Nollywood actress, Adunni Ade has broken silence following reports alleging she owed the late actor, Murphy Afolabi a sum of N250,000.
Recall that the burial committee at the eighth-day fidau prayer held in Murphy’s honour on Monday, called out the actress asking she pay back the money the late actor gave her, so it can be given to his children.
“Adunni Ade, please return the N250,000 that you are owing the late Murphy Afolabi,” one of the committee members said publicly in Yoruba.
However, speaking in a statement on Tuesday, the actress via her official social media handle narrated circumstances that led the late actor to give out the money, which was returned after she was unable to meet up with the proposed project due to the death of a loved one.
She further shared a screenshot to show proof of payment dated October 2021 made to the late actor before his sudden death.
The statement reads; “Sometimes in July 2021, the late Murphy Afolabi reached out to me, requiring my services for a movie production. He appealed to me stating that it was a self funded production that he couldn’t afford my professional fee, but that he would need my moral support.
“I asked how many scenes and duration expected of me on set. He said 10 scenes and that I would spend one day. He offered to ‘fuel my car’ as honorarium, which payment was made on 02 July 2021 for N150,000. Unfortunately, on 11 July 2021 shortly before the commencement of the production, I lost my younger brother.
“I contacted Murphy Afolabi a few days afterwards to request for his bank account details, to send him a refund, as I would be travelling to the United States for my younger brother’s funeral. He insisted I held on to the money while he figured out whether to move the shoot forward or contact me for another one.
“Murphy Afolabi contacted me on 08 October 2021 and said he wanted to start a new job soon and needed me for 4 days, playing the lead but for the same amount of N150,000 which he had paid in July. I respectfully declined, requested for his bank account details and transferred to his bank account the full refund of N150,000 on the same day 08 October 2021. Proof of both payments are attached in this.”
Murphy died on May 14 2023 after a fall in the bathroom at his Ikorodu home.
He was buried on Monday, May 15 at his home.
Meanwhile, in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, Adunni angered stakeholders in the Yoruba movie industry when she claimed that they were paid N90,000 to endorse Bola Tinubu.
After her claim, she alleged there was a threat to her life by Koko Zaria, the right-hand man of Lagos transport union leader Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo.
