Exclusive: Nollywood actor reveals secrets behind arms importation
Having worked as an investigative journalist on Energy desk which made him travel far into the creeks while working on some oil and gas stories, David Danisa wrote and produced his first ever movie on his investigations on the stealing of Nigerian crude oil in exchange for weapons.
David Ivan Danisa
Ever wondered how the Niger Delta militants get heavy arm and ammunition? David Danisa with a degree in History and his personal investigation reveals this time when Nigeria is facing challenges from the Niger Delta militants and downing price of crude oil plus the involvement of the military in his movie Chameleon.
Chameleon stars David Ivan Danisa, who also doubled as the writer and producer, Michael Fourage, Carlos Ferreira, Juliana Alves Rosa, Yolanda Trono and Mendaly Ries among several other international actors. Chameleon was shot in different countries and cities that include Nigeria (Lagos and Calabar), Germany, Luxembourg, Brussels and Paris
What motivated you to produce a movie on a trending yet sensitive issue like this?
The zeal to inform people about what is happening around them in their localities in a language they can easily relate to. To tell them, present it the way they will understand.
As a journalist how did you get close insight into the oil and gas sector?
As a young child at age nine I started reading the newspaper, armed with a degree in History I joined journalism writing for the foreign desk and later moved around the various desk and then to the Business and Energy desk. All this prepared me for this movie.
Will you say that gave you an insight into what you revealed about the exportation of crude oil and the importation of arms?
Yes, the insight came out of curiosity. The insight came actually when I was a teenager and they talked about the illegal bunkering of the nation’s oil. As a teenager we discussed how this works and the money involved. Then for somebody to steal crude oil for us was a big thing then because the country was centralized and not that privatized as it is now.
The back drop of the issue discussed in Chameleon is a major issue that is affecting Nigeria as a country, how factual is the issues you raised in this movie?
I will say they are 100% facts. I was a journalist in Nigeria, I studied History and some of the issues discussed in this movie are things I wrote on while in school. I also work in the financial institution abroad and I have worked on cases involving Nigerians which I can’t talk about here. There are arms being shift to Nigeria as we speak and those arms are coming in for destruction.
What do you want to achieve with this film coming at this particular time in Nigeria’s history?
I have discussed this with my boss as an editor long time before now and I think I am like a wizard. I do something independently on my environment and then I see interrelationship of an article I did days back becoming a national issue. I know when I started writing this story, it was not so big an issue in Nigeria, it was just a reflection of ideas I try to develop as a child. Sometimes you think you are working independently and not being influenced by the variables in the environment but subconsciously it just might. Perhaps that’s just it, this is a big issue now and our existence as a country is being threatened by it.
You know this movie will create a lot of debates and discussions, are you prepared for that?
I will say I am not afraid to say that I took a political position. The way I see it is from a different position. I think it can be used as a political expression in a political way.
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Don’t you think forces behind these oil bunkering and arms importation will come after you for revealing too much of their secret? Aren’t you threatened?
Not at all, I don’t think I have revealed anything incriminating about any one? What I have tried to do is to awakening our collective aspiration as a people on the part of the citizen, the government and the agents of state.
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