Stella Maris, wife of Nollywood actor, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu, has accused the Actors Guild of Nigeria of abandoning her husband during his health crisis.
The Guild released a statement on Friday, responding to netizens who called on the association to come to the aid of its ailing member.
In the statement delivered by the Guild’s Director of Communications, Kate Henshaw, it was disclosed that the association had rendered help to Okafor even before his condition became public knowledge.
“We are compelled to make this public statement in reaction to the vituperations of some netizens over the health of one of our respected and esteemed members, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu.
“We are not here to join issues with anybody, but we want to set the records straight over the public outcry that the guild and his colleagues have abandoned him at his point of need. The guild has never abandoned any of its members in need, especially with health interventions. We have been at the forefront of providing necessary support to Mr Ibu even before his health conditions were ever made public, and this has been done with the full knowledge of his family members,” she said in the video shared via AGN’s Instagram page.
Henshaw also explained that the Guild does not publicise help rendered to its members as it is against the association’s “modus operandi”.
However, in a video making rounds on the internet on Saturday, Mr Ibu’s wife disputed the Guild’s statement, claiming that no help was rendered to her husband.
According to Stella, she had tried several times to contact the Guild’s president, Emeka Rollas, but he neither picked up her calls nor replied to her texts.
“I’m not happy at all,” she said in the video “Look at the situation of things now and the AGN people are coming online to say they are supporting my husband from the beginning. Why would they come out to say they are supporting him when they are not? They have not done anything.
“I contacted Emeka Rollas, I sent him a message which he read and did not reply. The message is still there, I called him and he did not answer my calls. So why would they come out and be blabbing? To come and say what they did not do. What kind of thing is this?”
Mr Ibu shared a video via his Instagram page on Wednesday, seeking financial aid from Nigerians to help him treat “a strange and dangerous illness.”
In the clip, the 62-year-old actor revealed that the unnamed ailment was severe and doctors had recommended the amputation of his legs if the situation gets worse.
He said, “As I speak to you, I am still lying down in the hospital; the medical director of this hospital said that the best solution is, in case his new idea didn’t work, the best idea is to cut off my leg.
“Just see me, if they cut off my leg, where do I go from here? Please pray for me, talk to God Almighty, and I don’t want my legs to be cut off. Thank you so much. God bless you.”
Punch