Date: 2013-04-27

A former Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, governorship candidate in the 2011 election in Kwara State, Mohammed Belgore, on Thursday accused the Kwara State Government of lying about an award they claimed the state won in France recently.

The state government had claimed that a documentary on its Shonga Farm project won the award in the Agriculture and Green Economics category in the 2013 edition of the Deauville Green Award in France at the 2nd International Festival of Corporate Film & TV on Ecology and Sustainable Development.

The three day event, held between April 16 and 18, provided participants the platform to discuss current ecological issues and highlight audiovisual productions by directors and festival sponsors, with about 200 films from 20 countries competing for various prizes.

At the end, four grand prizes were awarded to the best director, the production rated the most eco-responsible/friendly, the private company and the public enterprise with the best environmental and audiovisual policy, along with prizes awarded in each of the 12 categories.

The categories included Climate Change & Society; Renewable Energies & Sustainable Technologies; Transports & Eco-Mobility; Health & Lifestyles; Agriculture & Green Economics; Housing & Eco-Innovations; Eco-Tourism & Biodiversity; Sustainable Production & Consumption; Business & Social Responsibility; Economy & Ecology; Post-Industrial Systems & Innovations, and Corporate Sponsorship & Humanitarian Help. The Kwara film, ‘A Farm for Africa' directed by Ed Wardie and produced by Matt Reid Film & TV for Kwara State Government was one of the finalists for the grand prize in theEnvironmental Broadcasting Policy Category.

However, contrary to the claim by the Kwara State Government that its film emerged the winner in its category, PREMIUM TIMES findings show this not to be true. The state government and Bukola Saraki, a Kwara Senator and former governor, had last weekend issued separate statements celebrating the award as a "further validation of Mr. Saraki's unparalleled vision for agro-reform."

Kwara State Government's spokesman, Femi Akorede, had said in the statement that the documentary, titled "A Farm for Africa," won the "Grand Prix Award in the Agriculture and Green Economics.

The documentary never won that category PREMIUM TIMES check revealed. According to the organisers of the award, the category was jointly won by "New Vision for Agriculture," directed by Simon Waldron and produced by Lonelyleap for the World Economic Forum (WEF) and a documentary, 'Global Gâchis, Le Scandale Mondial Du Gaspillage Aimentaire' (translated 'Total Waste, The Worldwide Scandal Of The Wasting Aimentaire), directed by Olivier Lemaire and produced by CAPA Televisions. Belgore condemns claim

Mr. Belgore's media aide, Rafiu Ajakaye, also described the claim by the state government, as "a sham and diversionary concoction to satisfy its obsession for media attention to mindless lies."

According to Mr. Ajakaye, the claim follows a familiar pattern by the state administration, which recently claimed some Belgore supporters defected en masse to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying "some agents of the party were paid to disguise as ACN/Belgore supporters to satisfy PDP's obsession with publicity."

"We have since discovered that PDP and its government can go to any length, including concocting mindless lies, to satisfy their obsession for media attention.

"When you place the defection story against the claim by the leader of the 'defectors' that they belonged to MDB Forum, the whole thing falls flat in its face, because there is nothing like the MDB Forum," he said.

According to Mr. Ajakaye, a communiqué issued in French by the organisers' press relations officers, Camille Hewitt and Razika Baa, showed that winners in the various categories of the award, contradicted the claims by both the state government and Saraki.

The English version of the communiqué titled Palmarès DEAUVILLE GREEN AWARDS 2013, confirmed the information in the communiqué issued in French.

"Why this mindless falsehood?" Mr. Ajakaye asked, saying many commentators that participated in the debate by Kwara indigenes over whether or not the 12-minute documentary on Shonga farm won the award, which dominated discussions in the social media network at the weekend, also faulted Mr. Akorede's claims.

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