By Rita Okoye
The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) has said the guild has consistently offered vital support to actor John Okafor, aka Mr. Ibu, even before the public disclosure of his health status.
This was made known by the guild’s Director Of Communications, Kate Henshaw, in a video shared on its Instagram account on Friday.
According to Henshaw, the guild has remained committed to supporting its members in times of need, particularly concerning health concerns.
The statement in part said, “We are compelled to make this public statement in reaction to the vituperation 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 in the forefront of providing necessary support to Mr Ibu even before his health conditions was ever made public.”
She added: “We’ve had to task members privately to help provide assistance towards our intervention for his health issues. But it would be wrong to make it public knowledge any form of assistance we provide to our members in need.”
The Nollywood actress also noted that the body has a Healthcare/Welfare plan in place for all its members, which they could all key into.
She said: “Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have blinked an eye about this Mr Ibu issue, but it has become imperative we do, going by some of the vituperations online by netizens. We have an HMO plan with over 600 hospitals across the country secured by the Guild’s President, Emeka Rollas. This is to help our members access qualitative medications and healthcare at N1,600 per month or 22,200 annually.”
Henshaw also revealed that there is a trust fund to help those whose ailment differ the odds. She said: “There is also a trust fund to help the sick and incapacitated as well as family members of the bereaved under the supervision of Miss Joke Silva. The money in the trustfund are donations from members of the Guild and there is a committee usually in place to help disburse this funds when needed by members or even to families of members.”
This comes as a reaction to the comments made by TikToker Vincent Otse, aka VeryDarkMan, about the health condition of Mr Ibu.
He had blasted Nollywood practitioners for not helping Mr Ibu that he had to go online and beg for financial support.
VDM, in his post, claims that he was embarrassed on behalf of Mr Ibu’s colleagues and their treatment of the veteran comic actor.