COSON Nigeria

20/02/2026

19/02/2026

BREAKING NEWS!

COSON CALLS ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY DISMANTLE “THE ABUBAKAR MALAMI SCAM MACHINE” FOISTED ON THE NIGERIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY TO SIPHON MONEY FROM INNOCENT NIGERIAN MUSICIANS, BY THE IMMEDIATE PAST ATTORNEY-GENERAL & MINISTER OF JUSTICE.

Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, with members and affiliates spread across the nation and across the world, has called on the Federal Government to immediately dismantle what it calls the “Abubakar Malami Scam Machine” which it says was foisted by the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, on the nation, to siphon money from innocent Nigerian musicians.

At a red-hot press briefing held at the magnificent COSON House Ikeja on Thursday February 19, 2026, COSON gave a very detailed account of the birth and development of the Private Copy Levy scheme from which the sum of N1.2 Billion was said to have been recently allocated to Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) for distribution to copyright owners in the music industry, a development of which has raised tremendous controversy.

Said Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman of the COSON Board who read the text at the briefing on behalf of COSON: “When on 15th January, 2018, I embarked on a week-long open demonstration in front of the Federal High Court, Lagos, against Mr Abubakar Malami SAN, then Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, debatably, the most powerful man in Nigeria, it was after several meetings with Mr. Malami in his Abuja office. Mr Malami’s words and arguments had left me trembling and scared about the damage such a man, with his dangerous mindset and the enormous power he was wielding, could do to the future of Nigeria and how many years it would take our nation to repair the damage”.

Continued Chief Okoroji: “The revelation that the EFCC has traced properties worth over a whopping N212 billion to Abubaka Malami should make everyone sit up. The pocketing by one man and his family not known to be engaged in any significant manufacturing enterprise, any serious trading business or any special service delivery activity, of this frightening amount of money which is bigger than the budget of some states in Nigeria, is the true reason why millions of Nigerians live in abject poverty and penury and many see very little future for our country and have turned to crime that threatens all of us.

“The humungous amount of money said to have been traced by the EFCC to Malami may just be a mere fraction of the fortune tucked away by this man who seems to have his hands in every pie including the so-called recovered Abacha loot which is re-looted by deploying fantom legal consultants who pocket multi- million dollars in commissions for purportedly writing agreements which many lawyers at the Federal Ministry of Justice can easily do for nothing. What of the Paris Chub refund brouhaha?”

Revealing the sudden rebirth of MCSN, the former President of PMAN said: “On April 3, 2017, I had just returned to Lagos from attending the 75th birthday ceremonies of Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi’s in Abeokuta, when I got a call from a reliable source in Abuja, that without consulting anyone in the music industry and despite the strong protestation of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr Abubakar Malami was scheming to deceitfully have approved and licensed, the notorious group, Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) to collect and distribute royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians. MCSN’s controlling mind and alta ego is one Mayowa Ayilaran, who is not a song writer or composer, a music publisher or label owner, with absolutely no investment in the music industry and who has never been elected by the musicians of Nigeria to represent them in any form. An investigation will show that for 36 unbroken years, Mayowa Ayilaran has been the Chief Executive Officer of MCSN.

“At that point, MCSN and its officials were facing 7 different criminal cases before several judges of the Federal High Court. Indeed, an earlier attempt to license MCSN, was publicly nullified by the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.

“Having manipulated the system for over 25 years, trial was scheduled to commence in April 2017 in each of the seven cases in which Ayilaran and MCSN were defendants. That was indeed the significant reason for the hyperactivity in which the Honourable Minister of Justice quickly ‘approved’ MCSN without due process so as to truncate the criminal cases against Mayowa Ayilaran”

In the words of the COSON Chairman: “Upon Malami’s purported approval of MCSN to license, collect and distribute music copyright royalties, an unrelenting shakedown began to pressure organizations doing business in Nigeria who deploy music in their operations. One of the well-known examples is the Pay TV company, Multichoice, from which the sum of 2.7 billion Naira was grabbed and shared among the MCSN lords, their lawyers and enablers in government. Very few musicians in whose names the billions were obtained, ever saw one naira of the billions! This scandal of “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop” continues to hunt the Nigerian music industry till today. The time has finally come for a proper investigation of who got how much from the Multichoice shake down”.

