AGN: Why we couldn’t sue Adanma Luke over Junior Pope’s death

Emeka Rollas, the president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), has revealed why the association did not take legal action against Adanma Luke, the producer of the movie that Junior Pope Odonwodo was working on when he died.

Pope died on April 10 in a boat accident on the River Niger in Asaba, Delta state. He was on his way to a movie location when the accident occurred, claiming the lives of four other crew members.

Following the actor’s demise, Adanma was suspended. However, many were left wondering why the AGN did not take legal action against her.

In an interview on Arise TV, Rollas shed light on the reason behind the AGN’s decision.

According to him, the contract agreement between Adanma and Pope made it impossible for her to be sued.

Rollas said the 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.

“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,” he said.

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.”