Veteran Nollywood actor, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu, who reportedly died today, Saturday, 2 March 2024, was a great actor and prolific comedian.
Aged 62, Mr. Ibu died as a result of complications arising from an ailment which led to the amputation of one of his legs.
According to Businessday, the veteran comedian passed away at Evercare hospital.
Mr Ibu, born on October 17 1961, hailed from Nkanu West local government of Enugu State.
After elementary school, in 1974, Okafor moved to Sapele to stay with his brother, after his father’s demise. In Sapele, he did menial jobs so he could sponsor himself to school and support his family. He then worked as a hairstylist, ventured into photography and also worked in a company that produces crates.
After secondary school, he was admitted into the College of Education, Yola, but pulled out due to financial difficulties. He later enrolled in the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu as soon as he was financially able to.
The news of his death comes less than 24 hours after the demise of Quadri Oyebamiji popularly known as Sisi Quadri, another veteran Nollywood actor.
In 2019, Mr Ibu alleged that his kinsmen paid some of his domestic workers to poison him because of his successful career.
In May 2022, the comic actor again alleged that he was poisoned for the third time.
In an interview with Vanguard Newspaper, Okafor disclosed that he was already “seeing people on the other side” but God brought him back to life.
He said, “My illness was perpetrated by people that hate me. They did what they did to me. Later, I was taken to the hospital. The doctors are prophets. So, they went into my system and they told me what was wrong and what they were going to do. I said ‘Whatever you are going to do, please, do it, let me live because if I die like this the enemies will laugh’. And then the doctors said ‘Okay, there’s no problem’.
However, several notable Nollywood figures have posted lighted candles on his behalf to mourn the actor.
Mr Ibu has acted in more than 200 NollyWood movies including Mr. Ibu (2004), Mr. Ibu 2 (2005), Mr. Ibu and His Son, Coffin Producers, Husband Suppliers, International Players, Mr.Ibu in London (2005), Police Recruit (2003), 9 Wives (2005), Ibu in Prison (2006) and Keziah (2007).
Mr Ibu also ventured into music. He did music for a short period of time. On October 15, 2020 he released his songs titled This girl and Do you know.
