The Lagos State Government and the Isale-Eko Descendants Union. have descended on the producers and promoters of the Nollywood film/series, “Gangs of Lagos”, saying it was an attack on the cultural heritage of Lagos.
The film/series released last week, has been attacked for it’s misrepresentation and usage of the Ẹyọ Masquerade.
An official statement by the state government, the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf said the Ministry, being the regulatory body and custodian of the culture of Lagos State, viewed the film/series as a mockery of the Heritage of Lagos.
Also, the Apesinọla Ẹyọ Ọba Alakẹtẹ Pupa Ọkalaba Ẹkun, Prince Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu, and Isale-Eko Descendants Union of Lagos are not smiling over the issue.
Shodipe-Dosunmu described the film as “ethnic profiling, sacrilegious and outrageous trash.” He also stated that the film/series portrayal of Eyo masquerade, “is not only a distortion of our culture, it is a dark insidious profiling of our people as criminals and murderers rampaging across Lagos”.
“The Adamu Orisha”, he said, “is a treasured cleansing ritual, a sacred rite performed on the passage of an Oba or for their coronation. It is also used to honor distinguished Lagosians as their final rite of transition. Since Ejilu and Malakin, the brothers of Olori Olugbani first initiated the Eyo rite in celebration of Oba Ado Keme, the Adamu Orisha has become a sacred ancestral heritage celebrated with awe and deserving adoration.
“It signifies a sweeping renewal, a purificational ritual to usher in a new beginning , a beckoning of new light, acknowledging the blessings of our ancestors.
“To use the sacred Adamu Orisha Masquerade as an object of terror and loose criminality is to savage and despoil the Lagosian tradition. It is vile, evil, perverse; an utterly sadistic mangling of who we are as peace loving , accommodating and enlightened people.
The Isale Eko Descendants in their statement, demanded an immediate withdrawal of the film/series which they refer to as “sacrilegious and outrageous trash.”
Hear them. “We demand that the National Film and Video Censors Board and all appropriate authorities to ban this blatant mockery disguising as cinematography and impose the most punitive sanctions on the sponsors of this venomous ethnic profiling.”
Gangs of Lagos, arguably the first African Amazon Prime Video original production, is a star-studded film/series starring Tobi Bakre, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Chike Osebuka, Chioma Akpotha, and Iyabo Ojo, Zlatan Ibile, among others.
Gangs of Lagos, is produced by Jade Osiberu and Kemi Lala Akindoju.
