He was first elected PMAN’s president in October 2016.
On Tuesday, Nigerian musician Pretty Okafor was re-elected as the president of The Performing Musicians Employers’ Association Of Nigeria(PMAN).
He was first elected PMAN’s president in October 2016.
The late singers Christy Essien-Igbokwe and Sunny Okosun founded PMAN in 1984 to guide, protect and promote the interests of musicians in Nigeria.
The PMAN boss, Mr Okafor, was one-half of the music duo Junior and Pretty, who dominated the Nigerian music scene in the 1990s with their unique rap style. Okechukwu Azike, A.K.A Junior, died on 2 February 2005 due to injuries sustained in a power bike accident.
Their hits include all-timers “Monica” and “Bolanle” from their album, “Fufu Flavour”, released in 1991.
Mr Okafor, who ran unopposed, was announced the winner of the election by the electoral chairman with a total vote of 50 during the PMAN’s national conference held in Lagos State.
Also reelected were Sunny Neji as the 1st Vice President, Zaaki Azzay as 2nd Vice President, Baba J.F.O as Treasurer, Michael Stevens (Ruggedman) as Chairman, Media Committee Ex officio, Boniface Itodo (Aitabonny) as General Secretary and Fada Bem Paul (Bempee) as Assistant General Secretary.
Mr Okafor and his team would serve another four years as PMAN national executives.
Also, drummer Lola Olamuyiwa, aka Ara Queen of Drums, was sworn in as the new governor of PMAN in Lagos State and was issued a certificate of return.
Acceptance speech
During his acceptance speech after the elections, Mr Okafor said that he didn’t want to re-contest as PMAN President, but he changed his mind when five state chapters purchased a form for him and insisted he must run for another term.
He said, “The whole thing became an issue when I resisted the pressure to run, and more so when the General Secretary told them that I have since submitted documents that I was not going to re-contest. The reason for this is that my business is growing, and I need time to pay more attention to it.
“But when I found out that members were almost fighting each other to make me re-contest, I decided to put my business aside, believing that the interest of PMAN was more significant than my interest. When it was time for the election, all the state chapters’ chairmen practically dragged me into the hall; some were even in tears, and they refused to sit down until I announced my decision to re-contest.”
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Re-elections
Mr Okafor, in his post-election speech, also stated that his achievements in PMAN in his previous tenure earned him an unopposed re-election.
He said, “And to cap it all, there was no election in the real sense of it; it was more of an adoption than an election. I think the reason they decided to bring me back as PMAN President was because of my achievements over the years. They were all surprised that nothing like this had ever happened in PMAN. For PMAN to have a solid structure, radio station, and other businesses like hotels was a big surprise to them. So, it was hard for them to let me go.”
Before the election, Michael Ugochukwu, aka Ruggedman, PMAN’s Chairman for media, emphasised the pivotal nature of Mr Okafor’s re-election, underlying the need for continuity in the association’s success.
According to Ruggedman, Okafor’s intimate knowledge of PMAN’s history and ongoing projects is indispensable, making him the natural choice for a second term as president.
He said, “I do not think anybody outside the executive can continue with the plans and projects of PMAN. The new president has to be him or somebody from his executive who understands our journey. It has to be somebody who knows where we are coming from and how we have gotten to where we are now because if the president is coming outside the current executives, it will take the new person about a year to get to understand what exactly we have been working on in these years.”
Ruggedman also clarified that Mr Okafor’s constitutional rights allow for a second term, and he has only completed his first tenure.
