The Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, also known as Shiites,
have attacked veteran Nollywood actor, Pete Edochie, over his role in a new
movie, ‘Fatal Arrogance.’
In a statement signed by its Spokesman, Musa Ibrahim, and
made available on Tuesday, the IMN said it found Edochie’s
explanation of his reason for participating in the movie “flawed and his
excuses unimpressive, irrational, and at best absurd.”
The veteran actor had in a-12-minute video clip on his
Facebook page, explained his role in the movie which the IMN believes was
sponsored by the Nigerian army.
“Firstly, any serious artist worth the name must, first of
all, undertake some kind of serious research to get the facts of any script
brought to him right.
“This must be done through intense reading of the literature
and interviews with scholars who are conversant with the facts. Pete Edochie
did none of that.
“Had he been bold enough to cross-check, he would have
realized that genocide took place in Zaria in 2015 where over a thousand
Nigerian lives were wasted by the sponsors of the film.
“He would have come across the very many attempts by the
perpetrators to hide these heinous crimes, firstly by the burial of their
victims in mass graves, an internationally recognized crime against humanity as
reported by Amnesty International.
“He would have realized that the matter is currently a
subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He would
have realized that the script before him is a continuation of that desperate
attempt to distort facts.
“Had Pete Edochie cared to carry out a background check on
the scripts given to him to act, he would have realized that the Islamic Movement
in Nigeria has been victorious in all the over ten different cases it was in
court against the government and perpetrators since that genocide. The
government, with all its might and powers, has never proven any case of crime
or terrorism against it, its leadership or members in any court of law.
“He would have come across the blunt truth stated by
Honourable Justice Gabriel Kolawole, then of the Abuja Federal High Court that,
‘Invidious unobtrusive acts of intolerance by majority Muslims who follow the
Sunni school of thought against the minority Muslims who follow the Shiah
school of thought is an important factor escalating the current crisis leading
to the continued detention of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and
the continued incessant persecution of its members.’
“If Edochie has any character as he claims, he would not
have accepted to act any role in a film that seems to change the narrative and
distort history based on a book distorting facts! If he had any integrity, he
would not have accepted to appear in a movie tarnishing the image of an
oppressed personality like Sheikh Zakzaky and still think he did nothing wrong
because the Sheikh was not mentioned by name.
“Edochie has thrown his professionalism to the winds as he
chose to be paid to distort historical facts, yet claiming not to refer to
anybody, when clearly the cast bears all the telltale signs of mischievous
attempt, at not only demonizing IMN but also Islam as a whole. Peaceful
protesters of the Movement are mischievously depicted as armed protesters, with
guns and knives tasty for the blood of the innocent.
“Yet, Edochie would rather that we waited for him and his
perpetrator sponsors to complete their denigration and manipulation before we
complain, even as we have seen enough to convince us of their wicked
intentions.
“Pete Edochie also claimed that his life was threatened
without saying by whom in an attempt to give the Movement a bad name and to
attract cheap sympathy from Nigerians.
“The petition written by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria to
the Inspector General of Police and the Film’s Censors Board doesn’t threaten
anyone’s life. Issuing of threats has never been in our character.
“Finally, the bottom line is that Pete Edochie should be
honourable enough to accept that he allowed himself to be used to further
vilify victims of one of the worst state-sponsored massacres of its citizens.
He could still redeem his name as other actors in the ill-fated film are
doing.”
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