Renowned gospel singer and Glo Ambassador, Sammie Okopso, may have renounced his membership of the Copyright Society of Nigeria barely two weeks after he criticised the National Broadcasting Commission for its failure to reach agreement with the collecting society.
A statement made available to The Eagle Online, on Thursday, indicated that the award winning artiste requested COSON to stop collecting royalties and acting on his behalf with immediate effect.
In his pronouncement, Okposo said: “I Sammie Okposo, a proud Nigerian artiste wishes to notify the general public and all stakeholders alike that I have stopped being a member of COSON.”
Okposo complained about the issue of accountability in the distribution of royalties to artistes.
Though he eulogised the idea of paying artistes royalties, he said that the process was not transparent.
Okposo added: “This is commendable and may have set the industry on the path to growth and consolidation but accountability and transparency is very important.
“My facts reveal that there is nothing in COSON’s constitution that limits the number of terms the chairman of the board could serve and this is extremely dangerous.
“I read Onyeka Onwenu’s interview and she cited it as one of the reasons she left the board of COSON.
“All efforts must be made to ensur COSON does not end up the property of one man.
“COSON is now delving into awards and competitive activities that are not related to its core responsibilities and this is a distraction.”
According to the statement, Okposo chose to part ways with the organzation because of what he described as the selfish interests of some of its members.
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