The death of one of Nigeria’s prolific comedians, John Ikechukwu Okafor, popularly known as Mr. Ibu has thrown many movie lovers into mourning.
Here are 10 facts about the movie actor covering his private and public life.
1 Mr. Ibu joined the film industry in 1973 as a cameraman. After 19 years at the backstage, he decided to delve into acting. In 1992, he started featuring in minor roles.
2 In 2004, Mr. Ibu literally struck gold in the film industry when he featured as the lead actor in the movie, Mr. Ibu. His fans subsequently nicknamed him Mr. Ibu.
3 Mr. Ibu married five times in his 62 years on earth. In February, 2023, he said that the fifth marriage to Stella Maris would be his last after complaining that it was his worst.
4 In his youthful days, Mr. Ibu worked briefly as a hairstylist after failing to get funding for higher education.
5 After secondary school, Mr. Ibu was admitted into the College of Education, Yola, but pulled out due to financial difficulties.
- He enrolled into the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu as soon as he was financially able to. He graduated there.
- He hailed from Nkanu West local government area of Enugu State but resided in Lagos.
- Mr. Ibu featured in more than 200 Nollywood movies.
- He also ventured into music. He did music for a short period of time. On October 15, 2020 he released his songs titled This girl and Do you know.
- He left behind his wife, Stella Maris, with whom he had three children. He also has other children from his previous relationships and his adopted daughter, Jasmine