance were Ex-officio members and the second Secretary –General of the Union, Mr. Okoimose O. Okoimose who was present at the meeting to his give blessing to the appointment of the new Secretary – General of the Union.

The delegates present are however just a faction of the union, and might not have the power to impeach their president. The rebels have answer to this, they say that a proper National Delegates Conference has been slated to take place on the 15th February, 2011, the factional NEC also resolved that; the National Working Committee should set up a constitution review committee to update the PMAN constitution within seven days. The new secretary was also mandated to set up an account department to be headed by a qualified accountant with a month of his appointment as well.

The factional NEC also empowered the secretariat to create an Anti-Piracy Task Force to check the menace of pirates in the country and to also to commence the issuance of music usage stamp to all commercial music users and dealers across the nation. Part of the resolution is also that an audited account of the Union is updated with the Registrar of Trade Union immediately.

Earlier, there was a meeting in Oshogb where many new generation musicians attended. It was believed that they wanted to take over the association. Tony Okoroji, the chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) was said to be the one instigating the movement.

Dele Abiodun – I am still in charge

Dele Abiodun on his own part still sees himself as the president of the association. He was all laughters when he was contacted on phone. He says he sees the action of the faction as laughable and asks the general public not to take them serious.

“They are not serious, my brother just let them say whatever they want to say. I can tell you that I am still the president of the association. They went to Oshogbo to do a shabby meeting, I can tell you that they are just decieving themselves. When we are ready we will make an official statement. But for now, we are speaking with our lawyers so that we can know the proper way to deal with the issue. We would soon have a press briefing where will we show the world that we are still in control.”

During his stay, Dele Abiodun prides himself to have made land available to musicians

Tony Okoroji – I warned them

Chief Tony Okoroji of COSON had been said to be one of the key players planning to destabilise PMAN. He however denied this in a telephone chat and also a release. He said that he was aware that what is happening at the moment was about to happen and he had tried to prevent it.

‘Recently, there have been stories in several newspapers that I inspired a new generation of artistes who went to Oshogbo in a move to take over the leadership of PMAN. They miss the point. I will rather say that I have been inspired by the new generation of Nigerian artistes who have sought to inject new blood into PMAN. Their intellect, vision, commitment and values give me hope that there is a future not just for the Nigerian entertainment industry but for our country. I am proud of the likes of el Dee, Banky W, Sunny Neji, MI, Mr. Kool, KSB, Sound Sultan, D’ Banj, Wande Coal, Don Jazzy, 2 Shotz, Efe Omorogbe, Ed Jatto, Baba Dee, Don T, D’Prince, Dr. Sid, K-Switch, Ice Prince, Jesse Jagz and the others who made the decision to undertake the long trek to Oshogbo at personal cost. They gave me a chance to break bread with them and share water and to speak honestly with them about the Nigerian entertainment industry and our country. I am very proud of the camaraderie we established and the opportunity it offers our industry and our nation.’

On the recent rancor on PMAN he described it as unfortunate and avoidable.

Charly Boy

The past president of the association, Charles Oputa had never been a fan of Admiral Dele Abiodun despite the fact the the Admiral was his sidekick during his reign. He also blames Tony Okoroji for trying to break up PMAN. He said that it is not easy for Okoroji to merely bring in some people and try to take over the association.

As the drama unfold, a website popped up and on it was a list of ex members of the association being described as that National working committee of PMAN. Tee mac is prominently the oncho man on the list. The website is: pmanonline.net/national_working_commitee.html