Said Chief Okoroji, Nigeria’s best known copyright activist and author: “In the last several weeks, the Nigerian creative industry has practically been on fire. Apparently, the Nigerian Customs Service has released funds collected under the Private Copy Levy scheme which we first introduced to Abubakar Malami. It has become clear that the sum of 1.2 billion Naira has been allocated by the NCC under the leadership of John Asein to MCSN, Malami’s Special Purpose Vehicle, the leadership of which played no role in developing the scheme and which does not have the database or structure to manage the scheme. The development has sparked a lot of questions and agitations within the creative industry.

“Among the many questions being asked are:

1. How much, on the whole, has the Customs Service collected with regards the Private Copy Levy scheme?

2. How much, has the NCC received from the Customs Service with regards the Private Copy Levy scheme?

3. How has the money received by the NCC from the Private Copy Levy scheme been shared to ensure that it equitably reaches all rightful beneficiaries?

4. Who, where and when was it decided on how the money is to be shared?

“We wish to warn everybody that Karma is not done. As the Abubakar Malami experience shows, all those who think they are smart and are feeding fat at the expense of Nigerian musicians and the music industry will surely pay dearly for their greed”.

At the Press Briefing COSON made the following ten demands:

1. That to make certain that there is sanity and there is stability in the Nigerian creative industry going forward, the Federal Government must intervene immediately and ensure that the scam machine foisted on the Nigerian music industry by Mr. Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, to enable him, his friends and cohorts to siphon money belonging to innocent Nigerian musicians and other creative people, is dismantled immediately.


2. That to ensure that the funds resulting from the private copy levy scheme are not frittered away or rapidly stolen, the Federal Government should immediately request that no money resulting from the scheme is shared or spent by anyone forthwith until an equitable process for the distribution of the funds between the various right owners is determined in an open and transparent manner.


3. That the purported approval/licence given to Musical Copyright Society Nigeria to collect royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians by Mr Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, without following due process, be immediately annulled in the same manner that the earlier approval/license given to MCSN was annulled by President Olusegun Obasanjo.


4. That the seven criminal cases at the Federal High Court instituted against MCSN and its officers which under bizarre circumstances were stalled by the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation, be re-opened and fully prosecuted by the Nigeria Copyright Commission or in the alternative, by a private prosecutor appointed by the Attorney-General of the Federation.


5. That a thorough forensic audit of MCSN be mandated and conducted by a notable auditing firm to determine who received what from the 2.7 billion Naira obtained from Multichoice and all the other funds that have been collected by MCSN as royalties on behalf of Nigerian musicians, the music industry and foreign right owners.


6. That a thorough forensic audit of the Nigerian Copyright Commission be conducted to establish that the funds allocated to the commission have been justifiably utilized.


7. That a proper investigation of the sources of income of the leadership of MCSN be carried out without delay.


8. That after over seven years of implementing the agenda of Mr. Abubakar Malami, Mr. John Asein who has multiple petitions hanging on his neck be relieved of his position as Director General of the Nigeria Copyright Commission without delay and an even-handed person be appointed to head the commission


9. That all members of COSON should be warned that the recent desperate campaign of the leadership of MCSN asking right owners to join their discredited organization is to use them to cover up their long-standing deception and daylight robbery of the funds belonging to the musicians of Nigeria.


10. That no member of COSON should answer the call of the shameless. distressed and factionalized leadership of PMAN which fraudulently sold the land allocated by the government to build the PMAN Plaza in Abuja and pocketed the money and is now looking for Nigerian musicians to use as pawns in its fraudulent marriage with the leadership of MCSN to further defraud the musicians of Nigeria of billions of Naira belonging to them.

At the briefing, COSON assured its thousands of members and affiliates across the nation and its reciprocal representation partners across the world that COSON will continue to forcefully defend their rights and that transparency and accountability will remain the watch words of COSON.

