IB Special report: Omoni Oboli, Okafor's Law and What really happened in court

Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli has been in the eye of the storm lately. First she had a court injunction prevent her from her screening her new movie 'Okafor's Law' in Lagos last month.

The a few days after, the injunction was lifted and the movie made its way to the cinemas and has so far recorded remarkable success.

Wednesday, the case that's now a full legal battle between Omoni Oboli and Raconteur Productions as regards the copyright violation and theft of the “Okafor’s Law” was heard  at the Federal High court before Honorable Justice Buba.

The Claimant in the case 'Raconteur Productions LTD' had subpoenaed the NFVCB (National Film and Video Censors Board) to tender documents and testify in court.

In court, the NFVCB was represented by one of its Censorship Officers, Mrs Obasi who produced documents submitted to the NFVCB by the 3rd Defendant, FilmOne Ltd for purposes of obtaining the license to market and distribute Omoni Oboli's movie, Okafor's Law.

Upon cross-examination by Kelechi Onwu a lawyer representing Oboli, Mrs Obasi admitted that Omoni Oboli's proof of Registration with the NFVCB was validly obtained in 2014 and also confirmed that the registration receipt tendered was gotten from the NFVCB.  

Before her testimony, Omoni Oboli's NFVCB receipt was tendered and admitted as exhibit in Court which shows that she registered and obtained the license to censor and produce the movie, Okafor's Law as far back as 2014.

The receipt tendered by Mrs Obasi was the license to market and distribute the movie which was filed by the distribution company FilmOne in March 2017.

According to pundits and movie practitioners, FilmOne Ltd would not have been able to obtain a license to market and distribute a Nollywood movie which wasn't already registered with the NFVCB. 

For now, the injunction is lifted, the movie continues showing at the cinemas and the case has now been adjourned to Tuesday, June 13, 2017,