A Nigerian lawyer has urged veteran highlife singer Gentleman Mike Ejeagha to sue popular skit maker Brain Jotter for using his song without proper compensation.
The lawyer, identified simply as Nupe Lawyer, highlighted the issue on the X platform, emphasizing the implications of copyright infringement.
This advice follows Brain Jotter’s recent successful skit, which featured a song by Gentleman Mike Ejeagha from 2010. The skit went viral and brought significant attention to both the comedian and the classic song. Despite this, Brain Jotter only offered N2 million as compensation to the singer.
Nupe Lawyer argued that Gentleman Mike Ejeagha would benefit more from legal action against Brain Jotter rather than accepting the N2 million token. According to the lawyer, the singer could potentially secure a larger settlement by addressing the copyright infringement through legal channels.
“I hope the man has a good lawyer😀 you can’t use someone’s song for content raking millions and offer to give the man “2million” as if you are helping the man🤷♂️,” he wrote.
The post has since sparked mixed feelings from social media users who argued that the music had been dormant and never made that much in the last 14 years.
Reactions as lawyer urges Mike Ejeagha to sue Brain Jotter
bigmorsh said: “Not sure the man go do any case sef after 2 million. Since the song has been there, did it fetch him 2m?”
OritogunM penned: “He danced to the song; he didn’t utter a single word, didn’t change the lyrics, didn’t change the tone, didn’t perform the song on stage, the man’s name appeared on the original song tag on instagram. Now he has to pay royalties? Megan Thee Stallion is presently trending on TikTok; she should also demand royalties from people for dancing to her song?”
IdanFederal opined: “People are funny sha. person dance to song and be blow. if na so he dey be you know how many artist go don blow?…nobody claimed any intellectual property here like say e reproduce am.”
Creed_printz stated: “Wtf is two million, we ain’t serious in this country.”
revelationrabbi noted: “The funny thing is that the same Nigerians who can’t wrap their heads around the infringement of intellectual property as theft are the same Nigerians who want to protest against bad governance.”