Emeka Rollas, the president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), has explained why the guild could not sue actress Adanma Luke after the heartbreaking death of actor Junior Pope and four crew members in a boating accident earlier this year.
The tragedy occurred on April 10, 2024, when their boat capsized in the River Niger, near Asaba, Delta State. They were heading to a movie set for the production of The Other Side of Life, a film produced by Adanma Luke, in which Junior Pope starred.
Following the incident, the AGN promptly suspended Adanma Luke. However, in a recent update, Emeka Rollas revealed that legal action against the producer wasn’t an option for the guild and his reasons may surprise you.
Speaking in an interview on Arise TV, Rollas explained that the guild’s hands were tied due to legal and procedural limitations. According to him, Junior Pope wasn’t a dues-paying member of the AGN at the time of his death, which affected the guild’s standing in the matter.
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Additionally, after reviewing the late actor’s contract with the producer, the AGN’s legal adviser confirmed that only Junior Pope’s immediate family or his wife had the legal right to sue.
“In the course of consulting with our legal adviser,” Rollas said, “we discovered that the contract Junior Pope signed did not give the AGN the locus standi to sue. Only his direct family or wife has that right.”
This tragic incident has pushed the AGN to rethink how it operates. Rollas shared that the guild is now working on a comprehensive restructuring plan to prevent similar situations in the future.
“We recently returned from Los Angeles, and we’re focusing on improving our structure,” he said. “One of the changes we’re making is to start licensing actors. This will ensure that every member is properly documented and accountable. Sadly, even Junior Pope, despite being a big name, hadn’t paid his dues for over a year before his death.”
While the guild couldn’t take legal action this time, the reforms in progress aim to protect its members more effectively in the future.
