On Wednesday, the Nigerian movie industry was thrown into mourning, following the sudden death of popular actor and filmmaker, John Paul Odonwodo, widely known as Junior Pope.
Junior Pope died alongside three others when a boat conveying them from movie location capsized on Anam River in Anambra State.
However, Pope’s popularity is such that people barely remembered the other crew members, as they mourned.
All attention was focused on Junior Pope.
His fans and millions of other Nigerians flooded the internet with messages.
The Tingling Fingers
Meanwhile, the National President of the Action Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Emeka Rollas, who earlier said that the actor survived the incident, later confirmed the death of Junior Pope.
According to him, “my first post was out of excitement when we noticed his tingling fingers”.
The President made mention of one Mr Friday, whose corpse was identified while three other corpses were yet to be found.
However, a movie producer, Stanley Nwoke later shared the identities of the crew in a post via his Instagram page.
He captioned one of his posts as “Crew lives matter”.
Identities Of The Crew Members
Stanley, while revealing the name of crew members who died alongside Junior Pope in the boat mishap, however, called for the arrest of the movie producer and boat driver for failing to provide life jackets.
The crew members involved in the boat mishap include a makeup artist, identified as Abigail Fredrick and a sound engineer.
See photos of the crew members below:
Meanwhile, there are claims that the makeup artist, Abigail Frederick, was buried by the riverside because the family couldn’t afford the money to perform sacrifices.
Also, She was allegedly burnt later on the night she died, April 11, 2024.
The Rituals
Abigail was laid to rest at the riverbank, reportedly because her father lacked the funds required to perform the necessary rituals for her body to be transported back home to Akwa Ibom State.
Also Read: Junior Pope’s Death: 10 Safety Tips For Boat Trip
A movie director in Akwa Ibom, Moses Eskor, claimed that her father could not provide the money needed for some traditional rites to get her body shipped back to her home state.
According to Moses, the father had tried to raise some money, but it was not enough.
