The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) president, Emeka Rollas, has explained why he hasn’t filed a lawsuit against actress Adanma Luke over the passing of actor Pope Odonwodo, also known as Junior Pope.
Recall that on April 10, 2024, the late actor and four crew members perished after their boat overturned on the River Niger in Asaba, Delta State, while they were travelling to the filming location.
Junior Pope starred in the doomed movie “The Other Side of Life,” which was produced by actress Adanma Luke.
The AGN suspended Adanma following the horrific incident, but they lifted the ban in August.
However, despite their warning, the guild was unable to suit the film producer, according to AGN president Emeka Rollas, who provided an update on the situation.
Rolla disclosed that only Junior Pope’s immediate relatives or wife had the legal authority to sue after examining the agreement the late actor had signed with the producer.
He went on to say that because the deceased actor was not a paying member, neither he nor his family were eligible to receive any guild benefits.
Rollas revealed that he is working on reorganizing the guild in his most recent interview on Arise TV. Part of what he said was:
“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.”
