Nollywood filmmaker and actor Stanley “Stan K. Amandi” Amandi is trending on social media following his arrest over an alleged role in a failed coup plot aimed at overthrowing President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that security operatives arrested the actor alongside several military officers in September 2025.
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Although his name surfaced publicly for the first time months after the arrest, the newspaper gathered that the alleged coup plotters engaged Amandi as a propagandist.
Investigators alleged that the group planned to assassinate top government officials last year, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, among others.
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Profile
Here, we profile and detail Amandi’s background and career.
Born in Enugu State, he is a filmmaker and producer who features in several Nollywood productions after beginning his acting career as a teenager.
He acts alongside industry veterans, including Ngozi Ezeonu, the late Zulu Adigwe, Patience Ozokwor and Nkem Owoh, among others.
Amandi also served as chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN). He was credited with introducing actor Harry Anyanwu, who was known for playing Igwe and elderly roles in films, into the industry.
Following the suspension of the Enugu AGN chairman, Brown Ene, in December 2022 over alleged misappropriation of funds, the guild’s National Executive Council appointed Amandi as sole administrator of the state chapter.
He was tasked with overseeing its affairs on an interim basis pending the outcome of an investigative panel’s report.
Portfolio
As a filmmaker, Amandi directed titles such as “The Album”, “Nkwocha”, “Tiger King”, and “Tiger King 2.” He also featured in films including “Lionheart”, “Bachelors”, “Monica the Fighter”, and “Another Bondage”, among others.
He attended Union Secondary School, Awkunanaw, in Enugu State, and later obtained a degree from the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in Rivers State.
While the course he studied was unknown as of press time, his LinkedIn profile showed he attended the university between 1982 and 1986. He listed Humanities.MBA., MGT as his qualifications.
Amandi also attended Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). However, he didn’t disclose the year he started and ended his programme at ESUT.
Challenges
In an interview with First Mate Multimedia on 5 September 2025, Amandi spoke about the challenges he faced in the movie industry.
He alleged that a director he was close to repeatedly used his services without offering proper financial compensation.
“My challenge comes from a fellow director, that’s a particular director. I noticed that, even when I’m cast for a job, and the job goes to him as the director, he will give one superior reason or another, present one argument or another, to cast another person instead of me. So I noticed he has done it the first time, the second time, the third time, I don’t need to confront him, I don’t need to worry him.
“But when I discovered that each time he feels he needs a face, or somebody he will use for something, he will always ask for Stanky to come and support him in what he’s doing. And because I’ve noticed he’s been doing and behaving like that towards me, I’ve now decided to do what? Not to honour any invitation from him. You can’t deprive me of my little stipends, and still express the same fact that you don’t want to do your movie, to help you support what you’re doing”, he said.
Misconduct
He also addressed the conduct of some young producers and production managers who, unfamiliar with his background, behaved in what he described as a rather childish manner.
Amandi added that although such behaviour was often directed at him and others, he consistently cautioned them and urged them to act more professionally.
“You want to go somewhere, you say, Stanley, let’s go, my mother is dead, my father is dead, we are going to a wedding, I want you to join us, you want to use my face. But when it comes to where I make money, you’re first to advise against giving me that role. I’ve experienced it, and I’ve also experienced, anyway, that one is normal.”
He also said that, in his capacity as AGN chairman, he received reports and heard concerns about the issue of homosexuality within the industry.
“I would say I don’t know much about it and how to operate, but that is not to say that they don’t happen. I heard them. They even point hands, fingers, you know. I never see. Even when I was chairman of AGN and all that.”
Amandi’s last Instagram post was on 19 September 2025, shortly before his arrest.
Reactions
The actor’s arrest over his alleged involvement in the failed coup sparked controversies among netizens.
READ ALSO: AGN lifts Halima Abubakar’s suspension as actress seeks N25 million lifeline for brain tumour surgery
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