Veteran Nigerian Actor, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr. Ibu has been reported dead.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that he died at Evercare hospital in Lagos. Details surrounding the cause of death and the veracity of these reports are still unclear.
Mr Ibu’s family and representatives have yet to comment publicly.
Similar rumours were rife in the past. However, according to Nairaland website he died on Saturday March 2.
The legendary actor has been battling health issues in October 2023, and undergone multiple surgeries that led to the amputation of his leg but received treatment and was discharged from hospital in early January this year.
Mr Ibu until his death was an indigene of Nkanu West Lagos of Enugu State. He is survived by wife and three children.
In an interview with Nigerian Vanguard Newspaper in May 2022, the comic actor disclosed that he was already “seeing people on the other side” but God brought him back to life.
“My illness was actually 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 are 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’, Ibu told the Vanguard Newspaper.
“At the time, I didn’t know what happened. I left! So, whatever I was saying they recorded it. I was saying something like somebody who is going mad. I wasn’t actually seeing anybody. But on the other side where I was at that time, I was seeing some dead people.. God brought me back.”
According to him, his enemies were happy about his illness and thought he wouldn’t make it but God brought him back to life.
The actor said his sickness taught him a “big lesson”, adding that he is surprised that he is still alive.