Mr Ibu’s manager recalls his last moments

It is no longer news that veteran comic actor, John Okafor a.k.a Mr Ibu has passed on.

Ibu died last Saturday, after a protracted illness at Evercare Hospital, Lekki, Lagos.

Don Single Nwuzor, his manager has recalled his last moments.

Speaking in a chat with Vanguard, Nwuzor described the actor’s death as ‘painful’, adding “ Up till now, it’s still like a dream to me.”

“Until I travel home for his burial rite, it will be difficult for me to believe that Mr Ibu is no more. Every day, I used to make a video call with him, but on that black Saturday, we didn’t do so. But when I called his wife, Stella Okafor and she didn’t pick my calls, I became worried. Later, I saw about four missed calls from her. Immediately I sensed something was wrong with Mr Ibu. When I called her back, she told me that the doctors had asked her to leave the ward, while they were battling to stabilize him. Hours later, she called me again, saying they were taking him downstairs with oxygen all over him . At that point, she linked me to the doctors, who narrated what happened to him,” he recalled.

He described the deceased as one of the most hilarious entertainers you would ever come across in Africa.

“He showed it during his last days. While in his hospital bed, Mr Ibu would try to make a joke of everything. He was always telling me that whenever we traveled out of the country, people usually said negative things about Nigeria. And that he had a desire to portray Nigeria in a good light.

Interestingly, he said that Mr Ibu never got tired of posing for shots with his fans whenever he travelled abroad.

“He was a crowd puller. He put smiles on the faces of many homes in Africa and beyond,” Nwuzor added.