COSON

House divided against itself: Aggrieved COSON members go to NCC again

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….Gives society  30-day ultimatum to submit aduit report

Days after the Chief Tony Okoroji led Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) openly called for the immediate resignation of the Director General of Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr. John Asien for reasons ranging from lack of transparency in the way he run the affairs of the commission, some members of the society and other copyright stakeholders,   led by Mr. Efe Omorogbe   have equally called on NCC   to conduct an independent forensic audit of the accounts and operations of COSON under the chairmanship of Okoroji.

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In a petition jointly signed by Omorogbe and  Ibukun “Aibee” Abidoye, a copy of which was sent to newdawn, they also issued COSON a 30-day ultimatum to submit its audited account.

They described as shameless  COSON’s refusal to submit to the independent audit saying that it amounts to dodging the ‘accountability’ the leadership owes members on whose behalf billions of naira have been collected from users.

 

Not only that, they also claimed that “COSON’s position questioning the powers of the NCC ‘under section 39 (7) of the Copyright Act to suspend, revoke or in any restrict the approval given to a collecting society or embark on an audit’ is untenable in consideration of the fact that gazetted regulation is law and binding and there has been no position by any court of law declaring this regulation to be in conflict with the constitution, a statute or an existing law. As such, the regulator’s position is therefore binding and COSON’s refusal to submit itself to the audit is unlawful defiance of constituted authority and flagrant abuse of public trust.”

They urged the NCC to perform its regulatory duty of protecting the interest of right holders by fully investigating all allegations  leveled against Okoroji and others by conducting the independent audit without further delay; without fear or favour and issued COSON  a 30-day ultimatum to comply with the directive of the NCC by making its bank statements and books accessible to officers of the commission.

And to demonstrate how serious they are in the fight, they announced they asked COSON to withdraw its right to represent them outside Nigeria as CMO with immediate effect just as they promised not to hesitate to deploy more severe action against COSON should the CMO continue to jeopardize their collective business interest.

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