COSON Nigeria

26/08/2026

COSON BOARD MEETS IN LAGOS AND CAUTIONS MUSIC USERS THAT MALAMI’S MCSN HAS NO LEGAL RIGHT TO ISSUE LICENCES OR COLLECT MONEY FOR THE THOUSANDS OF MUSICAL WORKS ASSIGNED TO COSON.

The full Board of Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), met this Tuesday, August, 25, 2026, at the Boardroom of the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja, and took several important decisions ensuring that COSON continues to soar. Every member of the 12- man Board attended the meeting.

One of the major decisions taken by the Board was that it should be made very clear to organizations and individuals who require licences to deploy music in a public or commercial setting in Nigeria, that despite the vexatious and purported approval of Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN), and the bizarre overnight withdrawal of the seven different criminal cases against MCSN fraudulently concocted by erstwhile Attorney General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, MCSN has no legal right to license or collect any money with respect to any of the thousands of musical works assigned to COSON by their copyright owners.

The information and clarification are directed at the general public, particularly, broadcasting organizations, hotels, restaurants, night clubs, event venues, banks, advertising agencies, supermarkets, disc-jockeys and any other organization or individual who needs a licence to deploy music in a public or commercial setting.

It should be noted that as required by law, COSON has long informed MCSN in writing that its thousands of members have opted out of any extended licensing scheme involving MCSN. Therefore, any organization or person approached by MCSN for a copyright licence, should demand evidence of the written copyright assignment to MCSN, to avoid legal action from COSON for the use of works the license of which was not authorized.

The Board also decided that the public be reminded that the legality of the Malami contrived “approval” of MCSN as a CMO, is still being challenged in court.
Once again, after reviewing reports of the activities of the strong team of lawyers defending the interest of COSON, its officers and members in various courts across the country, the Board resolved to openly commend those lawyers whose diligence has led to the unprecedented victories of COSON in the courts which victories have resulted in the sustained survival and non-stop growth of the organization in an environment of envy and covetousness.

The Board also resolved to send a warning to all those who are judgment debtors to COSON to pay up their debts or face the massive outrage of COSON, its members and lawyers.

The COSON Board meeting of August 25 was chaired by Chief Tony Okoroji, one of Africa’s most respected defenders of the rights of creative people and a celebrated former President of PMAN. Other persons who participated in the Board meeting include Afro Juju Maestro, Sir Shina Peters; Gospel music minister, Kenny Saint Brown; Ace-drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole; Reggae gospel star, Righteousman Erhabor; Producer and TV host, Nimyel Nansel, better known as Zdon Paporella; Vivacious performer and first daughter of the legendry Ras Kimono, Oge Kimono Onwubuya, and well-known Enugu based music toaster and publisher, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu.

More participants at the COSON Board meeting include Abuja based music publisher and war horse of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Chief Uche Emeka Paul; Gospel Music Minister, Evangelist Olusegun Omoyayi; National President of Music Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MUPMAN), Engr Sharon Esco Wilson; Showbiz Impresario, Koffi Idowu Nuel, also known as Koffi Da Guru, the Copyright specialist and General Manager of COSON, Mr Vincent Adawaisi and COSON’s Legal Officer, Ms. Janet Omoke.

19/08/2026

GRIPPED BY FEAR THAT THEIR MASTER, ABUBAKAR MALAMI, IS OUT OF POWER, MCSN BEGINS CAMPAING OF LIES AGAINST COSON, NIGERIA’S BIGGEST CMO

It has been brought to the notice of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest and most internationally respected copyright collective management organization, that out of fear, anxiety and dread, following the fall from power of their master, Abubakar Malami, the searchlight of law enforcement agencies is now beaming on how MCSN, an organization hitherto facing seven criminal cases at the Federal High Court, was purported to have been given government approval on the instructions of Mr Malami to be collecting billions of Naira in copyright royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians, many of who never see any kobo of the money. This is the same MCSN of which President Obasanjo had ordered that a dubious approval which they had got through the back door be annulled and was so annulled by the NCC.

