- Veteran actress Rita Edochie has fumed amid rumours about the death of her colleague, Osita Iheme.
- Reiterating that Osita Iheme is hale and hearty, Rita Edochie condemned the negative trend among content creators to come up with vile posts just to gain traction.
Veteran actress Rita Edochie recently took to Instagram to express her outrage over the increasing dissemination of fake death rumours involving Nigerian celebrities.
Addressing bloggers and social media content creators, she criticized their unethical tactics of fabricating tragic stories to drive traffic, engagement, and financial gains.
Particularly, she fumed over a recent incident where photos of her colleague, Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw, were circulated with false claims of his death. Shockingly, netizens believed these rumours, flooding social media with comments and condolences. She described this trend as a dangerous and heartbreaking media practice.
Drawing from personal experience, the Nollywood veteran recalled similar fabrications involving her, and Pete Edochie. She mentioned a rumour stemming from her role in the movie ‘Calabash’, where her character’s death was deliberately misconstrued as a real-life tragedy. Another false claim suggested Sir Pete had died while abroad.
Edochie condemned these actions as harmful and disrespectful, urging people to stop defaming others and spreading baseless rumours.
While acknowledging the benefits of social media, she criticized its misuse for unethical practices, stressing the need for accountability.
In her words:
“IF ONE BLOGGER AND ONE HUNGRY SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR HASN’T BEEN MERCILESSLY DEALT WITH , THE REST WON’T LEARN .
THIS RUMUR HAS COME UP BEFORE , A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO , IT CAME UP THE SECOND TIME ,
PICTURES OF MY GREAT SON AND VETERAN COLLEAGUE OSITA IHEME POPULARLY KNOWN AS PAW_ PAW TRENDED EVERYWHERE ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH CAPTIONS THAT THEY ARE DEAD NOT HIM , CRAZY NETIZENS BELIEVED THE FAKE GIST AND BEGAN COMMENTING RIP ON THEMSELVES .
I AS A PERSON , THINK THIS IS GRADUALLY GOING BEYOND CONTROL .
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST , NEITHER THE SECOND NOR THE THIRD , IT HAS BECOME A RECURRING MEDIA PRACTICE BY SO CALLED BLOGGERS AND CONTENT CREATORS , MY QUESTION IS THIS ,
WHY IN THE NAME OF GOD WOULD YOU WISH UNTIMELY DEATH ON SOMEONE ESPECIALLY THE NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU FEEL WE ARE FAMOUS AND CAN FETCH YOU THE TRAFFIC , ENGAGEMENTS AND FUNDS THAT YOU DON’T DESERVE ?
I HAVE SAID IT BEFORE , AND I’M SAYING IT AGAIN , SOCIAL MEDIA HAS LITERALLY DONE MORE HARM THAN GOOD TO THE SOCIETY , YES IT HAS ALSO BEEN A CONSTANT SOURCE OF ENRICHING MOST NIGERIAN YOUTHS IN THE COUNTRY BUT THE ABUSE IS GETTING OUT OF HANDS .
OVER THE YEARS , IT’S BEEN ABOUT CHARACTER DEFAMATION JUST TO GENERATE TRAFFIC , NOW IT’S AS IF THE DEFAMATION THING IS BECOMING COMMON , YOU HAVE NOW SWITCHED TO SPREADING DEATH RUMORS ON CELEBRITIES AND MAKING THE WORLD BELIEVE WHAT ISN’T TRUE .
MY GREAT HUSBAND AND I , SIR PETE EDOCHIE WERE ALSO VICTIMS OF THE HEART BREAKING RUMOR .
I CAN REMEMBER WHEN I SHOT THE MOVIE CALABASH , WHERE I PLAYED THE MOTHER OF INI EDO , MY CHARACTER DIED IN THAT MOVIE AND THE FLESH WAS MEANT TO BE DECOMPOSED , THESE BLOGGERS STARTED POSTING THAT THEY HAD AN ACCIDENT WITH THEIR ENTIRE FAMILY MEMBERS AND DIED , NOT ME .
THESE SET OF BLOGGERS ALSO SAID THAT SIR PETE TRAVELLED TO THE UNITED STATES THEN THEY , SLUMPED AND DIED NOT HIM .
THIS IS MADNESS , AND IT MUST HAVE TO STOP .
YOU DON’T HAVE TO GROW YOUR PAGES THROUGH DEATH WISHES ON INNOCENT HEADS , IF WE ALL DIE TODAY , AS CELEBRITIES , NA WHO UNA GO COME DEY WATCH
GBONU NDI ALA NDI ALA ?
WELL I HAVE COME TO UNDERSTAND THAT MAJORITY WERE CREATED BY GOD , YES , BUT SOMETIMES SAT@N DEY STILL C….”
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