Francis Duru says Yorubas took over Nollywood that Igbos built and blames Igbos for letting it happen

• Francis Duru said Igbo filmmakers should learn from how Yoruba filmmakers promote their culture.

• He argued that Igbos failed to take advantage of opportunities within Nollywood.

• Duru pointed to Living in Bondage and Kenneth Nnebue while discussing Nollywood's origins.

Veteran Nollywood actor Francis Duru has stirred debate after arguing that the Igbo tribe, widely credited with founding Nigeria's film industry, has allowed the Yoruba to dominate a space they created through complacency and a failure to protect their cultural identity.

Duru made the comments in a recent interview with Yan Kontent Factory where he addressed the representation gap between Yoruba and Igbo content on streaming platforms like Netflix, and what he believes caused it.

"We need to learn from the Yorubas. Go to Netflix today. You hardly see one Igbo film that speaks of Igbo heritage. It's annoying. It's so shameful. But the Yorubas created an opportunity for themselves and utilised it very well," he said.

Rather than directing his frustration entirely outward, Duru turned it inward, questioning why Igbo filmmakers failed to recognise and respond to the same opportunity.

"Don't get angry with them. These are people who saw their own and protected their own. What happened to you?" he said.

Duru anchored his argument in what he described as the undeniable Igbo roots of modern Nollywood, pointing to Kenneth Nnebue, the Igbo businessman widely credited with producing Living in Bondage in 1992, the film broadly considered the origin point of the home video industry that became Nollywood.

"Nollywood from the phenomenon of Living in Bondage; we started it. Kenneth Nnebue was providing empty videos for Yoruba movies. That's what has given birth to the place we got to before people started seeing the industry," he said.

Duru also took aim at what he described as Yoruba writers crossing over to tell Igbo stories while misrepresenting Igbo identity in the process, specifically referencing the popular Yoruba-produced series Ahamefuna as an example.

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"You see the Yorubas crossing over to write Igbo stories just like Ahamefuna and made a mess of who we are," he said.

Ahamefuna is a widely viewed film produced by Olawumi Fajemirokun and Omobayowa Alabi that centres on Igbo cultural themes. Duru's stance is that it misrepresents Igbo identity.

Francis Duru is a veteran Nollywood actor who rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, appearing in several commercially successful films during the industry's formative years. He has been a consistent voice on industry matters and cultural representation in Nigerian cinema.

His comments have since ignited debate online, with Nigerians divided along tribal and industry lines over whether his characterisation of both groups is fair or accurate.