By Raymond Ozoji,  Awka

Childhood friend of the late ace actor JohnPaul Obumneme Odowondo, famously called Junior Pope in the Nigerian motion picture industry, Chinedu Nzeribe, an indigene of Uli in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, has warned journalists, bloggers, content creators and a host of others in the communication industry in Nigeria to desist forthwith from spreading lies and all manner of falsehoods about the late actor.

Nzeribe who spoke exclusively with this journalist, remonstrated that the online media is awash with contradictory stories about the life and times of the late Junior Pope.

Nzeribe said while some sections of the online media reported that Junior Pope died and resurrected, other sections of the media claimed that Junior Pope was the only child of his parents.

He said some others fabricated that the Anam community in Anambra-West claimed the body of Junior Pope whereas no such thing ever happened because he was personally with the remains of the late actor in the hospital at Asaba Delta state shortly after the catastrophic boat mishap that claimed the actor’s life.

He said it is indeed terrible that in this time and age, people do not verify information before going to the public.

According to him, Junior Pope was his childhood friend and they both grew up in Cameroon. He said Junior Pope was not the only child of his parents as he had other siblings.

He said he is the godfather of Junior Pope’s first son and that Junior Pope’s father and his late father were like Siamese twins in Cameroon.

Nzeribe recalled that when his father died, Junior Pope’s father came to Uli for condolence with a cow. He also brought a masquerade from Ukehe Nsukka to show how close both families were and still are.

Nzeribe therefore emphasised that Junior Pope is officially dead and that the funeral ceremony will soon be announced by the family.

He said, “The Odonwodo family of Ukehe Nsukka whose son, John Paul Odonwodo popularly known as Junior Pope who died some few days ago have requested that the public especially content creators, actors, actresses, bloggers bystanders, pedestrians, friends, enemies, busybodies  etc should desist from spreading unfounded, unverified, fake stories and lies about the death of Junior Pope all over social media platforms just to catch cruise.

“Even while I was with the corpse of the late Jnr Pope in the hospital in Asaba , I saw videos  of some people who claimed they had resurrected him somewhere. I was shocked.

“Just a few persons who knew my relationship with the Odonwodo family and Junior Pope called me to confirm what they were hearing and seeing on social media platforms.

“The fake stories of the resurrected Junior Pope spread so fast that some people actually started celebrating by drinking, eating and merrying about.

“I looked at the corpse more than several times to be very sure that what I was seeing on social media platforms were not real.

“The late Junior Pope had in one of the videos joked that he was the only son and child.

“It was a joke but many people took it as gospel truth and have been spreading that extremely false  information that he was the only child.

“People should learn to confirm information from the right source(s) before making them available on social media platforms -if it’s necessary.

“Please, the family has requested that people should be careful with the information they put out in respect of the Junior Pope and that they should be left alone to mourn their dead in peace.

“Officially, Junior Pope is dead. Burial arrangements will be announced at the appropriate time,” he said.