August 24, (THEWILL) – Dr. Pretty Okafor, the National President of the Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria (PMAN), has been suspended from office.
Okafor, who is in Spain attending to matters pertaining to PMAN, was reportedly removed by those who don’t like his style of leading the music union body.
This group is allegedly being led by the National Secretary of PMAN, Boniface Itodo, aka Aital Bunny.
Veteran musician, Sunny Nneji, has been appointed interim President to oversee the affairs of PMAN.
Plans to remove Okafor had been in the works for a very long time but the group only found the opportunity to carry out his removal when he travelled out of the country.
One of the group’s grouses against Okafor includes the suspended head directing a PMAN property developer to deposit $40,000 into his (Okafor) personal domiciliary account without proper authorisation from the National Working Committee (NWC) which, according to them, violates the body’s constitution.
Sources claim that the group, which ousted Okafor, were irked by his action but more importantly because he refused to share money meant for running PMAN with them.
Okafor, reacting to his purported suspension, said he got a query sent to him in Spain and he took time to respond to all the issues raised in the query only to be awakened by the news of his suspension.
Apparently, those who orchestrated his suspension have no such powers to do so while those on the side of Okafor have vowed not to allow the suspension to stay.
Okafor was elected president in 2016. He was re-elected unopposed for a second term in 2023.
