By Adesina Soyooye
Obumneme Odonwodo, popular as Junior Pope, the Nollywood Actor who drowned along with four others in a tragic boat accident, may have unwittingly, contributed to his avoidable end.
He, allegedly rejected a life jacket given to him to wear because, according to him, it was dirty.
This was revealed by the Producer of the ill-fated film, Adanma Luke in her first comment since after the incident which shook the Nollywood Industry and not a few Nigerians. She, however, did not disclose if others, including the dead and survivors were offered life jackets or not. Only two crew members were confirmed to have worn their life jackets. Both survived.
Luke, in a series of videos she released on Saturday where she spoke said Junior Pope refused the life jacket given to him to wear because he considered it dirty.
Luke has come under criticism for not making sure that her crew had life jackets before they boarded the boat.
But exonerating herself from blame over the life jacket issue, she said that a life jacket was given to the late actor which he turned down on the grounds that it was dirty.
And in a bid to dismiss the impression that she hired a bad boat and an inexperienced boat driver, she said that she would have been on the boat with her brother’s two young children but for the fact that the crew insisted on her going back to get a memory card. She did, and by the time she came back, she not only missed the boat, but she was faced by tales of the tragedy.
Explaining her current state, she said she was confused and that the whole incident seems like a bad dream to her and still unbelievable.
She regretted going to Asaba for her production and lamented that she should have stayed back in Lagos for the production.
Her story: “On the 10th of April, we lost five of our members who were on their way to a location through boat and had an accident.
“I’ve been so traumatized. I’ve been so cold, this whole thing, it still feels like a dream to me.
“I’ve not been able to make any statements since, because we’ve been trying to recover the bodies. I’ve been providing fuel money to those looking for bodies, provided caskets, ambulance to make sure the bodies were conveyed to their villages and families.
“I’ve not been quiet; I’ve been doing things just so these people can rest. It’s so sad that this happened on my set.
“I blame myself that I would have been in Lagos, doing my thing in Lagos. I blame myself for coming down to Asaba.
“I was supposed to be on that boat; my production manager was calling me to bring the memory card so they could start filming, and I told him to come and collect it.
“He said, ‘Mama, you know this place is far; please just bring it for us.’
“I said, ‘Okay, why haven’t you people crossed?’ He said they were waiting for Junior Pope to arrive.
“On the 9th, they went there on their own, Junior Pope came on his own. He came alone.
“So, on this 10th, while I was getting ready to go drop the card with them, I was accompanied by my brother’s children, two kids that were supposed to go with me. We were supposed to be on that boat together.
“Getting there, I saw Emeka, my D.O.P. He was just sitting. I was surprised because I didn’t see others. I asked Emeka, “What is it?” And people surrounded him, Emeka was quiet.
“I said, ‘Emeka, talk to me. What is the problem? Why haven’t you people gone? Where is Ogolo? Where is everybody? Has JP come?’ He was quiet.
“I started shouting, ‘What is happening? Somebody talk to me.’ Emeka now said, ‘JP don go, Abigail don go, Friday don go, Precious don go.’
“I still didn’t understand what he meant by that. ‘What do you mean, don go, don go where?’ He said, ‘dem dey inside water.’
“I said, let me go and look for them. They started holding me that I should not go. I said, ‘Let me be there. Let me be sure the divers are looking for them.’ They said there were over 50 divers in the water looking for them.”
The traumatised actress has been suspended by the Guild of Actors in a statement signed by its President, Emeka Rollas.
