Emeka Rollas, the President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), has explained why the guild could not follow through on its threat to sue actress Adanma Luke over the tragic death of actor Pope Odonwodo, popularly known as Junior Pope.
Junior Pope and four crew members lost their lives on April 10, 2024, when their boat capsized on the River Niger in Asaba, Delta State, en route to a movie location. The ill-fated production, The Other Side of Life, was produced by Adanma Luke, who faced suspension from the guild after the incident—a ban that was lifted in August.
Providing an update, Rollas revealed that a review of the late actor’s contract showed that only his direct family or wife had the legal standing to file a lawsuit against the producer. This legal limitation ultimately prevented the AGN from taking action.
He added that the late actor wasn’t a due paying member, which barred him or his family from getting any benefits from the guild.
Speaking during his latest interview on Arise TV, Rollas’ disclosed that he is working on restructuring the guild. He said in part:
“Update on Junior Pope, you know I was here and I said that we are about to sue. In the course of interacting with our legal adviser, he said that from the contract that Junior Pope signed with the producer, the AGN did not have the locum to sue.He said either the direct family or the wife should sue the producer.
“Now we go back to the structure that we are talking about. Because we just came back from Los Angeles now, we are trying to change a lot of things. From the structure we are creating, tapping from the practice, we are going to begin licensing actors because we also find out that even the Junior Pope, as of the time of his death was not a due-paying member of the guild. He was just an actor who is big and has not paid dues in the last one year before his death.”
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