The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) has been rocked by internal crisis over its initial vote to submit no film for the International Feature Film IFF category of the 2023 Oscars.
In a leaked video recorded on Thursday, October 20, 2022, the committee voted 9-6 in favour of “protecting” the initial votes of September 3, 2022. Members of the 15-member committee who voted against include Mahmood Ali-Balogun, the committee’s Vice Chairperson, Mildred Okwo, Shaibu Husseini, Ego Boyo, Moses Babatope, and Kenneth Gyang.
The committee has been embroiled in a major internal crisis over its September voting process which saw a majority of its members vote for the non-eligibility of any of the three contending films Kap films ‘Anikulapo’, EbonyLife films’ ‘Elesin Oba’ and Euphoria 360’s ‘King of Thieves.’
Recall that NOSC chairperson Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi released an official statement announcing the committee’s ‘null’ vote, a move that some members of the committee claim was “predetermined” and without the agreement of all 15 members.
The Academy recently weighed in on the crisis, extending its submission deadline to allow the committee members to reconvene and possibly to revote. In the long deleted ‘leaked’ video, a number of shocking allegations of bribery and intense lobbying for ‘Elesin Oba’ were sighted as major reasons for the current unrest.
Since the committee’s crisis, at least three of its members have announced their resignation. The members include Mildred Okwo, Shaibu Husseini and Kenneth Gyang.
The Film Conversation earlier reported the reaction of Kunle Afolayan to the snub of the NOSC to his latest film, ‘Anikulapo’, for the 2023 Oscars.
See the voters’ list below.
- Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi – No Revote
- Mahmood Ali-Balogun – Revote
- Mildred Okwo – Revote
- Ego Boyo – Revote
- Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde – No Revote
- Stephanie Linus – No Revote
- Shaibu Husseini – Revote
- Bruce Ayonote – No Revote
- Adetokunbo Odubawo – No Revote
- Izu Ojukwu – No Revote
- Moses Babatope – Revote
- Yibo Koko – No Revote
- Meg Otanwa – No Revote
- Kenneth Gyang – Revote
- John Njamah – No Revote