Actress Omoni Oboli has called out Ghanaian television stations for airing her newly released movie Twin Deception without permission, just a day after fellow actress Bimbo Ademoye raised similar concerns over copyright infringement.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the 47-year-old filmmaker expressed her disappointment over the illegal broadcast of her film which premiered on YouTube last Friday.
“I love my Ghanaian besties. I really do. Ghanaians are our cousins and cousins don’t fight. We banter but at the end of the day, it’s all love,” she began.
“You see this issue of Terrestrial Ghanaian Tv stations showing our movies, it’s utterly shameful. My movie Twin Deception released on my YouTube channel on Friday was shown by TV stations same Friday! I’m going straight to the Ghanaian President this time. Cos this is now a disgrace!”
Although Omoni admitted she had initially held back from speaking out due to her birthday celebrations, she said the continued piracy made silence impossible.
“It was my birthday yesterday and I was having a chilled day at home so I didn’t want to address this,” she wrote in the caption. “The truth is, I have been working behind the scenes with some Ghanaian agencies to end this menace once and for all but now it’s quite obvious that some people don’t even understand that it’s actual theft.”
“You are not promoting my film if you rip it off my YouTube channel (without licensing and permission) and show it on your TV station. You are stealing from me for your own personal gain. Do you get it now? There’s no world in which that is a good thing. It’s actually punishable by law.”
Calling on Ghana’s President John Mahama to intervene, Omoni described the situation as “an international embarrassment.”
Her comments came on the heels of Bimbo Ademoye’s public outcry on Tuesday, where the Sugar Rush star slammed Ghanaian plus-size media personality Miz Debbie for allegedly defending the illegal broadcasts.
Bimbo, 34, had earlier accused several Ghanaian TV stations of airing her films without consent.
In a viral video, she labelled the act as theft and urged Ghanaian authorities to act swiftly.
The matter escalated after Miz Debbie reportedly suggested that the unauthorized broadcasts were a form of promotion and said filmmakers like Bimbo should be grateful.
Reacting, Bimbo reposted Debbie’s video on Sunday with a fiery caption and tagged Ghanaian officials including the CEO of the National Film Authority, Kafui Danku and Communications Minister, Sam George.
“I complained earlier about my movies being taken without my consent and posted on some Ghanaian TV stations,” she wrote. “Some ignorant ones thought it was ok to defend theft! @miz_debbie is one of them! She even had the audacity to say they’re doing us a favor.”
She added, “@kafuidanku ma’am I hear you’re one of the people that can put a stop to this. @samgeorgegh Sir, this is one of your own supporting theft!… Infact all film makers. This woman says they’re doing us a favour by posting our movies without our consent… I’m willing to drag this out. Let’s f#cking go!!”
The controversy has since sparked widespread conversation online, with many Nigerian creatives backing both actresses in their call for better protection of African intellectual property across borders.