In panic, the leaders of MCSN have begun to issue statements falsely informing the public that COSON is “defunct”. Fortunately, anyone can visit the magnificent COSON House at 41 Oluwaleimu St, off Allen Avenue, Ikeja, on any working day. Such a person will see an organization in a sparkling environment fully at work. Contrary to the reckless and malicious statements of MCSN, COSON is not defunct but fully operational and dutifully defending the rights of its thousands of members across Nigeria.

It is in the same manner that MCSN has fraudulently and shamelessly been spreading the false narrative that COSON has since been delisted from the Register of Companies by the CAC and no longer legally in existence. Anyone with a smartphone can easily confirm the truth or falsehood of this crazy narrative by logging onto https://icrp.cac.gov.ng/public-search, the website of the CAC. Not only will the person find that Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte is listed, Copyright Society of Nigeria is listed as “active”, the highest compliance status of any organization listed in the Register of Companies.

The recent order by the Federal High Court that Mr Abubakar Malami, the former Attorney General of the Federation & Minister of Justice should forfeit to the Federal Government 48 choice properties worth about a whopping 200 Billion Naira acquired by him through fraudulent means, confirms what COSON has been saying for a long time that the man, Malami is a big time scammer and a crafty fraudster, who used his position in the Buhari administration to twist the law and massively enrich himself and his family, enrich his cronies and enrich his lawyer friends.

Unfortunately, Nigerian musicians and the music industry fell victims of Malami’s greed. Once the former AG was convinced there was money to be made from the collection of copyright royalties and the levy on copyright materials, his insatiability was activated. Then, he discovered that he could team up with the MCSN gang with existing seven criminal cases filed by the Nigerian Copyright Commission. The man whose duty was to protect Nigerian law began to scheme on how to break the law.

Any proper investigation of documents at both the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) will show that the leadership of the NCC bluntly objected to Malami’s order that they withdraw the seven criminal cases against MCSN and approve MCSN as a copyright collecting society. The documents will show that the NCC leadership informed Mr Malami that what he was asking them to do was blatantly illegal and would mean the abdication of their duty to due process and result in serious instability in the music industry and reversal in the great progress the Nigerian nation had made in the copyright sector.

Blinded by greed and the belief that he had unlimited power, Mr Malami ordered the NCC to swallow their objections and obey his command. Faced with the likelihood of the loss of their jobs, the NCC leadership was forced to comply with the unlawful orders of Abubakar Malami and then sent a letter of “approval” to the MCSN gang. Any suggestion that the NCC acted on its own volition or in accordance with the law is completely false. The NCC wrote the letter under the gun! The sad fact is that Abubakar Malami as Minister of Justice, had no power under the law to compel the NCC to take the actions as he did.

When COSON went to the Federal High Court, Lagos to protest the bizarre development, the case file was suddenly snatched from the judge and overnight taken to Abuja so as to pressure the judge. This was on the further machinations of the almighty Abubakar Malami who at the time, was also arm-twisting the judiciary.
Desirous of full control of almost every mechanism that can make billions for him, his cohorts and his lawyer friends, a scheme was craftly activated to infiltrate the COSON Board, so as to either capture control of COSON or create instability in COSON.

When the members of COSON fiercely resisted the attempt to control their organization, Abubakar Malami once again ordered the NCC to “suspend” the approval of COSON so that his MCSN gang which had been primed to consider itself a “sole” collecting society, can run amok extorting huge sums of money on behalf of people who had not authorized MCSN to act on their behalf.

What has happened in the music industry is the raw exhibition of impunity, audacity and absolute lawlessness by a public official consumed by the love of money.

Unfortunately, as predicted by the leadership of NCC, in their initial rejection of Malami’s order, there is now a deluge of actions in the courts arising from Malami’s misadventure in the music industry.

In its tragic habit of misinforming everyone, MCSN in its recent public propaganda statement and campaign of lies against COSON, intentionally chose not to inform the public that an appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court against the July 6, decision of the Court of Appeal in the COSON ten billion naira claim against the NCC. In the spirit of full disclosure, the matter at the Appeal Court was an appeal against an interlocutory ruling of the Federal High Court. Trial has not even begun in the main suit not to talk of a final decision of the action.

The irrefutable fact is that the MCSN gang which some people in the music industry refer to as “Malami’s Copyright Scam in Nigeria” is scared stiff that a proper investigation which is probably on the way, will reveal the multiple criminality as Malami primed them for the continued looting of billions of Naira by a man who believed that his power would last forever.

