The President of theActors Guild of Nigeria(AGN), Emeka Rollas, has explained why the guild chose not to take legal action against actress Adanma Luke following the tragic death of actor Junior Pope.

Junior Pope passed away in a boat accident on April 10, 2024, while travelling to a movie location.

Rollas disclosed that the guild was unable to sue because the contract Pope signed with producer Adanma Luke granted only his direct family or wife the legal right to pursue such action.

He also noted that Junior Pope was not a due-paying member of the AGN at the time of his death, further limiting the guild’s involvement in the matter.

He said in an interview on Arise News: “Update on Junior Pope, you know I was here and I said that we are about to sue. In the course of interacting with our legal adviser, he said that from the contract that Junior Pope signed with the producer, the AGN did not have the locum to sue. He said either the direct family or the wife should sue the producer.”

Rollas explained that the guild is working on restructuring and creating a new structure that includes licensing actors.

This move aims to ensure that actors are protected and have a stronger support system in place.

“Now we go back to the structure that we are talking about. Because we just came back from Los Angeles now, we are trying to change a lot of things. From the structure we are creating, tapping from the practice, we are going to begin licensing actors because we also find out that even the Junior Pope, as of the time of his death was not a due-paying member of the guild. He was just an actor who is big and has not paid dues in the last one year before his death”, he said. (The Nation)