SCANDAL: Nollywood director in ‘mess’ with upcoming actress

By Benjamin Njoku
 Popular Nollywood director and producer, Nonso Ekene Okonkwo who is based in Asaba, Delta State capital, may need a divine intervention to save his hard earned reputation from being dragged to the mud.

Our  scooped during the week that one of the up and coming actresses, Boma Tubonimi Arinyedokiari, also based in Asaba, has accused the popular director of extorting  the sum of  N105,000,00 from her, in addition to threatening to deal with her in the event of her backing out of the “a six- year contract which she  entered with him.”

Narrating her ordeal to HVP on telephone, the light-complexioned actress, who hails from Rivers State  said  the director invited her to Asaba, on  the pretext that she was going to act in a new flick that was about to be shot then. But unknown to her that, the man had a different plan altogether.

Surprisingly,she continued, ” upon my arriving Asaba,  the director told me I had to operate from  his house. Later, he informed me about an agreement that would expire in six years time. I objected to it, arguing that six years contract was too long a time. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how I was influenced to sign the contract.”

According to Boma’s allegation, Okonkwo wants to be collecting 40 per cent of whatever she earns from her sweat for six years.

She narrates further: “I did some works for  him, which I have not been paid till today. At the moment, he has collected the sum of N105,000,00 from me. The incident happened since November, last year. Now, he is threatening to deal with me because I do not want to be part of that agreement again.”

The actress who joined Nollywood since 2008 and has acted in several flicks ,however is calling on the various guilds and associations in the industry to come to her aid, adding that “she does not want anything to jeopardise her acting career.”

But reacting to the  allegation,   when contacted on phone by HVP,  the embattled director described it as ‘a rumour’, adding that “I do not believe there is any problem at the moment.”

While admitting that the Rivers State born up and coming actress was signed under his company,Goldfish Productions,  Okonkwo   denied the allegation that the actress was influenced to sign the contract with him.

According to him, contrary to Boma’s  claim that she was influenced to sign the contract,  Okonkwo explained that before the contract was formalised, the actress was compelled to present three witnesses.

“Yes, she is signed under my company and all the documents are with my lawyer. Before we signed her on, she brought three witnesses. She couldn’t have signed the contract under duress when she had witnesses.”the director reacted.