25/11/2025

AT ITS 2025 AGM IN LAGOS, COSON HONOURS THE ICONIC REGGAE STAR, JIMMY CLIFF WHO PASSED ON A DAY BEFORE AND MEMBERS APPROVE THE DISTRIBUTION OF FOUR HUNDRED & NINE MILLION NAIRA TO THEMSELVES.
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‎At the 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) this Tuesday November 25, 2025, members of Nigeria's biggest copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), gathered in their hundreds at the COSON House in Ikeja, colourfully dressed and in a celebration mood.
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‎At the meeting, at which the COSON Chairman Chief Tony Okoroji read a 15 page detailed report of the activities of the society in the last one year, members expressed happiness about the transparency and accountability that has made COSON different from any other organization in Nigeria's creative industry.
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‎One highlight of the meeting was the one minute silence in honor of the iconic reggae star Jimmy Cliff who passed on a few hours before the meeting and who once visited Nigeria and whose music inspired many around the world for many-many years.
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‎Also honoured was one of COSON's staunch members, late Chief Romanus Ementa Okonkwo better known by his business name 'Rogers All Stars', under whose label some of the most popular music in Nigerian history, such as Prince Nico Mbarge's iconic Sweet Mother and the many great hits of Ikenga Super Stars of Africa and Bright Chimezie, were released.
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‎Also honoured with a minute silence was the late former president of PMAN Mr Femi Lasode who died during the year.
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‎Another highlight of the AGM was the approval by the members for the distribution of the sum of =N= 409,125,000.00 ( Four Hundred & Nine Million, One Hundred &Twenty-Five Thousand Naira) to the members and affiliates of COSON, with 20% of the sum, which is =N=81,825,000.00 (Eighty-One Million, Eight Hundred & Twenty-Five Thousand Naira) to be spilt equally among all members of the society whose names appeared on the society's register as at 19th May 2024. This will form the 3rd Palliative Royalty Distribution by COSON, to further ameliorate the present hard economic situation in the country. The royalty alert began to be received by the members at the end of the meeting.
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‎At the meeting, a concise report of the 2025 COSON week which thrilled the country in May was given.
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‎The 2025 COSON AGM was a memorable event with COSON members from across the country singing, dancing and making merry.
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07/11/2025

BARR. JANET OMOKE JOINS COSON AS GENERAL COUNSEL.
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‎Barrister Janet Chinonyerem Omoke has joined the management of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria's biggest copyright collective management organization, as Legal Officer and General Counsel.
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‎Ms. Omoke in her new position will coordinate and provide robust support to the different legal teams managing litigations affecting COSON, in various courts across the country.
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‎Ms. Omoke is a result-driven legal professional with a strong passion for litigation, and corporate law. She is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN). Previously, she has gained experience working with the Ministry of Justice, in Akwa Ibom State.
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‎Joining a team of professional managers that includes top-notch Intellectual Property experts and communication strategists, Ms. Omoke is poised to help COSON maintain its status as a leading intellectual property organization in Africa.
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‎COSON Acting General Manager, Mr Vincent Adawaisi expressed his enthusiasm for Ms. Omoke's addition to the team, stating, “At COSON, we are painstaking in assembling the very best trained and vibrant young minds that will deliver to the Nigerian nation a brand new music industry that can compete with the best anywhere on the globe.'
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21/10/2025

COSON BOARD MEETS IN LAGOS AND COMMENDS THE LAWYERS ASSIDIOUSLY DEFENDING THE INTEREST OF COSON ACROSS THE NATION

The full Board of Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), this Tuesday, October 21, 2025, met at the Boardroom of the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja, and took several important decisions ensuring that COSON continues to soar.

After reviewing reports of the activities of the strong team of lawyers defending the interest of COSON, its officers and members in various courts across the country, the Board resolved to openly commend those lawyers whose diligence has led to the unprecedented victories of COSON in the courts which victories have resulted in the sustained survival and non-stop growth of the organization in an environment of envy, hatred and covetousness.

The Board resolved to send a warning to all those who are judgment debtors to COSON to pay up their debts or face the massive outrage of COSON and its members.

