“Their Abductors Mocked Us For Raising N1.2m Out Of $100k Ransom” – AGN On Kidnapped Actors

The President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Emeka Rollas has said about N1.2 million has been raised to free veteran actors Cynthia Okereke and Clemson Cornell that were recently kidnapped.

Empire earlier reported that Cynthia Okereke and Clemson Cornel, aka Agbogidi, were reported missing after their family members confirmed they didn’t come back from a film location at Ozalla Town, Enugu state.

While updating Nigerians on he state of affairs, Emeka Rollas who recently said AGN can’t set aside funds for abducted actors, revealed in a video on Instagram that the abductors mocked him when he told them that N1.2 million has been raised out of the $100k demanded. 

He said:

“This is to brief you about the happenings over five days now on our two colleagues abducted a few days back. The situation still remains the same but we are believing God to do His miracles and wonders at this point in time.

“Yesterday, while talking to the abductors, we were trying to explain to them that we were putting some funds together, we were contributing. We said that we had about N1.2 million. And they started laughing at us.

“They started mocking us and saying ‘all those your celebrities posting on Instagram, how much have they contributed?’ Immediately, it got to me that these people are watching us. It is not the best time to circulate this information on Instagram.”

In a previous interview with the Punch, Emeka stated that “The Actors Guild of Nigeria cannot set apart funds for rescuing kidnapped actors, because we have not even set aside funds to help ailing actors. The insecurity in the nation is affecting everybody, not only actors.”

Speaking further, the AGN president said it is not the responsibility of the guild to provide the $100k demanded for their release but they are working with the actors’ families. He added:

“We are liasing with the family. It is not the guild that is supposed to provide the money. Right now, we are still brainstorming on what to do, while the security operatives are also doing their jobs.

“We have already taken a proactive step to say that actors should not go to the outskirts of town to shoot films. Even the ones who are filming in cities should ensure that they have adequate security.”