22/04/2026

COSON BOARD MEETS IN LAGOS AND RESOLVES THAT COSON WILL LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED TO ENSURE THAT NO NIGERIAN CREATIVE ENTITLED TO THE BILLIONS FROM THE PRIVATE COPY LEVY IS DENIED HIS FAIR SHARE

The full Board of Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), this Tuesday, April 21, 2026, met at the Boardroom of COSON House in Ikeja, and made several important resolutions.

One of the key resolutions at the meeting is that COSON will take every step, go to any length and leave no stone unturned to ensure that no COSON member, and indeed, no Nigerian creative or creative industry investor entitled to receive a share of the billions of Naira presently accruing from the Private Copy Levy scheme, which was articulated and promoted for several years by the leadership of COSON, is denied his or her entitlement by the crafty deployment of dubiously manufactured technicalities.

Said the Board, “We are ready to fully resist the attempt to turn the Nigerian creative industry into a scammers paradise in which money belonging to innocent Nigerian creatives is blatantly butchered and shared by public officials in a manner lacking in transparency, accountability, fairness, justice and human feelings”

According to the COSON Board, “the Private Copy Levy is not Nigeria’s crude oil money, neither is it the Paris Club Refund of the Abubakar Malami era. It is money meant to cushion the sufferings of creative people in Nigeria traumatized by many years of devastating piracy and free-for-all copyright infringement. Apart from the thousands of citizens presently engaged in creative endeavours, the funds arising from the levy scheme are also meant to assist many widows of our great artistes that have passed on and many practitioners who today are in poor health and need urgent help. For a few people to share the proceeds of the levy among themselves and attempt to live big therefrom is unconscionable, devilish and unacceptable. Let them be warned that COSON will resist their wickedness. Our track record is well known”.

The Board commended its strong team of lawyers that have defended the interest of COSON, its officers and members in various courts across the country, It once again resolved to openly commend the upright judges whose decisions have led to the unprecedented victories of COSON in the courts, which victories have resulted in the sustained survival and non-stop growth of this unique Nigerian organization in an environment in which every step has been taken to kill COSON by covetous and avaricious persons driven by bitter or malicious hearts, intense envy, jealousy, ill-will and a grudging attitude towards the success of COSON, Nigeria’s flagship copyright collective management organization.

The Board also decided that the general public be reminded of the following facts:

a. That the legality of the purported approval of Abubakar Malami’s MCSN by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is currently being vigorously challenged at the Court of Appeal in Appeal No CA/L/415/2018.


b. That the legality of the purported suspension of the approval of COSON on the orders of Abubakar Malami is also being challenged in suit No FHC/L/CS/425/2020 at the Federal High Court and Appeal No. CA/LAG/CV/166/2022 at the Court of Appeal.


c. That COSON has written to Malami’s MCSN opting out, as required by law, to the licensing or representation by MCSN of any of the hundreds of thousands of works assigned by their owners to COSON.


d. That COSON remains a very significant representative of copyright owners in musical works and sound recordings in Nigeria and entitled to receive the Private Copy Levy on behalf of its members and it will be a big joke to mention that money given to the leaders of Abubakar Malami’s MCSN is available to the thousands of COSON members.
The Board ratified several measures adopted to significantly boost the income to be distributed to the members and affiliates of the society and to protect the abuse of their rights.

The Board reaffirmed its determination to ensure that COSON remains an agent of strength, unity, progress and growth for the creative industry in Nigeria, and an institution that will continue to make transparency and accountability the core elements of its operation.

The COSON Board meeting was chaired by Chief Tony Okoroji, one of the continent’s most respected defenders of the rights of creative people and a celebrated former President of PMAN. Other members of the Board include Afro Juju Maestro, Sir Shina Peters; Gospel music minister, Kenny Saint Brown; Ace-drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole; Reggae gospel star, Righteousman Erhabor; Producer and TV host, Nimyel Nansel, better known as Zdon Paporella; Vivacious performer and first daughter of the legendry Ras Kimono, Oge Kimono Onwubuya, and well-known Enugu based music toaster and publisher, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu.

