Nollywood actress and filmmaker Iyabo Ojo has accused a Ghanaian television station, North East TV, of allegedly airing her newly released movie, The Memory of You, without her authorization.
The actress said she was shocked to discover that the film was already being shown on the station less than 24 hours after its release.
Expressing her disappointment in a video shared on Instagram, she said:
“As you all know, I dropped the concluding part of my movie, The Memory of You, yesterday. So, I woke up this morning and, to my greatest surprise, I found out that a Ghanaian TV station called North East TV is showing my movie.
“This is so shocking. After going through the hard labour of producing a movie, from nowhere, you start showing my movie, which was just released, without my permission.
Why, North East TV Ghana, why are you pirating my movie?”
Iyabo said the alleged act was heartbreaking, noting that filmmakers spend millions of naira producing movies, covering the costs of actors, filming locations, costumes, feeding, accommodation, and other production expenses, only for their work to allegedly be broadcast without approval.
“I spent millions of naira on those movies, paying actors, locations, costumes, feeding, accommodation, and other production costs, and you want to water down my struggles?” she said.
The actress also revealed that she had previously heard complaints from other producers about similar incidents involving Ghanaian television stations but initially believed they were isolated cases.
“I heard you people, along with other TV stations, are doing it. I thought it was just a minor thing when other producers were complaining.
And later, when producers start talking and complaining, they gaslight us by saying we are chasing clout,” she stated.
Calling for intervention, Iyabo appealed to Ghanaian authorities, including the National Film Authority, the Minister of Arts and Culture, and President John Dramani Mahama, to investigate the matter and stop what she described as the unauthorized broadcast of Nigerian films.
“Please, you people should look into this because it’s very unfair that Nigerians will be busy working hard to produce movies, and some people will sit in their corner in Ghana and be transmitting them on their local TV,” she said.
She concluded by warning that The Memory of You Parts 1 and 2, as well as any of her other movies, should not be aired by any television station without her permission.
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