Nollywood actor, Pete Edochie, has alleged threats to his life over his involvement in a multi-million naira movie sponsored by the Nigerian Army aimed at depicting the Islamic Movement in Nigeria as a terrorist organisation.
It was that the movie titled “Fatal Arrogance” was sponsored by the Nigerian Army as part of a cover up of the December 2015 massacre of Shiites by soldiers.
Over 348 people were said to have been killed, with 347 bodies secretly buried by the army in a mass grave during that incident.
In the movie shot in Enugu State and produced by Anosike Kingsley Orji, Edochie was featured in a role with an outfit resembling Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, leader of the IMN, who has been in detention since December 2015.
Reacting in a 12-minute video following the backlash that has greeted the movie production, the Nollywood actor claimed that he was not aware of the theme and script of the film before accepting the contract to feature in it.
He disclosed that he also minimised his role in the film production as a guest actor and asked Nigerians not to condemn the movie until it was released.
He said, “I don’t understand what the IMN is driving at. The film we shot is not even out, it has not been edited, the production is not complete.
“If they have complained to the Inspector-General of Police, and the IGP says give me a copy of the film, what are we going to do because the film is not in existence yet, it is not in circulation.
“I am supposed to have played a role that ridiculed their boss, chief, whoever is in charge of their group.
“I am suggesting that you wait, keep your gunpowder dry, when the film is released, you can now make your grumbles known to the Inspector-General of Police.
“Whatever is being done now is premature, it is not proper.
“Fatal Arrogance, whatever it is, whatever it deals with, I think the best thing to do is to wait until the production comes out.”
The veteran actor went ahead to raise the alarm over the threat to his life for acting in the controversial movie.
He added, “I did not write it, the film was produced by Kingsley Orji Anosike. If you want to express resentment over the production, which you have not watched, direct your grievances to the producer of the film not to Pete Edochie who is a mere actor, it does not concern me.
“I thank all those people who out of concern informed me of the campaign of deliberation of my person, the organised threat of my person by IMN, I thank you all. I’m a free born of Nigeria, I was born and raised in Nigeria. I’m not going to run away from Nigeria because a few individuals think they want things done in their own way.”
The IMN linked the movie to a book written by Kuanum Terrence, who it accused of being a military apologist.
The group has petitioned the Films and Censorship Board as well as the Inspector-General of police over the matter.