Also on the COSON Board are Abuja based music publisher and war horse of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Chief Uche Emeka Paul; Gospel Music Minister, Evangelist Olusegun Omoyayi; National President of Music Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MUPMAN), Engr Sharon Esco Wilson; Showbiz Impresario, Koffi Idowu Nuel, also known as Koffi Tha Guru and the Copyright specialist and General Manager of COSON, Mr Vincent Adawaisi.

20/02/2026

19/02/2026

BREAKING NEWS!

COSON CALLS ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY DISMANTLE “THE ABUBAKAR MALAMI SCAM MACHINE” FOISTED ON THE NIGERIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY TO SIPHON MONEY FROM INNOCENT NIGERIAN MUSICIANS, BY THE IMMEDIATE PAST ATTORNEY-GENERAL & MINISTER OF JUSTICE.

Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organization, with members and affiliates spread across the nation and across the world, has called on the Federal Government to immediately dismantle what it calls the “Abubakar Malami Scam Machine” which it says was foisted by the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, on the nation, to siphon money from innocent Nigerian musicians.

At a red-hot press briefing held at the magnificent COSON House Ikeja on Thursday February 19, 2026, COSON gave a very detailed account of the birth and development of the Private Copy Levy scheme from which the sum of N1.2 Billion was said to have been recently allocated to Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) for distribution to copyright owners in the music industry, a development of which has raised tremendous controversy.

Said Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman of the COSON Board who read the text at the briefing on behalf of COSON: “When on 15th January, 2018, I embarked on a week-long open demonstration in front of the Federal High Court, Lagos, against Mr Abubakar Malami SAN, then Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, debatably, the most powerful man in Nigeria, it was after several meetings with Mr. Malami in his Abuja office. Mr Malami’s words and arguments had left me trembling and scared about the damage such a man, with his dangerous mindset and the enormous power he was wielding, could do to the future of Nigeria and how many years it would take our nation to repair the damage”.

Continued Chief Okoroji: “The revelation that the EFCC has traced properties worth over a whopping N212 billion to Abubaka Malami should make everyone sit up. The pocketing by one man and his family not known to be engaged in any significant manufacturing enterprise, any serious trading business or any special service delivery activity, of this frightening amount of money which is bigger than the budget of some states in Nigeria, is the true reason why millions of Nigerians live in abject poverty and penury and many see very little future for our country and have turned to crime that threatens all of us.

“The humungous amount of money said to have been traced by the EFCC to Malami may just be a mere fraction of the fortune tucked away by this man who seems to have his hands in every pie including the so-called recovered Abacha loot which is re-looted by deploying fantom legal consultants who pocket multi- million dollars in commissions for purportedly writing agreements which many lawyers at the Federal Ministry of Justice can easily do for nothing. What of the Paris Chub refund brouhaha?”

Revealing the sudden rebirth of MCSN, the former President of PMAN said: “On April 3, 2017, I had just returned to Lagos from attending the 75th birthday ceremonies of Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi’s in Abeokuta, when I got a call from a reliable source in Abuja, that without consulting anyone in the music industry and despite the strong protestation of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr Abubakar Malami was scheming to deceitfully have approved and licensed, the notorious group, Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) to collect and distribute royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians. MCSN’s controlling mind and alta ego is one Mayowa Ayilaran, who is not a song writer or composer, a music publisher or label owner, with absolutely no investment in the music industry and who has never been elected by the musicians of Nigeria to represent them in any form. An investigation will show that for 36 unbroken years, Mayowa Ayilaran has been the Chief Executive Officer of MCSN.

“At that point, MCSN and its officials were facing 7 different criminal cases before several judges of the Federal High Court. Indeed, an earlier attempt to license MCSN, was publicly nullified by the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.

“Having manipulated the system for over 25 years, trial was scheduled to commence in April 2017 in each of the seven cases in which Ayilaran and MCSN were defendants. That was indeed the significant reason for the hyperactivity in which the Honourable Minister of Justice quickly ‘approved’ MCSN without due process so as to truncate the criminal cases against Mayowa Ayilaran”

In the words of the COSON Chairman: “Upon Malami’s purported approval of MCSN to license, collect and distribute music copyright royalties, an unrelenting shakedown began to pressure organizations doing business in Nigeria who deploy music in their operations. One of the well-known examples is the Pay TV company, Multichoice, from which the sum of 2.7 billion Naira was grabbed and shared among the MCSN lords, their lawyers and enablers in government. Very few musicians in whose names the billions were obtained, ever saw one naira of the billions! This scandal of “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop” continues to hunt the Nigerian music industry till today. The time has finally come for a proper investigation of who got how much from the Multichoice shake down”.

