By Olusegun Olanrewaju
The National Association of Seadogs (NAS), also known as Pyrates Confraternity, yesterday disowned a group self-styled the Association of Humble and Obedient Youths (AHOY) over identity theft.
The association said it has commenced a process of legal actions to denounce the claims by individuals in the AHOY group who made a video that has gone viral associating their origins and continued existence with NAS.
A press statement jointly issued by Tortuga-in-Council (T-i-C) and the NAS Board of Trustees, which was read by the NAS Capn, Mr Abiola Owoaje, at a briefing in Lagos, indicated that the infraction by the group was detrimental to the Pyrates Confraternity.
The statement was jointly signed by members of the T-i-C and NAS BoT including Prof Wole Soyinka Member (Matelot Emeritus); Chairman of T-i-C, Chief Bassey Edem; Engr Oladipo Ashafa; Prof Olatunde Makanju; Dr Odili Ojukwu; Otunba Ben Oguntuase, and Steve Akhigbemidu, among 11 others.
Owoaje said, “Having watched a video purportedly made by a group self-styled the Association of Humble and Obedient Youths (AHOY) in which the individuals who made the video seek, forlornly and incompetently, to associate their origins and continued existence with our organisation especially with our Seven Founding Fathers, hereby place on record the following statement in denunciation of those claims.
“The said video constitutes the most impudent, brazen episode of piracy on the high seas – the real thing – yet to be acknowledged in seafaring lore. It is more comical than Baba Sala in cross[1]dressing, more improbable than a Mr Bean cartoon, and more puerile than the petulant antics of an infant denied a lick from an ice cream cone.
“As an attempt to legitimize a dubious provenance by an unsustainable link to our organisation, it is a pathetic and abject failure. The overwhelming inaccuracies in their accounts confirm that their objectives were disingenuously criminal. Many of the statements are serious, untrue, and highly inflammatory.
“Indeed, some of them are out rightly incontrovertible malicious falsehoods. Some of the statements carry serious and continuing threats to our reputation and, specifically, our organisation’s collective and individual memberships’ integrity.
“These circumstances lead to the inescapable conclusion that they have pursued this course not only with the specific intent of undeservedly elevating their dubious existence but, in doing so, to damage our reputation. All claims made by the authors of the video or that organisation that seek this linkage are hereby denied and rejected.”
He said the implications of what the group had done were sinister, adding that NAS believes that no one attempts such a monstrous corporate heist in the face of living witnesses and authentic stakeholders without the assurance of protection in high places.
“For the record, the group to which this disclaimer relates calls themselves the Association of Humble and Obedient Youths. They have registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in this name with RC No 16241 with a certificate issued on 2 August 2021.
“Their trustees, namely those who appear to be responsible for that entity’s activities include the following: Enitan Afinuomo, John Kester, Oluwadamilare Obayemi, Lawal Einwunmi, Timothy Adegunle, David Nowoola, Ayoola Olusada, Uzoma Okoli, Ayodele Soetan, Sunday Akowe, and Olatilewa Oluwayemi,” he added.
Owoaje further stressed, “To ignore this impudence would be a gross abdication of the considerable responsibility that we have come to accept as one of the barometers of the social conscience of the communities within which we operate.”
He said already, NAS, had already started the legal process of tackling the group on the issue of copyright infringement on Pyrates Confraternity logo and other insignias.
