The national president of Association of Movie Producers (AMP) Queen Blessing Ebigieson has said that actor Junior Pope who died in a boat accident alongside four others should have insisted on wearing a life jacket before embarking on the trip.
Blessing Ebigieson said this in an interview with Arise News on Friday in which she said that the movie producer Adanma Luke informed her that the production manager claimed that life jackets were provided for the crew members but Junior Pope refused to wear his own because it was dirty.
Weighing in on the matter, AMP president said that the deceased should have asked for a clean life jacket after allegedly rejecting the dirty jacket or walk out of the set.
She said in parts: “I never said anything until I heard from the producer, the person I called when it happened was the president of Actors Guild of Nigeria and he told me exactly what was going on there. I found out who the person was and she explained everything that happened that day. She wasn’t there when it happened. She said she was supposed to be there, she was going to pick a hard drive, by the time she got there, the incident had happened.
“And when she left, there was somebody in charge of the production, it was the production manager and we all know that sometimes these crew members are always afraid of these big celebrities because the production manager told her that they gave Junior Pope a life jacket, he said it was dirty.
“Now, my thought was if it was dirty, as a big celebrity like you, what you’re supposed to do is to say ‘go and wash it or get me a new one or I am not going to move’. You can walk out of that set, write a petition against that producer and we’ll take it up or even get a police to arrest that producer because the producer is sending you on a suicide mission.
Blessing Ebigieson also stated that the “boat rider should have insisted on everyone using a life jacket before they get on that boat.”
Junior Pope was confirmed dead on April 10 after several attempts to resuscitate him failed. The actor alongside other crew members drowned in Anam River on their way back from the set of Another Side of Life, a movie produced by Adanma Luke.
Adanma was accused of negligence, following claims that she did not provide life jackets for her crew, a claim she later debunked, saying that life jackets were available but Junior Pope rejected his because it was dirty.
