Tony Okoroji, the Chairman of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON)
has begun an indefinite one-man demonstration in front of the Federal
High Court, Lagos.
Okoroji said that his action has become
necessary to draw the attention of the world to a new and dangerous
attempt to destroy the Nigerian judicial system by the blackmail of a
Nigerian judge to force him not to deliver a judgment written by him.
He
says he's asking all lawyers and judges in the Nigerian legal system to
insist that the case file in Suit No FHC/L/CS/1259/2017 which he said
was taken away in bizarre circumstances from Justice Ibrahim Buba of the
Federal High Court, Lagos, just as he was about to deliver judgment in
the suit, be returned to the judge so that he can deliver his judgment
and any of the parties dissatisfied with the judgment can proceed to the
Court of Appeal.
According to Chief Okoroji, the key
question Justice Buba was scheduled to answer in his judgment is this:
Under Nigerian law, is the syndicate known as Musical Copyright Society
Nigeria (MCSN) truly an approved collecting society and authorized to
collect money on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians? Okoroji was
insistent that some people desperately do not want that question
answered hence the muscling of Justice Ibrahim Buba and the failed
machinations to remove Okoroji himself as Chairman of COSON.