Popular Nigerian actor Junior Pope Odonwodo aka Jnr Pope has been confirmed hours after he was allegedly involved in a boat accident.
His death was confirmed by Emeka Rollas, the national president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN).
According to Rollas, the late Junior Pope was rushed to two notable hospitals after the drowning incident but all was in vain.
“It's so so sad that our joy was shortlived. My first post was out of excitement when we noticed his tingling fingers. Two notable hospitals tried their best to revive him but to no avail. God knows the best.
We finally lost him.
“Mr Friday corpse has been identified but three other corpses are yet to be found,” Emeka Rollas
Before the confirmation, confusion had surrounded the status of actor Junior Pope Odonwodo aka Jnr Pope – on whether he was still alive or dead.
On Wednesday, various media houses in Nigeria reported that the actor had drowned while filming in River Niger.
However, contradicting information has emerged online after Emeka Rollas, the national president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), announced late on Wednesday that the actor was responding to medical treatment.
But he has now retracted his statement with a new one where he confirmed Jnr Pope’s demise.
The tragic incident happened hours after Jnr Pope shared a video while on a boat, begging the captain to be careful as he navigates the waters.
"See me lamenting……The risk we take to entertain you; crossing river 9ja yesterday with no life jacket…… Na wahoooooo …. Who does that ??," Jnr Pope captioned the video.
In the video in question, he could be heard warning the man in control of his boat to please take it easy moments before his boat allegedly capsized.
“I have 3 kids na me go raise them, Na only me my mama born oh… “Make una see di risk wey we dey take to entertain una. I dey River Niger, I dey beg di captain say I be di only pikin for my family and I get three pikin wey I go raise,” he said in part.
Two other yet-to-be-identified members of the film's production team also reportedly drowned.
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