Nollywood impresario, Charles Novia is not ready to lie low and let actress Chika Ike's PA insult him and get away with it.
Veteran movie producer, Charles
Novia, has found it difficult to stomach the insults thrown his way by
actress Chika Ike’s Personal Assistant cum manager, Serah Donald,
who took to social media to pour invectives on Charles for daring to
question Chika's penchant for posting photos of herself in holiday
spots, hotel rooms and on a yatcht.
The war of
words that became an Internet sensation two weeks ago, has got the bad
side of the November Production owner, so much that he too has resorted
to calling Serah names, saying that she is an ‘industry lap-dog,’
whatever that means.
When Charles Novia expressed his reservations about Chika Ike's source
of wealth and her wanton display of pictures on the social media,
describing such action as vain and egotistical, Serah had fired back at
him, calling him many names.
Today, the celebrity
critique released a three-page reply to Serah’s poisonous ‘blabbing,’ as
he calls it, titled, ‘A Salvo for Serah, A Cheek for Chika’.
In the letter, Novia implored on the Nigerian Tax authorities to investigate Chika's source of wealth.
Read the letter here:
I
have mulled a bit about how to put out a riposte to a character called
Serah Donald who went on an uncouth rage against my person on social
media recently.
My first reaction was to
ignore her as I saw through the statement that she really had nothing to
say but perhaps wanted to gain some little fame through an open insult
directed at me. And so I did.
But in
retrospect (and knowing that most things put out on social media are
usually twisted the other way to suit such whims, as it were) I decided
not to really let it rest but to perhaps give a riposte on some of her
rabid tirades.
I use the word ‘rabid’
because the impression I have of this Serah, which still persists, is
that she is somewhat of an industry lap-dog and one whom I have met
formally only twice in my life and fleetingly too because I did not want
some of her fleas around me.
I was
introduced to her in 2007 in Los Angeles while I was attending a film
industry convention on Nollywood where I was one of the Speakers on the
positive trajectory of an evolving Nollywood.
I
vaguely remember some less-than-plain-Jane looking lady staring at me
in a manner which unsettled me a bit. To her, it could have been a
fawning look but to me, from my perspective, it looked like a deviant
character from a horror movie giving me the looks!
It
was my good friend, Stephanie Okereke, ( now Linus), who was graduating
from the New York Film Academy that period, who formally introduced her
to me before I understood why she was awestruck.
‘It
is a great honour to meet you, Sir’, Serah said and went on to gush
about how she was a big fan of my movies and actually reeled out some of
my hit titles she had watched. I believe I was told then that was a
student of the New York Film School at Stephanie’s flat in Los Angeles
where this Serah was perhaps squatting or was somewhat of a personal
maid or something I can’t be bothered to remember .
I
completely forgot about this young lady and never saw her again till
sometime in 2013 in an event organised by the Tourism Ministry at the
Civic Centre in Lagos. I pride myself in having a retentive memory for
faces and when Serah and her Principal, Chika Ike, walked up to my table
to greet me, I instantly remembered her face, though now overtly padded
with some hideous make-up. We exchanged pleasantries and she took my
number.
I took the pains to reconstruct
how I know this young lady so as to put to rest any other
misinterpretation by the usual busybodies. And also to dismiss her silly
insinuation in her statement that I was the one who met her in
California!
On reading her guttersnipe
against my person, the first thought which crossed my mind was that
perhaps her principal, Chika Ike, might actually be in cahoots with her
in putting out that statement because if, as Serah claims, she is
Chika’s ‘Manager’, (who in this clime and industry are usually glorified
messengers) it might be the case of the tail wagging the dog.
This
Serah Donald crossed a line of decorum by calling me names. That is not
new within the circle of her ilk who are sometimes critiqued by me in
professional articles but what is irksome is her blatant disregard for
seniority within the industry. Whilst her lack of manners is actually a
vindication of one’s perception that she actually might be obtuse by
inclination, it also is proof of lack of home training.
