Mene Ogidi’s Murderer Must Be Punished Severely – Kanayo O. Kanayo

Kanayo O Kanayo

Nollywood actor Kanayo O. Kanayo has expressed outrage over the alleged extrajudicial killing of 28-year-old Mene Ogidi by a police officer in Effurun, Delta State. He recently had his say on X while reacting to a video of the incident shared by activist Harrison Gwamnishu.

Describing the incident as unfortunate, the veteran moviestar called for decisive action to restore public confidence in the police.

Kanayo concluded by appealing directly to the Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to treat the matter with seriousness.

His words, “The killing of Mene by a Nigerian police officer is very unfortunate, and everything must be done to that officer to show Nigeria is not a monkey country where anything can just happen.

Please Inspector General of Police, Disu, this case must be taken seriously. My son could be involved tomorrow, your son might be as well.

I work in the movie industry where sometimes we carry guns to shoot movies.

Now imagine this type of police officer apprehending anyone in the movie industry with a gun, would he ever give the person a chance to explain what they are using it to do?”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.