THE author of ‘The last days at Forcados High School’ Mr Ayobami Hanif Muhammed, is threatening a legal action against Cassava Republic, publishers of the book, for breach of contract.
Muhammed said his legal battle wouldalso extend to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for allegedly defrauding him.
At a briefing at the University of Lagos at the weekend, Muhammed and his lawyer, Ajayi Rahseed Fatoki, said they had filed an action against Cassava Republic, adding that JAMB would be notified soon.
Mohammed recounted how he wrote the book as an undergraduate of Medicine in University of Lagos in 2006 and forwarded the manuscript to Cassava Republic, then a new publishing firm which accepted and published it in 2013.
A year after, Muhammed said Fafunwa Education Foundation, picked interest in the book, recommended it for JAMB which adopted it to be used by candidates for General English for three consecutive years ( between 2014-2017), after the book has survived the board’s rigorous screening. Thereafter, Muhammed said he and the publisher were contacted, but since he had already entered into an agreement with the publisher, he felt there was no need to be at the negotiation between the publisher and JAMB, hoping the former would represent his interest.
According to him, both parties signed an agreement to issue each copy of the book to all candidates that bought JAMB registration form within the years mentioned.
Muhammed said: “After this, the publisher contacted me and to my shock started making efforts to compel me to deviate from my contract by agreeing to a lower royalty rate, citing discount. She first tried to get me to agree to a net royalty; this means all cost which ordinarily should be borne by the publisher, would be deducted from the author’s share. When I refused, she then suggested halving my royalty due to ‘bulk’. I refused and then all sorts of pressure, pleadings and even blackmail were applied. They took advantage of the fact that I was not present at any of the discussions and refused to show me the agreement they had with JAMB which they were contractually obliged to show me. After all this, I agreed to a reduction of 4.5 per cent royalty. This was, however, for the first year. Each year would be negotiated between the author and publisher.”
After the first sale in 2014-2015, Muhammed said he received a statement from the publisher, stating that 1,295,963 copies of the book were sold as against JAMB’s official figure of 1,475,477. “I requested for an explanation for the discrepancy and the reply I got was ‘JAMB paid them (publisher) for the number of books picked up by students”, noting that it was at this point he decided to inform his lawyer to arrange for a meeting, which yielded little or no outcome as the publisher continued to use different tactics to explain the discrepancy.
He lamented that he had not received any royalty for 2015/2016, while JAMB has only decided to adopt the book only for Direct Entry candidates for this session.
Earlier in the year, I was invited to an informal meeting with the JAMB Registrar at which to my surprise, he tried to persuade me to agree with the publisher. When the UTME registration was announced for this year, I saw my book was for Direct Entry candidates, while another book by the same publisher was for the UTME. This was against what the publisher told me from the beginning and I did not give permission for my book to be used for ‘Direct Entry’ candidates”
Fatoki lamented that ever since the agreement was signed, his client had not been obliged with a copy of it. Rather, Fatoki said the publisher has continued to employ varying tactics from subtle intimidation to threat.
JAMB has, however, denied any informal meeting with Muhammed.
The board’s spokesperson, Mr Fabian Benjamin, said JAMB entered into an agreement with Cassava Republic and as such is only answerable to it and not the author.
‘’I am not aware of any informal meeting you talked about,” Benjamin said.
“As I’m talking to you, we still have over a million copies of the book in our custody. If you were a businessman and you found yourself in my shoes, would you just allow those books to waste away like that? I do not wish to talk about the life span of that contract. The author should talk to his publisher.’’
But the management of Cassava Republic has described Muhammed’s claim as tissues of lies.
It said it exhibited transparency with Muhammed all through the process of the said agreement.
In an e-mail sent to The Nation, the management wondered why Muhammed had to rush to the press after he had already instituted a legal proceeding against the publisher.
The statement reads: “It is surprising that our author, Hanif Mohammed, would call a briefing at this stage, rather than allow the legal process he initiated to take effect. After consultation with our legal team, we have provided as much information as we can under the circumstances, without jeopardising the ongoing legal process.
‘’Please note that prior to his most recent legal team, the author has hired two previous sets of lawyers who, one after the other, informed our lawyer that on examination of the facts before them, they can no longer continue with the case. You’ll also note that the same author has taken the case to the Copyrights Commission and ICPC. Both agencies took little interest in his version of events.
‘’My guess is that the author has decided to go to the media rather than wait for the legal process. I cannot, therefore, but think that his action is an attempt to diminish our company in the court of public opinion. It’s a pity, as Hanif has earned a sum well into the eight figures in royalties from the book. It’s been a disappointing and upsetting process dealing with Hanif’s protestations when we have acted honourably to him throughout, as we always do with our authors.”
