Entertainment
Mr. Ibu Denies Girlfriend Rumors With Adopted Daughter
Nollywood actor John Okafor, also known as Mr Ibu, has denied allegations made by his wife Stella that he is dating his adopted daughter, Jasmine, and that he is domestically violent.
Recall on Friday, Stella, who is the second wife of the actor, had called him out for abandoning her and his children in penury and hardship.
Stella also claimed Mr Ibu was dating Jasmine whom she described as his “girlfriend.”
She said, “My children dey here dey suffer. This man came to kill me. Don’t tell me it is okay, you don’t know what I am suffering. He came prepared to beat and kill me,” she said in a mixture of pidgin and English.
“I ran away from him. He came from his girlfriend’s house to come and beat me. He removed his wristwatch and was about to beat me, I pushed him and ran away.
“Look at where I am living, there is crack everywhere…inside house, there is water. Look at the car I am driving, nothing, my children do not eat, no school fees, and you are telling me to do what. Not today, your cup is full.”
In a live session with Daddy Freeze, Mr Ibu claimed that there have been misunderstandings between him and his wife and that she had become verbally violent towards him on several occasions.
The actor also explained that Jasmine is his adopted daughter, not his girlfriend
“She’s my wife but there has been so much misunderstanding between us. That’s because she doesn’t want to understand the kind of person I am and my way of life,” he said.
“One or two things happened and it became a quarrel so we went out to settle it. I didn’t know she has something to push out on social media.
“When came back from the police station, she started saying all sorts of things about me. She insulted my daughter and said all hell of things about her.”
The second son of the actor, Daniel Okafor who featured on the live session alongside his father also confirmed familial familial relationship with Jasmine.
Daniel stated that Stella had been influenced by her friends and that she had insulted both him and his father on air.
“She (Jasmine) is 100 per cent (my father’s) daughter, not biological but adopted right from childhood,” he said.
“Maris, who is my step-mother, is being brainwashed by her friends….my own mother is married to another man, but she is in Lagos.”
“She also insulted me, saying different things on air. I didn’t do anything to her,” he said.
The Nigerian film industry has been thrown into mourning following the death of veteran Nollywood actor Francis Duru, who died at the age of 57 after a brief illness.
Duru’s family announced his death on Friday in a statement shared on the actor’s official Instagram page. The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Abubakar Yakubu, also confirmed the development.
Born on July 27, 1969, Duru rose to prominence for his portrayal of Ahanna in Amaka Igwe’s 1995 film Rattlesnake, a role that helped establish him as a recognisable face in Nollywood.
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The actor featured in several other productions throughout his career, including Blood Money and Merry Men, earning recognition for his contributions to Nigerian film and television.
Over the years, Duru established himself as a veteran performer whose work contributed to the growth and development of the Nigerian entertainment industry.
His death comes months after he dismissed speculation about his health following the circulation of a video in June that raised concerns among fans.
Duru’s passing marks a loss for Nollywood, with colleagues, fans and other entertainment industry stakeholders expected to pay tribute to the actor and celebrate his contributions to Nigerian cinema.
Nigerian ceramic sculptor and artist, Chris Onaivi Ekuafeh, has opened Unity Forged in Clay, a solo exhibition that draws on clay, culture and personal experience to explore one of humanity’s enduring questions, “How can people remain different and still belong together?”
The exhibition opened on Saturday, September 26, at Quintessence Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, and continues until October 10, 2026.
Featuring 13 ceramic works, Unity Forged in Clay is Ekuafeh’s first solo exhibition on Nigerian soil and follows his first solo show in China in 2025, after a residency at the Taoxichuan Arts Centre in Jingdezhen, one of the world’s historic centres of ceramic art. At the heart of the exhibition are two deceptively simple questions: What is unity? And are we united as a people?
Ekuafeh, however, thinks unity does not necessarily have to demand uniformity. “Unity, for me, is not sameness,” he said. The idea is reflected throughout a body of work in which distinct forms, patterns, faces and cultural references coexist while retaining their individual character. “Unity unveils to me bits and pieces of different entities coming together to achieve a thing,” he said.
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Works in the exhibition include Identity, Where We Connect, What the Fire Kept and Kin, with titles across English, Yoruba and Ekuafeh’s native Igarra language. The choice of language, like the forms themselves, is driven by the story and meaning of each piece rather than by a single cultural frame.
The works reflect a creative journey formed across several Nigerian environments and traditions. Born in Kano and trained at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he studied Industrial Design with a specialisation in ceramics, Ekuafeh says his exposure to northern Nigerian architecture and material culture first awakened his fascination with clay.
The geometric patterns associated with northern architecture continue to appear in his work, while the distinctive faces he carves into some of his pieces draw from his Edo heritage. Lagos, where he now lives and works, has added another layer to the practice, exposing him to contemporary artistic influences and encouraging an increasingly research-driven approach. The result is an artistic vocabulary in which culture, identity, spirituality, emotion, community and human connection repeatedly intersect.
Ekuafeh said clay is more than a convenient artistic medium. His relationship with the material begins from sourcing from the earth, digging, preparing and processing the clay before shaping it into finished work. That physical process has become part of his understanding of both creativity and human experience.
The work captures that connection through scenes of the artist working directly with clay – pressing, shaping, carving and building – alongside reflections on diversity, fracture, belonging and the continuous work required to sustain unity. Rather than provide predetermined answers, Unity Forged in Clay invites viewers to arrive at their own.
Individual works combine sculptural forms with recurring markings, human features and patterns that encourage closer looking. Some begin with sketches and carefully developed ideas; others evolve more organically as Ekuafeh works with the material, allowing the form to develop alongside the thought that inspired it.
This tension between intention and discovery is central to his practice. Clay becomes both material and collaborator. And the exhibition is a visible expression of the process. Unity Forged in Clay is an opportunity to bring years of experimentation, cultural inquiry and technical practice into a focused solo presentation before returning to the studio to develop the next body of work, Ekuafeh said.
Beyond that, however, Unity Forged in Clay leaves its larger question with the audience. “If different particles of earth can be worked, fired and brought together without losing the marks that make each form distinctive, what might that suggest about people, communities and society?”
Photo Caption: From Left, Ofuma Agali, Business Lead, The Candella & Company; Saheedat Lawal, Gallery Supervisor, Quintessence Gallery; and Chris Ekuafeh; at Ekuafeh’s ‘Unity Forged in Clay’ exhibition, held at Quintessence Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, Saturday, 26 September 2026
Veteran Nigerian actor and film executive, Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, popularly known as Olu Jacobs, has died at the age of 84.
His death was announced by his son, Olusoji Jacobs, in a statement shared on Instagram on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.
The family described the late actor as “The Lion of Lufodo” and appealed to bloggers and social media influencers to respect their privacy as they mourned his passing.
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“It is with gratitude to God for a life well lived and fought, that we announce the passing of our dear husband, father, grandfather and uncle. The Lion of Lufodo,” the statement read.
The family identified him as Oludotun Baiyewun Jacobs, MFR, and gave his dates as July 11, 1942, to September 16, 2026.
Jacobs was one of Nigeria’s most recognised veteran actors, with a career spanning theatre, television and film.
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