Practitioners of the Nigerian film industry trouped out on Tuesday to pay homage to a man who loved them and brought them close to the government at the centre in the current political dispensation.
That man is Oronto Douglas, who, until his death on April 9, was the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Strategy and Documentation. Among the Nollywood people present at the night of tribute at Eko Hotels and Suites were embattled Actors’ Guild of Nigeria (AGN) president, Ibinabo Fiberesima; leading lights like Monalisa Chinda, Rita Dominic, Hilda Dokubo, Kate Henshaw, Omoni Oboli and Genevieve Nnaji, all either speaking or coordinating events for the night.
But there were others, too, like the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Edem Duke; former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; and music acts like Timi Dakolo, Dare Art-Alade and Sammy Okposo with his band.
Duke described Douglas as a great educationist, a deep thinker, a great writer, and a man who charted the path to many great things.
“He lit the path that illuminated the movie industry in Nigeria,” the minister said.
Obi said that Douglas was among a few people he knew in the country who could point out a wrong when they saw one.
Douglas, he said, is one man who would tell you things are wrong when everybody is happy with you.
He said he reminded him of the King of Jordan and the late Pope John Paul, who, even when they were ill, still took the interests of others at heart and actually reached out to help, from their sick beds.
“Oronto spent time talking about the future of Nigeria even when he had so little time left. God called him for a reason. As we mourn, celebrate him, may we in our own lives help build a better Nigeria, a better society. He served Nigeria; he served all of us. May we live for one Nigeria,” Obi stated.
Charles Novia, who together with Kate Henshaw anchored the event, said Douglas “was quite important to the industry”.
Hilda Dokubo, Segun Arinze, Chioma Ude, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, Genevieve Nnaji, Ibinabo Fiberesima and many others mounted the podium to speak glowingly of the late Douglas, with a few of them breaking down into tears before they could finish talking.
But it was not all tears for the night, as there was a lot of dancing and singing.
Sammy Okposo, before he and his band did a medley of upbeat praise songs, told the story of how he had performed at the funeral of Oronto Douglas’ dad.
He said Douglas had told him that he should play only upbeat songs because his father had been a very happy man while alive.
“The first time I met him was at his father’s funeral. He said ‘I want everybody to dance. My father loved gospel’. This were the songs I did for his father,” he said.
Okposo then went on to do those songs that got most of the guests dancing. Then there was a performance of the Sting original redone by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans, ‘I’d be missing you’ by Dakolo. He did another song later on after a documentary on the deceased.
Dancers from the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) did a dance drama led by Hilda Dokubo with Monalisa Chinda and Rita Dominic in honour of the deceased. It was a charged moment and Dokubo was to announce that the dance was adapted from the deceased’s unfinished book of the same titled, ‘The Orgasmic Rights of Women’.
Dare Art Alade then did a Frank Sinatra song, ‘I did it my way’.
Ogiettaziba, son of the deceased, gave the vote of thanks, which was originally to be done by Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) Chairman, Mustapha Chike Obi.
Chike Obi, who said he was still unable to write a befitting tribute for Douglas, and that he would take time to do it, promised that as long as he’s alive, the family Oronto left behind will not want anything.