President of Actors’ Guild of Nigeria, Ibinabo Fiberesima, reacts to accusations that it did nothing to assist popular Nollywood actor, Prince James Uche, who has been sick for a while, CHUX OHAI writes
president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Ibinabo Fiberesima, has denied allegations that the organisation stood by and watched the health of one of its members, Prince James Uche, deteriorate without coming to his aid.
Fiberesima said, in an interview with E-PUNCH that contrary to what Nigerians were told, the AGN had been taking care of Uche for a while.
She said, “There is so much that a guild can do. We have done everything possible to assist Prince James Uche. What I know is that we have taken care of him for medical treatment. We have receipts and his medical reports to prove this.
“I personally went to every actor that was ill and I took them to hospital for treatment. We took care of everybody that was sick. It wasn’t about paying attention to only one person or two people. In fact, we still have the case of Ozor Akubueze on our hands. He has just undergone a second surgery.”
The AGN president said she had looked after the ailing actor to the extent that she paid his house rent for two years. “The day I presented the cheque to him, it was in the presence of members of the Lagos State chapter of the AGN,” she said.
Upset that nobody had bothered to mention her efforts to solve Uche’s problems, she added that no other organisation or individual could have done all that the AGN did for the actor.
Fiberesima wondered why, of all the cases of ill health that the actors’ body had to deal with, the AGN’s time and resources should be concentrated on only Uche nearly all the time.
“I have put James Uche on a health plan. Apart from this, his wife has been calling me to pay his children’s school fees and to open a shop for her. Even my friends have been sending money to him so that he can carry on with his life. Because he is diabetic and was placed on a special diet by the doctors, I went as far as buying the kind of food that he needed. God is my witness. I have done everything possible for him,” she said.
Also, reacting to recent reports in the social media that it abandoned the sick actor to his fate in a statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday, the National Executive Council of the Guild claimed that it took over the responsibility of caring for him in September 2013.
The AGN said in the statement that when it got information about the actor’s failing health, the national president paid him a visit.
The statement noted that initially Fiberesima had offered to take Uche to the hospital for treatment and to place him on a health plan. When the latter opted for cash instead of the offer, the Guild claimed, he was given the sum of N100,000.
The statement reads in part, “In May 2014, we visited him again to check on him and this is what followed. We took him to R. Jolad Hospital in Gbagada, Lagos and comprehensive tests were conducted. He was diagnosed with complications arising from high blood pressure and hypertension, which led to stroke of the eye.
“He was admitted and treated at the hospital for over a week before he was certified fit and discharged by the doctor. After that, we took him to the Eye Foundation for further optical treatment. A series of tests were conducted on him and again, he was diagnosed with complications arising from high blood pressure.
“The medical team discovered that the eye vessel that supplies blood to his eyes was damaged as a result of a stroke that he suffered many years ago and nothing could be done about it. He was then advised to keep his blood pressure low at all times so as to avoid further complications that could lead to total blindness.
“To ensure that he got regular medication for high blood pressure, the guild enrolled him in our Health Plan, HMO, which we domiciled at R.Jolad Hospital in Gbagada, close to his residence. We equally obtained a dietary guide to help curtail the high blood pressure. The President, Ibinabo Fiberesima, also approved an allowance as well as food items for him.”
The guild claimed that though it was constantly in touch with Uche between June and December 2014, it was not aware that the actor was suffering a kidney ailment.
“We sincerely wish to state that the Actors Guild of Nigeria did not neglect Prince James Uche. We have done everything humanly possible to assist him.
However, reacting to insinuations that she received financial assistance from the Presidency on behalf of the actor, Fiberesima said she only got funding for the treatment of a popular Nollywood scriptwriter, Chike Bryan, abroad. “President Goodluck Jonathan did not give me any money for James Uche,” she said.
