Nollywood producer, Adanma Luke’s suspension by the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) following the death of actor, Junior Pope, is generating a social media storm.
The Herald had reported that Junior Pope and three of his colleagues drowned on Wednesday when their boat capsized on Anam River, Anambra State while returning from a filming location on the River Niger.
Following this development, the AGN barred all actors from working with Adanma Luke, the producer of the movie being filmed when the incident occurred, till further notice.
The actors guild also suspended all films that involve riverine areas and boat rides.
Meanwhile, a survivor, Tochukwu Okafor aka TC Okafor or TC Virus explained in an Instagram Live session that the boat capsized due to the boat driver’s negligence.
He said the boat driver was wearing earphones and angling to appear in a video that was recorded by one of the passengers.
This, he said, caused the boat driver to become distracted and he rammed the boat into the rear-end of a fishing boat that was passing by.
He further revealed that only the movie producer, Adanma Luke, and the Director of Photography (DOP) were wearing life jackets during the boat ride.
It was only Producer (Adanma Luke) and DOP wearing Life Jacket
Helmsman had an earpiece on, he was trying to appear in Jnr Pope’s video.
I told him there was a boat that had fishermen coming but he had no experience
TC virus , survivor of Boat mishap pic.twitter.com/X8v2tDEHMv
— Tipsytalkshow (@Tipsytalkshow) April 11, 2024
Since the AGN decided to suspend Adanma Luke, many Nigerian movie lovers have taken to social media to bare their minds.
“Implement Strict Safety Measures.”
@ALordsday wrote, “Medicine after de*th”
@israeladetona24 wrote, “AGN you failed in your parts too 🙅♂️but it had to claim lives before you all do the right thing. Shame on you all.”
@Basseyemma19 wrote, “There is a need…to look at ensuring safety compliance in the movie industry. HSE personnel should be employed by movie producers to be onset always.”
@Babilicious_J wrote, “May we not become a misfortune that others will learn from. 🙏🏽If they had thought of implementing safety measures before this ugly incident, this most likely would’ve been avoided.
But with this now, others will learn.”
@TommySheb wrote, “Banning and suspending in this scenario won’t solve a thing, all jobs in the world have their respective hazard and safety precautions, they should focus this energy more on safety precautions.”
@Autoyota1 wrote, “Ada is such a good girl with a good heart, It’s pity bad things always happen to good people.”