I recently shared news of the interview granted by ThisDay Journalist Azuka Ogujiuba to Genevieve Magazine in which she claimed she was “quite upset” to discover her interview for ThisDay was published on a competitor platform, Pulse TV. Ogujiuba is a trained print journalist and current Senior reporter at ThisDay who has earned a strong positive reputation for her journalism skills. According to Ogujiuba’s interview with Genevieve Magazine, she had been chasing Tiwa for almost a month for an interview regarding her marriage being on the rocks. Tiwa was elusive until April 28, 2016 when Tee Billz, her husband, went on his rant on social media attacking Tiwa, threatening and actually attempting to commit suicide. In the early morning hours of April 29, 2016, Tiwa granted the interview to Ogujiuba.
Tiwa allegedly called and woke the print journalist up at 2am. She then asked her to come to her home to interview her. When the print journalist arrives for the interview for ThisDay’s print publication, Tiwa and her management team insisted the interview must be done on camera so Tiwa is not “misquoted.” They also agreed the interview was for publishing through ThisDay. Instead, Tiwa’s team , hours later, gave or granted permission of the recorded interview which appears to have been handled by Tiwa’s team for use to a competitor, Pulse TV. That’s like Tiwa granting a respected online editor employee of Bella Naija an interview, insisting it has to be on camera and it will be sent to Bella Naija but instead giving the interview with Bella Naija’s employee’s image and likeness to Linda Ikeji for publishing.
Pulse TV published the image, likeness and voice of Ogujiuba on You Tube. Three days later, the potent exclusive interview has over a million views but majority of the opinions have been very brutal and soiled the reputation of this print journalist. We are only three days into this interview and we have over 1million views. What happens at the end of 2016?
This move by Tiwa, first granting the interview in less than 24hours of her husband actually attempting to commit suicide; and second turning an exclusive that allegedly should have been ThisDay’s to Pulse TV shows why artists need to always get the help of competent legal counsel to help them, especially in crisis. If you don’t, you create or can create a bigger mess! Advise from friends and family is not legal counsel.
In Tiwa’s case what kind of bigger mess did she create?
- Ogujiuba speaking out in the manner she has chosen to, of which blogs and other media are now beginning to listen to her, calls Tiwa’s credibility and character into question.
- Was she paid for her story published on Pulse TV?
- Why would she give an interview that was meant for ThisDay to Pulse TV?
- What is her relationship with Pulse TV?
- Was the interview staged? Tiwa came across as credible, pained and a woman who had tried everything to help her husband. Ogujiuba’s version paints a different fact. It suggest a very calculated woman who planned every nitty gritty detail, along with her team, and then invited Ogujiuba over to do the interview.
- Did Tiwa set Ogujiuba up knowing fully well that hours after her interview she would turn that interview over to Pulse TV/permit Pulse to publish the exclusive?
Independent of the questions above that overall call her credibility or lack thereof into question, there are some liability issues that Tiwa’s actions may also create for Tiwa.
Invasion of Right to Privacy Against Pulse & Tiwa: While Tiwa most likely can claim a copyright to the recorded interview if indeed her “management insisted” the interview be recorded and presumably recorded it; it does not shield her from legal liability. Ogujiuba is a print journalist who seems to be claiming that the publishing of the video was an unauthorized use of her name and likeness for commercial advantage, at the expense of her and her publisher ThisDay. Based on her statements, she can easily file a suit against Pulse and Tiwa for invasion of her privacy. This type of claim is know as a ‘Right of Publicity’ in the U.S. In Nigeria, the parallel law typically used is called “Passing Off”. It is misrepresenting the goods or services of one person/company (Plaintiff) as that of the Defendant, and also prevents a Defendant from acting as if the good or services have some association or connection with the Plaintiff when this is not true. Ogujiuba is denying that the video interview had anything to do with Pulse or was for Pulse TV. Yet, somehow, Pulse TV has associated its name with Ogujiuba and ThisDay almost as if Ogujiuba did the interview for Pulse. Pulse TV now has over one million views, it has enjoyed advertising around the video, it has also just increased its brand value as a company that gets hot sizzling exclusives. Those benefits are and belong to ThisDay or if we use our analogy, those benefits belong to Bella Naija NOT Linda Ikeji.
