President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Emeka Rollas has revealed why the guild didn’t take legal action against filmmaker Adanma Luke following the tragic death of actor Junior Pope in a boat accident on April 10.
Recall that Pope died in a boat mishap on his way back from the location of a movie titled movie “Other Side of Life” produced by Luke.
Subsequently, on April 11, Luke was suspended for breaching safety protocols, and the guild imposed a ban on films involving riverine areas and boat riding to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Though the ban was lifted in August, the AGN never took legal action against the movie producer as many had expected. Speaking on the issue months after the burial of the actor, President of AGN, Emeka Rollas said that the legal adviser of the guild advised that they lacked the locus standi to sue, adding that he advised either the wife of the actor or his family to sue the producer.
His words: “You know I was here, and I said we are about to sue. While interacting with our legal adviser, he said that the AGN did not have the locus to sue from the contract Junior Pope signed with the producer. He said either the direct family or the wife should sue the producer,” he explained.
Rollas also noted that Junior Pope had not paid his dues as a member of the AGN at the time of his death.
“We will begin licensing actors because we also discovered that even Junior Pope, as of the time of his death, was not a due-paying guild member. He was a big actor who had not paid dues in the last year before his death,” Rollas said.
