• FG, Nollywood actors mourn

Joy Ejiro, wife of Nollywood filmmaker Chico Ejiro, has said that famous filmmaker died in her hands.

Ejiro died in the early hours of Christmas day from suspected cardiac arrest

Commenting on her husband’s death for the first time, Joy stated, “I never knew it was going to be my last midnight gist with you. You died in my hands Chico, you left me so confused and devastated.”

She, however, said she was glad to have spent the past 26 years with him.

“This is a rude shock!!!! We had a lot of plans for Christmas. We spoke a lot about how the day will go. We were recounting how God has been good to us this year and how grateful we are to be alive,” Joy stated.

She also shared a picture of herself and Ejiro on Instagram on Saturday.

Joy and Ejiro, who got married in 1998, have four children together.

Ejiro’s death huge blow to Nollywood – FG

Meanwhile, the Federal Government, on Saturday, described the death of popular scriptwriter, director and producer, Chico Ejiro, as a “huge blow to the nation’s Creative Industry in general and to Nollywood in particular”.

Ejiro, who was popular for movies such as ‘Silent Night’, ‘True Romance’, ‘Blood Money’ and ‘Night Bus to Lagos, was said to be recovering from an illness and had just finished shooting a movie.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in a statement on Saturday, sympathised with friends and families of the filmmaker who passed away on Christmas Day.

The statement was titled, ‘Minister Mourns Death of Veteran Film Producer, Chico Ejiro’ and signed by Mohammed’s aide, Segun Adeyemi.

The minister said the late Ejiro was “a prolific movie director and a shining star of Nollywood, which has – through its movies – stamped Nigeria’s creative presence all over the world”.

He urged the deceased’s “family and friends to take solace in the fact that his legacy will live on through the excellent works of the actors and actresses he helped to nurture over the years, and indeed in the progressive success of Nollywood”.

”Thanks to the pace-setting work of Mr. Ejiro and his contemporaries, Nollywood is today one of the biggest movie industries in the world, which is providing employment for many Nigerians and creating wealth for the nation. ‘May God grant repose to the soul of the departed and comfort his family and friends,” Mohammed stated.