AGN gives update on late Junior Pope’s case with Adanma Luke
Emeka Rollas, President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), has explained why he has not pursued legal action against producer Adanma Luke regarding the death of actor Junior Pope.
The tragedy stems from a boat accident in April 2024 on the River Niger in Asaba, Delta State, which claimed the lives of Junior Pope and four other crew members. The group was en route to the set of Adanma Luke’s film, The Other Side of Life, when the incident occurred.
Following the accident, the AGN suspended Adanma Luke. However, Rollas recently clarified that legal action could not be taken because Junior Pope was not a dues-paying member of the guild. Additionally, he noted that, under the contract Junior Pope signed with the producer, only the actor’s immediate family or wife has the legal standing to file a lawsuit.
In a recent interview with Arise TV, Rollas also discussed plans to restructure the Actors Guild of Nigeria.
His words …
“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.”
