Adunni Ade, a well-known actress in Nollywood, has finally addressed the claim that she owes Murphy Afolabi, a deceased colleague, and director, N250,000.
Recall that on Monday, during the 8-day Fidau Prayer conducted in memory of the late actor in Lagos, Murphy Afolabi’s burial committee called out Adunni for the repayment of the money she owed the man before his passing.
The committee pleaded with Adunni Ade to pay back the N250,000 she owed Late Murphy Afolabi in the trending video that has gone viral on social media.
The actress through her management responded by denying the claims that she owed the late Murphy in a public statement that was accompanied by her bank account information.
The statement said: “On behalf of well-known Nollywood actor and content creator, the modest Adunni Adewale, we write to clarify a clip that has been circulating in which our actress was called out by a Muslim cleric with allegations that she owed the late Murphy Afolabi. The assertion is untrue.”
“Sometime in July 2021, the late Mr. Murphy Afolabi contacted me and asked for my assistance with a film project. He pleaded with me, saying that because it was a self-funded production, he couldn’t pay my professional fee but that he would need my moral support. I inquired as to how many sequences and how long I would be needed on site. I would spend a day, he added, and there would be ten scenes. He offered to fuel my automobile for an honorarium, for which a N150,000 payment was paid on July 2, 2021.
“Unfortunately, just before the production started on July 11, 2021, I lost my younger brother. A few days later, I phoned the actor to ask for his bank information so I could refund him because I would be traveling to the US for my brother’s burial. He demanded that I keep the cash nevertheless while he considered whether to continue with the shoot or contact me for another one.
“Mr. Murphy Afolabi phoned me on October 8th, 2021, and requested that I play the major part for four days with the same sum of N150,000 that he had paid in July in order to start a new work shortly. And after politely declining, I asked for his account information, and promptly refunded him the N150,000. The attachments to this post provide proof of both payments.”