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The president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Emeka Rollas has opened up on the reason why the association did not take legal action against Adanma Luke, the producer of the movie that led to the death of Junior Pope Odonwodo.
It would be recalled that Nollywood actor, Junior Pope and four crew members drowned on April 10 after their boat capsized in a river near Cable Point, Asaba, Delta State, while returning from the movie set, ‘The Other Side of Life’, produced by Adanma Luke.
The incident caused outrage from the public as it was gathered that life jackets were not provided for the trip.
Adanma was suspended by the Actor Guilds of Nigeria (AGN), but the ban was recently lifted.
Speaking in a recent interview on Arise TV, Rollas shed light on the reason behind the AGN’s decision.
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The AGN president disclosed that the contract agreement between Adanma and Pope made it impossible for her to be sued.
According to Rollas, AGN’s legal adviser had reviewed the contract and advised that the guild did not have the locus standi to sue her.
The AGN president added that their legal adviser said only Pope’s direct family or wife had grounds to take legal action.
He said, “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.”
Rollas said another factor that limited the AGN’s ability to get involved in the issue was Pope’s membership status with the guild. According to him, the actor had not paid his dues for over a year, making him an inactive member.
“We are looking at changing a lot of things. We are going to begin licensing actors as part of this restructuring,” he said.
“This will also address issues like Junior Pope’s case. As of his passing, he had not paid his dues for over a year.”
