‘I want N50m, apology from FG’

Ovie Smart has said he is seeking N50 million from the federal government as compensation for the trauma he underwent after his workshop was demolished and artworks destroyed at the NCAC Artistes’ Village, National Theatre, Lagos over four months ago.
“I am not asking too much with the economic situation our country is facing presently. I am not looking at it as an avenue to make more money. But, after whatsoever is going to happen, I would demand a public apology from these people,” he said in an interview with TheNiche at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, where he instituted a suit against the federal government and its 10 agencies.
Smart’s lawyer, Michael Akinyemi, told TheNiche that the lawsuit was to enforce the fundamental human rights of his client against the Federal Government of Nigeria and its agencies, obviously not a money-making venture.
“We are suing for a paltry N50 million to get justice done; others could have gone for more. If we had wanted to go for more, considering the level of hardship Smart has gone through since Saturday, January 23, we could have gone for more. The money is not the issue, but getting justice done is the focal point,” he stated.
He said he was aware of how the federal government shows disregard for court summons and its many ways of frustrating judicial processes, but assured that his firm “is ready to weather the storm and see the case to a logical conclusion”.
The demolition of the Artistes’ Village, he explained, is a show of power and disrespect for subsisting contractual laws because his client was a legal resident paying rent, tax and other utility bills to a government agency, only for another agency of the government to carry out demolition supervised by one Kabir Yusuf Yar’Adua without prior notice to the occupants.
The lawsuit entitled ‘Mr. Ovie Smart v A.G. Federation and 10 Others’ with number FHC/L/CS/378/16 has Smart trading under the name and style of Woodcocks Studio & Gallery as plaintiff with the following respondents: Attorney General of the Federation, Inspector General of Police, Police Service Commission, and the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) of Denton, Iponri and Ijora police stations.
Others are: Officer-in-Charge of National Theatre Police Post; Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation; Mr. Kabir Yusuf Yar’Adua (G.M. National Arts Theatre); National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC); and CCECC Nigeria Limited.
The respondents were not in court at the first hearing on April 11 when the case came before Justice Ibrahim Buba of Courtroom 5. The judge adjourned the case till April 28. Unfortunately, the respondent had still not been served by that date.
Arterial Network Nigeria, a pan-African network of artistes under the aegis of its brainchild, ArtWatch Africa, a body charged with concerns for artistes’ rights, has since shown massive interest and support for this case.
The sculptor, who used to be a resident artist at the NCAC Artistes’ Village, said he had been at home and unable to work since January 23.
He recalled that it was a very sad incident that faithful Saturday morning. “I was called upon before 6am and I had to rush from my house in Ikorodu. The person beside my studio called me that there were bulldozers around demolishing my studio,” he said.
He explained that on getting to the Artistes’ Village, he discovered heavy presence of policemen, construction workers and a lot of people.
“My studio space was all rubbles and I couldn’t recognise the place. My works, my tools, my machines, everything was muddled up,” he said.
According to him, what made the day even more traumatic was that he was not only shot in the leg but was also manhandled by policemen.
“I wanted to see what was happening, who was doing the demolition. On getting to the front, I discovered that it was the General Manager of the National Theatre, Kabir Yusuf Yar’Adua that led the policemen,” he said.
He alleged that Yar’Adua asked the policemen to manhandle him.
“They cuffed me with my hands behind my back. Even the people trying to take pictures and record videos were manhandled. From one of the videos, you will see that the person behind the camera was trying to run because they never really wanted any evidence on that issue,” he said.
Smart, who insisted he was not hit by a stray bullet, said: “People were yelling at them and booing them, I believe that was the offence.”