The Board particularly applauded the recent letter written on behalf of COSON by one of its lawyers, to the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) and some of its members, drawing the attention of BON to the following facts:

a. That the legality of the purported approval of MCSN by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is currently being challenged at the Court of Appeal in Appeal No CA/L/415/2018.

b. That the legality of the purported suspension of the approval of COSON is also being challenged in suit No FHC/L/CS/425/2020 at the Federal High Court and Appeal No. CA/LAG/CV/166/2022 at the Court of Appeal.


c. That COSON has written to MCSN opting out, as required by law, to the licensing by MCSN of any of the hundreds of thousands of works assigned by their owners to COSON for licensing for the purpose of broadcast and public performance.


d. That consequent upon the foregoing, BON and its members are advised to ensure that no payment whatsoever is made to MCSN or anyone else for the use of works which have been assigned to or under the control of COSON.


The Board expressed its boundless pride that COSON has remained the most transparent and accountable organization in the history of the Nigerian creative industry, an organization which has made the following non-negotiable:

a. The professional auditing of its accounts in every year of its existence, with the accounts made available to every member for scrutiny and the accounts and returns filed with the CAC unfailingly as at when due, which is why on the website of the CAC, COSON is the only creative industry organization marked ‘active’.

b. The unfailing holding each year of its Annual General Meeting, even during Covid 19, and the opportunity given to all members to ask any question and receive clear answers.

c. The insistence that no one serves on the Board without being elected by the members and no one serves one day beyond his election except re-elected by the members.

The Board ratified several measures adopted to significantly boost the income to be distributed to the members and affiliates of the society and to protect the abuse of their rights.

The Board reaffirmed its determination to ensure that COSON remains an agent of strength, unity, progress and growth for the creative industry in Nigeria, and an institution that will continue to make transparency and accountability the core elements of its operation.

The COSON Board meeting was chaired by Chief Tony Okoroji, one of the continent’s most respected defenders of the rights of creative people and a celebrated former President of PMAN. Other members of the Board include Afro Juju Maestro, Sir Shina Peters; Gospel music minister, Kenny Saint Brown; Ace-drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole; Reggae gospel star, Righteousman Erhabor; Producer and TV host, Nimyel Nansel, better known as Zdon Paporella; Vivacious performer and first daughter of the legendry Ras Kimono, Oge Kimono Onwubuya, and well-known Enugu based music toaster and publisher, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu.

Also on the COSON Board are Abuja based music publisher and war horse of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Chief Uche Emeka Paul; Gospel Music Minister, Evangelist Olusegun Omoyayi; National President of Music Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MUPMAN), Engr Sharon Esco Wilson; Showbiz Impresario, Koffi Idowu Nuel, also known as Koffi Tha Guru and the Copyright specialist and Acting General Manager of COSON, Mr Vincent Adawaisi.

12/09/2025

UNFORGETTABLE!

Watch the full video of the much talked about fabulous Red Carpet Send-Forth Party for the retiring COSON iconic GM, Mrs Bernice Eriemeghe Ashibuogwu.
Unforgettable!
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UNFORGETTABLE!Watche the full video of the much talked about fabulous Red Carpet Send-Forth Party for the retiring COSON iconic GM, Mrs Bernice Eriemeghe A...

10/09/2025

OKOROJI PROMISES THAT GOV OTU OF CROSS RIVER STATE WILL SEE COSON EVERYWHERE, WHILE HE IS AWAKE AND WHILE HE IS ASLEEP!

Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, has promised that very soon, the Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Bassey Otu, will see COSON everywhere. Said Chief Okoroji: “Governor Otu will see COSON while he is awake; he will see COSON while he is asleep; he will see COSON in his dreams. We will not let him forget, for one day, that every public official and every government has an obligation to obey the orders of our courts.

“What we are doing with the Cross River State government is historic. It is a critical test case. Let us uphold the legal profession in Nigeria and defend the powers of Nigerian judges and Nigerian courts. It is about time we found out whether the whole legal system in Nigeria is a joke. Do Nigerian judges who spend countless hours, days, weeks, months and even years adjudicating complex cases, toiling in vain? Is their service meaningless? Are the billions we spend training lawyers and judges and funding the judicial system, wasted money?

