Osuofia Kidnapped!
Mr. Owoh was kidnapped on Monday along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and his kidnappers are demanding for a ransome of N15million about $100,000.
Mr. Owoh was kidnapped on Monday along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and his kidnappers are demanding for a ransome of N15million about $100,000.The light-skinned actress, a close source told this reporter, is having a clandestine love affair with Ghanaian new actor and producer, Fred Nuamah, who also doubles as manager of Ghana’s International Boxing Federation (IBF) Bantamweight champion, Joseph Agbeko and an erstwhile radio presenter.
Not surprisingly, the two suspected lovebirds have denied having any amorous relationship. While the actor said he does not even know the sexy-lipped actress, she on the other hand informed that they are ‘just friends’.
A couple of weeks ago, Tonto was in Ghana to shoot her new movie with Young Father Productions, owned by Samuel Ruffy of ‘Honey Kuchi-Kuchi’ advert fame. Fred, according to a reliable source, was all over the place with Tonto.
On three different occasions, in the middle of the night, Fred was allegedly spotted sneaking in and out of the Genesis Hotel, located off the Accra-Kasoa road, where the actress had lodged.
Tonto, the source continued, could not make time to complete her production and had to leave for Nigeria. Some members of the production, the source said, blamed Fred for Tonto’s inability to finish shooting. Fred, the source disclosed, came to pick Tonto up while on set “and that was the end”.
The next time the production heard of the two, they were at the Kotoka International Airport as she sneaked out of the country.
However, the movie’s director, John Izedonmi, who confirmed Tonto’s inability to finish her job while in Ghana, said Fred could not be blamed.
“Fred has nothing to do with Tonto’s failure to complete the movie. It is not just possible that he would walk to location and pick her like that. Apparently, Tonto might have thought she had completed shooting her role and asked Fred to pick her up.
It was after she left that the Production Assistant (PA), after looking through the script, realized that she was left with four more scenes to do,” he said.
According to him, Tonto would be returning sometime soon to complete her scenes.
We gathered that a few days after Tonto left the country, Fred followed her to Nigeria “to continue from where they left off”’. But when contacted, the dark-skinned and afro hair-styled gentleman, in his reaction, said he does not even know Tonto Dike.
He admitted going to Nigeria, but said he was in that country to see Ramsey Nouah over his up-coming movie.
Sadly, however, Tonto let the cat out of the bag when in a telephone interview she said Fred was a friend.
Hear her: “I have a relationship with Fred? Are you kidding me? Is that what people are saying? That is very funny. It is a stupid rumour to me. Fred is my friend just like every other person that I have met. I do not have any amorous relationship with Fred.”
Efforts to get Fred to react to Tonto’s claim proved futile as his close associates said he had left for Las Vegas to oversee arrangements for Joseph Agbeko’s next fight.
Ramsey Nouah however confirmed Fred’s trip to Nigeria saying, “Yeah, he came looking for me a couple of days back. He came to see me. He came to drop a script for me. He called me and we had an appointment. That’s it.”
Frank Rajah also confirmed reports that he introduced Fred to Tonto but denied they are dating.
“Tonto is my good friend and when I was going to pick her, Fred went with me and everybody in the industry knows Fred is a very kind-hearted person. When Tonto met him, she liked him because the guy is a kind-hearted person and they related very well.
When Tonto was leaving, she called Fred to pick her up to the airport and he went to take her straight to the airport.
So I don’t see anything wrong with being a friend to somebody. Fred is a friend to everybody in the industry. Many of the Nigerian stars who come here stay in his house,” he concluded.
By David Ajiboye
Come 27th to 30th October 2009, the beautiful city of Abuja Nigeria will witness the convergence of two great events in one city. It will be a meeting point for film and soccer enthusiast as the 6th edition of Abuja International Film Festival and the FIFA U17 world cup tournament take center stage.
The festival will be declared opened by the Honorable Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyili at the Bolingo Hotel and Towers Abuja by 5pm on 27th of October with a red Carpet opening cocktail for the invited delegates.
Expected at the festival are delegates from over 20 countries who will partake in the festival screenings, awards, exhibitions, panel discussions and seminars that will run for 4 days at the Bolingo Hotel and Towers Abuja. The Theme of the festival is NOLLYWOOD What NEXT?
According to Fidelis Duker (Festival Director), Some of the confirmed speakers include the Director General of The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Otunba Segun Runsewe, DG Censors Board Mr. Emeka Mba, President Association of Producers Mr. Paul Obazele, Managing Director of VIASAT Network Ghana Mr. Lenon Jack, President Actors Guild of Nigeria Mr. Segun Arinze, The CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, DG National Broadcasting Commission Engr. Bolarinwa and DG Nigeria Copyright Commission Dr. Adebambo Adewopo amongst several. From the International scene, speakers will include beat, a delegation from Kenya, Ghana and the United Kingdom will be running a workshop on script development.
The Festival Manager also informed that Some of the films for screening and the competition category of the film festival will be CLOSE ENEMIES (USA/NIG), Perfect Picture(Ghana), Smoke and Mirrors (Nig), Disoriented Generation (UK), Man is Star (Tunisia), The PACT (Canada), Traumology (Spain), Men Enough (Uganda), Flower Bridge (Romania) and Razor (Australia) amongst among the over 60 films that will be screened during the festival.