Nigerian-American Nollywood actress, Adunni Ade, has dismissed the allegation that she was owing her late colleague, Murphy Afolabi, N250,000 before he died.
The Nigerian film industry was hit with Afolabi’s death on Sunday, May 14, 2023.
A Muslim cleric had called out the actress during the eight days fidau prayers for the late actor on Monday.
The cleric said Adunni Ade and other Nollywood actors owed Afolabi before his death.
But the actress reacted to the allegation through her lawyer on Tuesday in an Instagram post, saying she refunded the late actor the sum of N150,000 sent to her for a movie role in 2021.
The actress, who shared a screenshot of her bank statement, said, “Sometimes in July 2021, the late Mr. Murphy Afolabi reached out to me, requiring my services for a movie production. He appealed to me stating that it was a self-funded production that he couldn’t afford my professional fee, but that he would need my moral support.
“I asked how many scenes and duration expected of me on set. He said 10 scenes and that I would spend one day. He offered to ‘fuel my car’ as honorarium, which payment was made on 02 July 2021 for N150,000.
“Unfortunately, on 11 July 2021 shortly before the commencement of the production, I lost my younger brother. I contacted Mr Murphy Afolabi a few days afterwards to request for his bank account details, to send him a refund, as I would be travelling to the United States for my younger brother’s funeral, and to spend time with the rest of my family.
“He insisted I held on to the money while he figured out whether to move the shoot forward or contact me for another one.
“I returned to Lagos end of September 2021 and waited for his call. Mr. Murphy Afolabi contacted me 08 October 2021 and said he wanted to start a new job soon and needed me for 4 days, playing the lead but for the same amount of N150,000 which he had paid in July.
“I respectfully declined, requested his bank account details, and transferred to his bank account the full refund of N150,000 on the same day, 08 October 2021.”
