Monarch gives Amazon 14-day ultimatum to remove Eyo masquerade from ‘Gangs of Lagos’

Oba Rilwan Akiolu has given Amazon a 14-day ultimatum to remove the Eyo from ‘Gangs of Lagos’.

The Lagos monarch waded in on the long-running debate about the film’s portrayal of the local Eyo masquerade.

Directed by Jade Osiberu, ‘Gangs of Lagos’ was released to the public via Amazon’s Prime Video on April 7.

The film tells the story of a group of friends forced to navigate the hardship of growing up on the streets of Lagos.

‘Gangs of Lagos’ has, however, been on the receiving end of public backlash over concerns that it depicted the Eyo masquerade, which is native to the Isale Eko community of Lagos, as being donned by a gang of murderers.

Aggrieved indigenes have also been questioning the film’s portrayal of Isale Eko as a den of criminals.

As a result, the Isale Eko Descendants Union (IDU) filed a lawsuit against Amazon and the film’s producers.

The union is demanding ₦10 billion in damages in a case that has been making court rounds for weeks now.

The Oba of Lagos, while wading in on the matter, listed four conditions that the producers should meet in 14 days.

Akiolu called on Amazon Web Service, Greoh Studios, and the film producers “to immediately remove, cease and desist from using” the image getup and the full manifestation of the local Eyo masquerade in the ‘Gangs of Lagos’.

He said the “illegal representation” of the Eyo in the crime thriller inflicted huge reputational damage to its brand.

The monarch expressed concern that potential tourists on the international front and visitors to Lagos were likely to begin querying the authenticity of the Eyo as a true cultural heritage event deserving of respect and reverence.

Akiolu added that the portrayal was done without permission or due reference to the office of the Oba of Lagos.

“I am the custodian and final authority of the Adimu Orisa and its manifestation of the Eyo,” the monarch wrote.

“These traditional rites are the tangible and intangible property of the indigenes of Lagos and these are their bundle of rights of our intellectual property in our cultural heritage.

“This cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artefacts and intangible attributes that has been inherited from past generations over two hundred years ago, maintained in the present by the Oba of Lagos, and bestowed for the benefit of future generations.

“They must not be used without the indigenous owners’ express permission or desecrated in any way whatsoever.”

Oba Rilwan Akiolu alleged that ‘Gangs of Lagos’ grossly violated the rights of the indigenous people of Lagos contrary to the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007.

“This [covers] the right to maintain, protect, and develop the past, present and future manifestations of our cultures, artefacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature,” he said.

The monarch asked the film producers to submit within 14 days a proposal for the restitution of Eyo’s sanctity.

He asked the film producers to provide, within 14 days, a compensatory proposal for the infringement.

Amazon is the founder of Prime which only just released ‘Gangs of Lagos’ as its first original African production.