2024 was indeed a year as it came and took with it a couple of celebrities with it. Although the year is yet to come to an end, Nigeria has sadly lost several prominent celebrities in the entertainment industry and business world at large. The first two quarter of the year saw the tragic demise of some of Nigerians brightest stars who brought light and smiles to our screen with their incredible work.
The Nigerian entertainment industry has suffered a large blow within the past months with the death of some of its most cherished treasures, and saying goodbye to them has been hard. We are now at the last quarter of the year and we will be giving a breakdown of all who were lost to the cold hand of death this year. Scroll to see the list:
Nigerian comic actor, John Okafor aka Mr Ibu reportedly died of a cardiac arrest on March 2, 2024 at the age of 62. The movie star had been battling a long-term illness that had many Nigerians donating funds towards his hospital bills. The movie star’s demise was surrounded by lots of controversies as claims and counter-claims started to fly between his wife, Stellamaris and his adopted daughter, Jasmine. Sadly, Jnr Pope had mourned Mr Ibu’s death on his social media page only a month before his own death.
Veteran Yoruba actor, Ganiyu Oyeyemi, popularly known as Ogunjimi passed away on April 26, 2024. His death was made known by actor, Kunle Afod in an Instagram post.
On April 10, 2024, Nollywood actor John Paul Obumneme Odonwodo, often known as Junior Pope, passed away at the young age of 39. After word of the movie star’s passing spread online, many Nigerians were very disturbed. While returning from Adanma Luke’s film set, Jr. Pope and other members of the film team perished in their boat. The fact that Junior Pope was last seen on the same boat, complaining about the lack of a life jacket and mentioning that he had three kids to look after, made his death much more sinister. Only a few months had passed since the late movie star unveiled his new Asaba residence.