The 2007 African Movie Academy (AMA) awards has come and gone, but has definitely left a memorable impression in the minds of many people.
Held at the Township Stadium and Gloryland Cultural Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa Sate, a fortnight ago, organisers of the much talked-about award were said to have performed far below the expectations of fans, participants and guests.
NollywoodReel gathered that the first thing that left many guests disappointed was the organiser’s inability to start the ceremony on time. The award was expected to start by 4:00 p.m. on that Saturday (10 March, 2007), but could not start till around 7.30p.m.
Besides, the host governor, Goodluck Jonathan, whom a lot of the guests had eagerly waited to see did not show up. He was later said to be very busy doing other things in Abuja.
Some of the guests who spoke to NollywoodReel noted that lack of technical and organisational ability was what made the day sour.
“I don’t like how the awardees and their entourage could not be controlled to the extent that they stormed the stage, making it difficult to identify who was collecting what and who was presenting it,” a guest identified as Fisayo Ajibola lamented.
He added that: “The venue is a masterpiece, kudos to Bayelsa State government. But the organisers and technical crew short-changed themselves and the venue by not exploring the seats, but decided to clutter a particular angle with guests.”
NollywoodReel also gathered that backstage, there was no sitting arrangement for music acts that were billed to perform. Some of them, who could no longer stand this, had to sit on the floor in the presence of foreign artistes like Monique and Tic-tac.
Even journalists billed to cover the event had to slug it out with the organisers before normalcy was restored. The problem started immediately after they arrived Bayelsa on the eve of the D-day.
An argument ensued when the organisers wanted to squeeze about 25 journalists in just five hotel rooms as against the agreement of one head per room before leaving Lagos for Bayelsa. The newsmen resisted and a better arrangement was grudgingly made for them.
However, Amstel Malta’s sponsored flick, Sitanda, was the cynosure of all eyes on the day. It clinched almost all the categories in which it was nominated.
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