“Cross River State Government is not above the law. Without any further delay, the government must pay the 500 million Naira debt it owes COSON by the orders of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal. We will not let them dodge their obligation or manipulate their way out of it. Let me be clear: every Nigerian, whether in government or not, has a duty to ensure that this nation upholds the rule of law and does not slide into anarchy. If we do not, the consequences will be too grave to imagine”

Chief Okoroji was speaking to some Nigerian creatives at Freedom Park, Lagos on Sunday, September 7, following the big launch of the book, “The Man Righteousman – the Hidden Gem” and the presentation of Righteouman’s new album, “24/7”, an event which was stormed by the kingpins of Nollywood, top names in the Nigerian music industry and family and friends of the celebrant.

After a review of the book done by renowned gospel music minister, Buchi Atonwu, Chief Okoroji who unveiled the 150-page book alongside Mr Idris Aregbe, the Senior Special Adviser on Arts, Culture & Tourism to Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, declared that Righteousman is a creative genius, always at work 24/7. He recommended the book to everyone to read saying that he was sure there are a lot of lessons to be learnt from the book.

In the words of Chief Okoroji: “In the last several years, I have worked with Righteousman on the COSON Board. In an environment where most people are only interested in taking, Righteousman is ever ready to give… always available to contribute his enormous talents and skills to the good of everyone which is why this venue is filled to the brim.

“During the period, I must have met Righteousman at least one hundred times. I am not sure that I have seen him up to five times without Carol Cee, his wife and “Champion Lover” by his side. Almost inseparable! They are a great source of inspiration that makes you understand that being married and being Christian are not old fashioned. Oh, it can be a lot of fun!”

Between Mr Aregbe, some of his friends and Chief Tony Okoroji, they bought 200 copies of the book for an undisclosed amount.

At the event attended by several members of the COSON Board were the COSON retiring General Manager, Mrs. Bernice Eriemeghe Ashibuogwu and Acting General Manager, Mr. Vincent Adawaisi.

02/09/2025

OKOROJI DECRIES THE RE-INTRODUCTION & PROMOTION OF TRIBAL & ETHNIC DIVISIONS & HATE.

As part of his “No Music Day”, live broadcast on September 1, Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), called on Nigerian creatives to call out any person engaged in brewing the treacherous liquor of tribal and ethnic intolerance and hate which he says led Nigeria to the past civil war that took the lives of millions of Nigerian citizens.

Chief Okoroji, in the broadcast, streamed across the globe, touched on several issues bedeviling the country and posited that they are all rooted in what has become a sordid national culture of corruption and flagrant disrespect of the people in power for the rule of law.

In the broadcast, the former President of PMAN and best known activist for the rights of creative people on the African continent, said: “Yes, I very much recognize the deep despair in the land, the hunger that threatens the life of millions of Nigerians, the insecurity that has snatched the lives of so many of our countrymen and the anguish under which many Nigerians wake up in the morning and go to bed at night.

“Nigerian creatives cannot afford to give up on Nigeria. We must work together for the unity of our country and the progress of our nation. We have again begun to witness the dangerous re-introduction and promotion of very treacherous tribal and ethnic divisions and hate, some of the reasons that incubated the past civil war which brought horror to many of our countrymen and sent millions of our citizens to their death. We must not let this happen again to Nigeria. I call on Nigerian creatives to call out any person engaged in brewing this treacherous liquor of intolerance and hate.

“We must contribute to making Nigeria a nation in which our people, from the East, West, North and South, appreciate that our different languages do not mean different destinies. We must ensure that we use our music, our movies and skits; our literature, postings and the contents we publish, not to create suspicion and distrust but let our people know that though we might practice different religions, we worship the same God.


“On this “No Music Day 2025”, I pray for all Nigerians who are going through trials, tribulations and hardship and beg the Almighty to please meet their needs. God bless the Nigerian Creative Industry and God bless the great people of Nigeria”.