Said Chief Okoroji, Nigeria’s best known copyright activist and author: “In the last several weeks, the Nigerian creative industry has practically been on fire. Apparently, the Nigerian Customs Service has released funds collected under the Private Copy Levy scheme which we first introduced to Abubakar Malami. It has become clear that the sum of 1.2 billion Naira has been allocated by the NCC under the leadership of John Asein to MCSN, Malami’s Special Purpose Vehicle, the leadership of which played no role in developing the scheme and which does not have the database or structure to manage the scheme. The development has sparked a lot of questions and agitations within the creative industry.

“Among the many questions being asked are:

1. How much, on the whole, has the Customs Service collected with regards the Private Copy Levy scheme?

2. How much, has the NCC received from the Customs Service with regards the Private Copy Levy scheme?

3. How has the money received by the NCC from the Private Copy Levy scheme been shared to ensure that it equitably reaches all rightful beneficiaries?

4. Who, where and when was it decided on how the money is to be shared?

“We wish to warn everybody that Karma is not done. As the Abubakar Malami experience shows, all those who think they are smart and are feeding fat at the expense of Nigerian musicians and the music industry will surely pay dearly for their greed”.

At the Press Briefing COSON made the following ten demands:

1. That to make certain that there is sanity and there is stability in the Nigerian creative industry going forward, the Federal Government must intervene immediately and ensure that the scam machine foisted on the Nigerian music industry by Mr. Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, to enable him, his friends and cohorts to siphon money belonging to innocent Nigerian musicians and other creative people, is dismantled immediately.


2. That to ensure that the funds resulting from the private copy levy scheme are not frittered away or rapidly stolen, the Federal Government should immediately request that no money resulting from the scheme is shared or spent by anyone forthwith until an equitable process for the distribution of the funds between the various right owners is determined in an open and transparent manner.


3. That the purported approval/licence given to Musical Copyright Society Nigeria to collect royalties on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians by Mr Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, without following due process, be immediately annulled in the same manner that the earlier approval/license given to MCSN was annulled by President Olusegun Obasanjo.


4. That the seven criminal cases at the Federal High Court instituted against MCSN and its officers which under bizarre circumstances were stalled by the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation, be re-opened and fully prosecuted by the Nigeria Copyright Commission or in the alternative, by a private prosecutor appointed by the Attorney-General of the Federation.


5. That a thorough forensic audit of MCSN be mandated and conducted by a notable auditing firm to determine who received what from the 2.7 billion Naira obtained from Multichoice and all the other funds that have been collected by MCSN as royalties on behalf of Nigerian musicians, the music industry and foreign right owners.


6. That a thorough forensic audit of the Nigerian Copyright Commission be conducted to establish that the funds allocated to the commission have been justifiably utilized.


7. That a proper investigation of the sources of income of the leadership of MCSN be carried out without delay.


8. That after over seven years of implementing the agenda of Mr. Abubakar Malami, Mr. John Asein who has multiple petitions hanging on his neck be relieved of his position as Director General of the Nigeria Copyright Commission without delay and an even-handed person be appointed to head the commission


9. That all members of COSON should be warned that the recent desperate campaign of the leadership of MCSN asking right owners to join their discredited organization is to use them to cover up their long-standing deception and daylight robbery of the funds belonging to the musicians of Nigeria.


10. That no member of COSON should answer the call of the shameless. distressed and factionalized leadership of PMAN which fraudulently sold the land allocated by the government to build the PMAN Plaza in Abuja and pocketed the money and is now looking for Nigerian musicians to use as pawns in its fraudulent marriage with the leadership of MCSN to further defraud the musicians of Nigeria of billions of Naira belonging to them.

At the briefing, COSON assured its thousands of members and affiliates across the nation and its reciprocal representation partners across the world that COSON will continue to forcefully defend their rights and that transparency and accountability will remain the watch words of COSON.