Intentional Misrepresentation Against Tiwa: Ogujiuba could also have a claim for intentional misrepresentation, fraud or deceit. She would have to show that Tiwa made a misrepresentation (a material one at that) to her that ThisDay was the ONLY publisher allowed to publish Tiwa’s story with ThisDay employee Ogujiuba interviewing Tiwa in the video. Tiwa had the knowledge and intended to induce her to rely on Tiwa’s misrepresentation. Ogujiuba actually relied on Tiwa’s misrepresentation to allow the interview to be recorded by video. She justifiably relied on Tiwa’s misrepresentations because there was no reason to believe Tiwa would act to the contrary. Tiwa, however, did and now Ogujiubu’ss reputation is damaged. She has been ridiculed and over 1millions views later her skills called into question. It’s only 3-4 days we have the rest of the year for this woman to continue to be assaulted by the public for her skills. In addition, her earnings have been affected and will most likely be affected in the future. She got nothing from that interview except a soiled reputation for her and her employer.
Interference with Contractual Relations Against Pulse TV: Competition in the marketplace is great but there is such thing as crossing the line and when you do, the law steps in to say, “no. You don’t get to do that.” For this cause of action, either Ogujiuba and/or ThisDay would have to show that they either had a valid contract (verbal or written) with Tiwa OR they had economic expectancy with Tiwa regarding the exclusive interview; Pulse TV knew of the contract or expectancy; Pulse TV intended to interfere with the contract or expectancy; they in fact did interfere when they published the video on Pulse TV; the interference is improper; and both Ogujiuba and ThisDay have suffered damages i.e. bad reputation, loss of income (advertising revenue), lost earnings, among other things.
Again either way you slice it, Tiwa has to explain why she gave the interview of another company’s employee to the company’s competitor without the consent of the employee or her employer. Further, even if there is no explanation offered, what she has successfully done is put her credibility into question, and her actions seem to show a woman who is calculated rather than what she would have the public believe. For now, people are still very caught up in Tiwa’s video story and also projecting their personal experiences on her situation; but once the dust settles and people actually listen to what Ogujiuba is saying they will begin asking questions, some of which I already posed above.
AML artists, it is simple. There are many resources here on AML including the podcast sessions below that I have provided that are packed with information on how to handle situations like these, as well as diverse resources on where to reach a cross section of entertainment lawyers to help you in Nigeria, UK, and the U.S. Use these resources. Don’t try to fix things yourself. Get your lawyers, get good advice from your lawyers when you deal with a crisis like this. In trying to handle things yourself, you may just worsen a crisis.
In my view, Tiwa’s move was a very bad move. I seem to be one of the few voices saying so but I will continue with my position because when it comes to my writings about Tiwa and Tee Billz, pre and post marriage, I have been on the money so far. We have not seen the last of this situation and this was a very bad move by Tiwa.
-Ms. Uduak
Latest post by The Journalist on her Facebook Page:
“Woooooooow, lam really trending o, world people have now created another version n topic ‘The Interviewer’ out of Tiwa Savage n Teeblizz marital woe saga. The issue on ground have been shifted aside and my body language n mannerism during my chat with her is now giving some people sleepless nights.
I have one advice for people talking down on my profesional approach especially my colleagues- The training l got from the prestigious University of Lagos Mass Comm depart, as a print journalist is to go after the scoop first, how l looked or stared at Tiwa is not important but the story lam after. Secondly, was l able to make Tiwa talk about the allegations presented by her husband? Of course YES, that is what is important. Thirdly, did l have a good network to get the exclusive interview? YES obviously. Fourthly, did l risk my life as a true journaist would do for an exclusive interview by leaving my daughter alone in the bedroom, not thinking incase there was a sudden fire outbreak or something, or what about me who had to be driven from the mainland to the island on that dark and lonely third mainland bridge by 2.15 am? YES, l took one of the biggest risk of my life. Fourthly, why would Tiwa prefer me to all the televison personalities that has been compared to me to interview her, and some of these TV personalities are always hanging around her more than me? It is simply because she respects my style of journalism. Fifthly, Some people said l didnt show any empathy towards Tiwa when she cried and how did they know? And if l had been mushy mushy during my chat, they will still find fault n say l was biased. I bet a lot of these people abusing wish they were the ones who did that interview, too bad l have done it and nothing dey happen for igboro..
End of the day what gave me so much satisfaction was that l did the exclusive interview with Tiwa, l have done my bit as a print journaist(not TV) If anybody is so pained by my approach, they should drink acid o, ‘CYBER BULLYING’ has no space in my territory and to be honest l dont give a hoot about those hateful comments which they claim is criticism, anyway, it is a free world people are allowed to vent their frustrations termed critism. Iam not saying l wont pick from the criticism, the good ones l have happily accepted and the bad ones l have sent back to the senders o..LOL..
Its a new week FB family, may God almighty bless our hustle in Jesus name. Amen!”
Screenshots of excerpts from the Genevieve Magazine interview
AML Discussion on Tee Billz’s rants