“MEMBERS OF COSON HAVE PROVED TO NIGERIANS THAT THE RAMPAGING ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL BANDITS, MARAUDERS, AND SCAMMERS OPERATING IN OUR COUNTRY CAN BE FOUGHT HEADLONG AND WITHOUT FEAR”
– EXCERPTS FROM THE ADDRESS OF COSON CHAIRMAN, CHIEF TONY OKOROJI, TO THE COSON AGM HELD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2022
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Ladies & Gentlemen, we have been unflinching, unwavering and unapologetic in building and maintaining COSON and ensuring that COSON is a world standard institution and a first-class organization that protects and promotes the rights of creative people in the Nigerian music industry and the music industry across the world, with utmost transparency.
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The roots of COSON are strong. We have made COSON not just a copyright collective management organization but moulded it into a strong family of thousands of creative people spread across Nigeria who look after each other. Without doubt, COSON is the most solid and formidable organization the Nigerian creative industry has ever built.
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If you ask: What is the secret of the staying power of COSON, my answer will be:
1.Transparency; 2. Our care and love for each other; 3. The trust and belief of a large majority of our membership in the Leadership, Board and Management; 4. Our insistence on never bending our rules or the law, no matter whose ox is gored and 5. Our clear knowledge of the law and our lack of cowardice to deploy the law in full, to right all wrongs against us and to take on anyone determined to mess with the interest or the rights of our members or our society.
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I am aware that the rapid success of COSON has dazzled so many. The facts are that we surprised many at the speed and dexterity with which we brought together thousands of creative people, assembled millions of works, both local and international, thereby creating a breath-taking repertoire and library. We built and equipped the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja with the most modern technology without borrowing one ‘shi-shi’ and set up a management team of well-trained accountants, lawyers, copyright experts, statisticians and other world class professionals.
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Every single year since the incorporation of COSON, we have had our accounts professionally audited. Recently, COSON invited one of the most respected accounting firms in the world and subjected itself to a complete 7-month forensic audit, something no other organization in the history of the Nigerian creative industry has ever done. COSON has distributed hundreds of millions of Naira in copyright royalties to music industry stakeholders spread across the country even in the era of the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown. Indeed, COSON has done what many thought could never be done in Nigeria.
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Unfortunately, because of the vicious nature of the Nigerian political environment, our success became our albatross. COSON, seen as an incredible Nigerian success story, began to attract envy and the usual Nigerian ‘bad-belle’. Some top officers of the Nigerian government were told that COSON is a gold mine. So, they began to work assiduously with some fraudsters within our industry to appropriate the organization for themselves and their friends. Determined to make COSON their private ATM, they twisted and mutilated the law, turned it upside down and started issuing instructions to COSON not based on Nigerian law or the constitution. In a bad display of self-help, even when the issues are before courts of competent jurisdictions, they have tried to over-reach the courts.
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These officials and their friends have used every subterfuge to turn COSON, an independent private sector organization, into their private cash cow. Of course, we have said, “No Way!”COSON is an organization set up without one penny of government money and with the clear objective of making life better for musicians all over Nigeria. It is common knowledge that they have tried to determine the leadership and agenda of COSON in Abuja and force it on us, so that some people may fill their private pockets with copyright royalties at the expense of the musicians of Nigeria. We have said, “No Way!”It is well known that COSON has been targeted for seizure or destruction in recent years and every dubious tactic, including rabid defamation, lawless freezing of accounts to make sure that COSON has no money to operate or distribute and inexplicable deployment of the nation’s security agencies to harass and torture the leadership and staff of COSON, have been unleashed so as to grab control of COSON, kidnap the resources of the organization and if they fail, grind its lawful operations to a halt. We have said “No Way!”We have had to deploy the law, like no other organization in the history of Nigeria, to form a bulwark against the people, in and out of government, whose modus operandi has been to grab everything in Nigeria for themselves, their friends and families with no thought of the other people of Nigeria, the young people of our nation, our children and grandchildren. To them, we have said, “No Way!” We have been to practically every court, everywhere in the land and held our heads high. Without the decisions of those distinguished Judges of the Courts who remain committed to truth and justice, COSON, this great pan Nigerian organization that has become the nation’s most formidable agent of strength, unity, progress and growth for the creative industry in Nigeria, would since have been sucked dry and wiped away.
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I remember being warned to get out of the way or I will be crushed by the power of the state. It is well known that I have been harassed, tormented, abducted, and brutalized every which way. I have made it clear that I am prepared to lay down my life in the defence of the rights of the creative people of Nigeria. It is my firm belief that no great nation on earth has been built by cowards.I am proud of the members of COSON, everywhere in Nigeria, our Board members, and the Management team at COSON.
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The support of our members has been powerful, the unity within the Board is unrivalled and every working day, the Management team resumes at the ever sparkling and magnificent COSON House and makes sure that COSON is working, and all the key COSON processes are operating at international standard.
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I want to assure members of COSON and our international partners that the period of the locust is almost at an end and that COSON will soon fully resume the distribution of royalties and benefits to our members and affiliates everywhere.
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I beg every member of COSON to make sure that during the forthcoming general elections, we deploy our PVCs to elect a government that respects the rights of creative people and respects the rule of law so that COSON will continue to serve its members without any molestation or disturbance from the people whose true responsibility is to strengthen and support every purposeful Nigerian organization.
Every member of COSON should be proud that we have refused to be cowards and slaves in our country. Members of COSON have proved to Nigerians that the rampaging economic and political bandits, marauders, and scammers operating in our country can be fought headlong and without fear. I assure you that at the end of the day, all of us at COSON will have the last laugh as we create new sweet music, sing and dance in harmony and with pride let everybody hear those iconic words for which we are well known, “Let the music pay!”