We made mistake endorsing presidential candidate in 2019 – Nollywood actors

The President of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Rollas, has revealed how the association made mistake during the 2019 presidential election by endorsing and rallying behind a candidate.

Rollas, a veteran filmmaker, director and actor who is  famous for featuring in blockbuster movies like Beyond Reason (2004) and Last Warning 2 (2002), said this during a live chat with the Daily Trust on Sunday.

He shared his thoughts about the dynamics of the nation’s 2023 presidential election and how it could affect the country’s film industry, Nollywood.

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He said Actors Guild of Nigeria, which is an umbrella union that regulates and represents the affairs of film actors in Nigeria, had learnt some lessons from the last presidential election and would try not to repeat same as 2023 elections approach.

He added that the association, which has members across the 36 states of the federation, would only support a candidate who has plans for establishing the Ministry of Nollywood.

Rollas said, “First of all, as an individual, you retain your right to support whatever politician you want to support. But it becomes a joke taken too far when you see more than one actor or group of actors coming together to say we are standing for somebody. That means you’re infringing on the Actors Guild of Nigeria, which is an association of actors.

“So literally, we have told members anywhere you see more than one actor, you’re no longer allowed to operate within any other name. When it comes to politics, we must know as actors that we are influencers and people follow us a whole lot. We are role models, so we must try as much as possible to find out what are the ideologies of persons or parties that we are trying to endorse.

“And then as Actors Guild of Nigeria, we don’t want to go back to the same mistake we made in 2019 where we put all our eggs in one basket. You see group of actors, almost all under the umbrella of our guild supporting a particular candidate and then it so happened that when that candidate didn’t make it to the presidency, it now looked like the Actors Guild of Nigeria was partisan or was a member of that party.

“So now we’ve told our members to be sure… I’ve also said it clearly in other fora that the only presidential aspirant whether in the APC or PDP or any other party that’s not willing or is not able to provide for us Ministry of Nollywood in the coming dispensation would of course not be part of those we will be standing for.”