Adebayo Adenrele
A legendary Nollywood Actor, Alhaji Kareem Adepoju popularly known as Baba Wande has alleged the veteran movie producer, Tunde Kelani of dishonesty.
Baba Wande said he was dribbled by the Producer when he wrote the movie called “Ti Olúwa ni Ilẹ”, a popular Yorùbá movie produced and directed by Tunde Kelani, through Tunde Kelani’s Mainframe Films and Television Productions in 1993.
During the agreement, Baba Wande claimed to have agreed on 30% in the sharing of proceeds while Kelani owned 70% but, was given a penny at the end of the sales.
He said he was supposed to be given ₦54,000 out of the N180,000 from the sale of part one of the movie, but paid N15,000 instead.
According to him, “I developed the idea of ‘Ti Oluwa Ni Ile’ movie, sold it to Tunde Kelani. We agreed to make it into home video. He brought the money and equipment. I brought the actors.
“We both agreed on 70/30 percent sharing of proceeds. 70 for him and 30 for me. We made N180,000 from the sale of part one of the movie. But I was paid N15,000 instead of N54,000 which is the 30 percent of N180,000.
“I collected it and moved on without complaint but I felt hurt, I felt cheated. When Nigerians were demanding for part two of the film, Tunde came back to me. I didn’t want to take part in it, but I changed my mind because of my name and for the fact that fans were already looking forward to seeing me based on the role I played in part one.
“We did part two and part three. As soon as we finished shooting the last two parts, I left without asking him anything. And up till date, he never gave me a dime in royalty based on our agreement.
“In fact, people were asking me to involve lawyers in the matter. But I decided not to because I didn’t involve lawyers when we made the verbal agreement.
“I am not angry with him and I am not complaining. God has blessed me. He is still my very good friend. We had been friends before we did ‘Ti Oluwa Ni Ile’. It is just for posterity sake.”
