It has just been reported that veteran Nigerian musician Sir Victor Uwaifo has threatened to sue female singer, Simi, for stealing his hit song, Joromi. It could be recalled that the legendary singer released his own version in 1969 while Simi released hers in 2017.
It has just been reported that veteran Nigerian musician Sir Victor Uwaifo has threatened to sue female singer, Simi, for stealing his hit song, Joromi. It could be recalled that the legendary singer released his own version in 1969 while Simi released hers in 22017. According to Sahara Reporters, Uwaifo made this revelation at the annual meeting of copyright society of Nigeria COSON, where intellectual property theft was described as a very serious issue in Nigeria. That was not all, the music legend also disclosed that he is suing Pepsi of N500 million for making use of his song, Arabade for a TV commercial. He added that the case is still at the Federal High Court, Benin.
He said: “Copyright is a very serious business and the contravention of copyright laws is more serious than you can imagine. Most people still believe that someone can just pick somebody’s work, which we call intellectual property right, and use it for his own benefit of the detriment of the composer, the man who actually created the work. You know it takes time to create a work; it takes a lot of research to be able to come out with a piece of work. You know one single track is equivalent to research journal and then a whole record is equivalent to a book publication, so people don’t understand it they don’t know. You don’t just wake up in the university then you just put anything down and you call it a journal or a book. It takes a lot of research to be able to do one piece of music. The composition, the lyrics, the music, the score, the arrangement, the production and booking of the studio all cost money, and someone will just come and take the work and use it as his own or probably do an advert on it. I’m suing Pepsi for N500 million, the case is already at the Federal High Court in Benin.” When asked if he was going to take any legal action against the petite female singer, Simi, he said: “One after the other. I cannot just take everybody to court at the same time. I don’t know whether he or she; I know she is but I know somebody is behind it. An LP was sent as a compliment; I’m still looking at it but they were planning to come to Benin to see me; up till now, they haven’t come, so I’m just putting that one on hold. ‘Joromi’ is a franchise; the name never existed before. Benin don’t have ‘J’ in their language; if any started with ‘J’ in Benin then it is fake. All consonant words start with vowel sounds. For example, if I use the trademark of one of these soft drinks, it is wrong. So Simi is in trouble.”
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