‘Our joy was short-lived’ — AGN confirms Junior Pope’s death (updated)

Junior Pope Odonwodo, the Nollywood actor, has been confirmed dead — a few hours after he was said to have been resuscitated.

The film star was earlier said to have fallen into the River Niger in Asaba, Delta state on his way to a movie location.

It was gathered he was in the company of some other actors.

“Yes. It happened at Asaba, River Niger. He had a fatal boat mishap. Unfortunately, he lost his life with four others that have not been identified yet,” Abubakar Yakubu, the national secretary of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), told TheCable Lifestyle on Wednesday.

A few hours later, Yakubu said the actor “is alive but in a coma”. He also disclosed that a medical team was called to resuscitate Pope.

According to the AGN secretary, the film star was receiving treatment in the hospital.

“Yes. He is alive. God has done it for us. He was in a coma all this while. Fortunately, when the medical team called, they said there is still life in him and they resuscitated him,” he said.

“Presently he is in the hospital now. Receiving further treatment. I can confirm that he is alive.”

But on Thursday morning, Emeka Rollas, president of the AGN, confirmed the death of Pope.

Rollas, who had earlier announced that he was “alive”, said: “My first post was out of excitement when we noticed his tingling fingers”.

“It is 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,” he wrote on Instagram.

 

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A post shared by Emeka Rollas Ejezie (@emekarollas)

Pope earlier shared a video of himself on a boat on his way to the movie location.

“See me lamenting….The risk we take to entertain you; crossing river 9ja yesterday with no life jacket…. Na wahooooo Who does that ??” the actor captioned the Instagram post.

Pope became a professional actor in 2006. He usually played the role of a bodyguard, palace attendant, and servant in movies.

In 2007, he gained fame after acting in the movie ‘Secret Adventures’.

He also starred in hundreds of Nollywood movies and won several awards for his craft.

Editor’s note: The story has been updated to reflect the current situation report on Junior Pope.