And such reduces the value of a Lady’s Bride Price in this part of the world, for any unlucky Gentleman in her regard.
What
does one really say to an errant cretin, notorious from feelers for
being an industry groupie who finally found anchorage on the muddy
shores of one whom she claims to manage? If posting pictures of an
average actress who mistakes facial recognition for ‘stardom’ in the
belief that the public must be forced to reckon with the ‘arrival’ of
her principal in the social circuits, is what makes her a Manager or
perhaps a Publicist, it goes to show the shallow mentality behind such
reasoning.
I have always been amused by
some usual suspects who abound in the movie industry and portray a life
more hyped than a life less lived. That amusement has now given way for a
personal investigation and a soon-to-be-announced public analysis.
Within the industry, it is well-known how much an actor or actress
earns.
The public displays of sudden
wealth by some of such personalities, is very misleading to many among
the gullible public. We know the sexual dalliances which many of such
engage in with the hoi poloi in our land which more often than not
brings much disrepute to my sector.
What
such characters do with their private lives is entirely their business
but when the lines become blurred between private indiscretions and
selling dummies to the public, then it behoves on the level-headed and
moral brigade to ask questions.
We have
to ask questions because almost every young girl who aspires to be an
actress in Nigeria today believes that a little fame is all that is
needed to get some rich ‘mugu’ to shower her with material wealth.
And
so, an industry which is supposed to be the bastion of family values
has suddenly nosedived into a cesspool because of the antics of such
‘Publicists’ like Serah.
And when you ask questions publicly, you are labelled a hater? Gosh!
May
I use this medium to call on the Tax Authorities in Nigeria to
immediately begin investigations into the income of the actors who make
public their material acquisitions. It is time we remove the veil of
hypocrisy these people have on their faces by going after their tax
filings.
If the Tax Man goes after these
self-styled instagram celebrities, many would think twice before
assaulting our sensibilities with such questionable lifestyles.
And
when people like Serah asks questions about my own material pedigree
with the assumption that I am broke and envious of the success of those
who are critiqued, I actually feel pity for such.
To
Serah and her ilk, it’s all about money. That is the level of thought
propounded by lobotomised reprobates. Those who are comfortable through
an honest day’s work do not flaunt their lives and wealth on social
media. It is the groupies, the morally decadent, those who engage in
serial prostitution whilst hiding under a toga of false celebrity
adulation, who must let the world know that their hypocritical
sexcapades with the high and mighty actually yield dividends.
Instead
of living their lives with some measure of discretion based on their
sex romps, they try to hoodwink the public with paid articles on blogs
and newspapers that their entertainment careers actually made them such
money. Ridiculous!
I turn 43 in a few
days (and I don’t tinker with my age, please!) and my career speaks for
itself. With over 40 movies produced, a star making contribution to
Nollywood, an intellectual legacy to my industry and country and
membership and fellowship of prestigious film festivals, associations
and entertainment organisations all over the world, I do not lack.
I have earned my right to be the voice of an industry I love.
The
most stupid conclusion one can draw from this Serah’s rant is the
ironical reality that the money she purportedly enjoys from her
Principal in the form of the laughable exotic holidays is not even
earned by Serah herself.
Her antecedents
as an industry lap dog who chases after the juiciest bone is known to
those who bother to scrutinise her lifestyle and life. Such are the
adventures of Hangers-on and lap dogs.
For
fear of losing their crumbs at the feast table, they must bark in
stupidity rather than bay at the dimming moon of their unfortunate
lives.
I am not taking pleasure in
upbraiding Serah. Whatever smirks and snivels I have on my face is
actually a reaction of pity for her. I am told she has produced a couple
of rag-tag films as well as an uncompleted Project film for the NYFA. A
life not complete is a life in limbo.
And so, I understand that she must feed on the success of others to move on in life. It’s all well and good.
There is a final destination for the uncouth. And boat rides or yacht photo ops do get there too!
The result: 1-1. So who fires the next salvo?
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