Tope Adebayo, the Nigerian filmmaker and actor, has expressed excitement about winning the ‘best director’ category at the 2024 Best of Nollywood (BON) Awards.

The annual award ceremony was held on Sunday, November 24, at the Sugar Factory Film Studios in Ilorin, Kwara.

Tope was awarded for his outstanding work on Femi Adebayo’s epic film, ‘Jagun Jagun: The Warrior’.

His win was part of a successful night for ‘Jagun Jagun: The Warrior’ which clinched six categories.

Speaking with TheCable Lifestyle at the event, Tope, Femi’s younger brother, described the win as a “big surprise”.

The movie director revealed he was not too hopeful about receiving the award. He said despite having high expectations for a long time, he was thrilled that his hard work finally paid off.

“I feel so excited because I’ve been expecting this for a very long time. I do not know why it was this delayed but thank God finally that I did it,” he said.

“Not really because you know I was hoping I could not get it. So today I was just in between, I was not really sure of it. When my name was called, I did not even know what to say. It came as a surprise, big surprise.”

‘Jagun Jagun: The Warrior’ won awards for ‘Best Actor’, ‘Best Costume’, ‘Best Indigenous Film’, ‘Best Production Design’, ‘Best Director’, and ‘Best Special Effect’.

Tiwa Savage has attributed the surge of entertainers emerging from Nigeria to the “harsh realities of poverty” in the country.

Speaking on the Shopping The Sneakers show, the singer highlighted the resilience and determination of Nigerian youths, saying that the challenging living conditions have pushed many to explore their creative talents.

“When you come to Nigeria, you will understand why we breed so many superstars. To survive in Nigeria is something else so that’s why the artists that come out of Nigeria are just like hustlers. They are just hustling,” she said.

The songstress’ remark comes after Davido advised black Americans against relocating to Nigeria, citing the country’s economic challenges.

“It is not cool back home. The economy is in shambles. I do my part, I am an ambassador. When I go home and I am filming, I am no going to show the bad parts,” he said.

“I am talking about the situation in the country. Now the exchange rate is messed up, a lot of stuffs are not going well.

“The economy is just not good enough. The oil price is too high. Imagine the country that produces oil, paying more for it than a country importing oil.”

Emeka Rollas, the president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), has revealed why the association did not take legal action against Adanma Luke, the producer of the movie that Junior Pope Odonwodo was working on when he died.

Pope died on April 10 in a boat accident on the River Niger in Asaba, Delta State. He was on his way to a movie location when the accident occurred, claiming the lives of four other crew members.

Following the actor’s demise, Adanma was suspended. However, many were left wondering why the AGN did not take legal action against her.

In an interview on Arise TV, Rollas shed light on the reason behind the AGN’s decision.

According to him, the contract agreement between Adanma and Pope made it impossible for her to be sued.

Rollas said the AGN’s legal adviser had reviewed the contract and advised that the guild did not have the locus standi to sue.

The AGN president added that their legal adviser said only Pope’s direct family or wife had grounds to take legal action.

“You know I was here and I said that we are about to sue. In the course of interacting with our legal adviser, he said that from the contract that Junior Pope signed with the producer, the AGN did not have the locum to sue. He said either the direct family or the wife should sue the producer,” he said.

Rollas said another factor that limited the AGN’s ability to get involved in the issue was Pope’s membership status with the guild. According to him, the actor had not paid his dues for over a year, making him an inactive member.

“We are looking at changing a lot of things. We are going to begin licensing actors as part of this restructuring,” he said.

“This will also address issues like Junior Pope’s case. As of his passing, he had not paid his dues for over a year.”