Charles Inojie, an actor and director in Nigerian cinema, has called the passing of his colleague John Okafor, also known as Mr. Ibu, a “irreparable loss” to the Nigerian film industry.
He emphasized that appointing the late comic actor alone was sufficient to turn a film into a hit, saying that he is irreplaceable in Nollywood.
“There’s times when you lose a person in an industry and you say, well, so or so person would replace him,” Inojie stated in a recent interview with Channels TV. But there is only one Mr. Ibu. Mr. Ibu spears with all of his limbs.
He is arguably one of the few persons in Africa who, even when left silent, could convey a million ideas using gestures, body language, and facial emotions without uttering a single dramatic dialogue word. That is not inexpensive. That is something we will miss.
“You have a blockbuster, you have John [Okafor].”
At the age of 62, Mr. Ibu passed away on Saturday due to cardiac arrest.