The death of Nigerian actor John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu, is a huge loss to the Nollywood film industry, actor and director Charles Inojie has said.

In a recent interview with Channels TV, Mr Inojie, who has starred in films alongside Mr Ibu, noted that no one in the industry can replace the late actor and his impact.

Charles Inojie commended Mr Ibu’s acting noting that a movie was a guaranteed hit if Mr Ibu was cast.

“There are sometimes you lose a person in an industry and you say, well, this person would replace him. But Mr Ibu is irreplaceable. Mr Ibu spears with every part of his body,” he said.

“He is probably one of the few people in Africa that would sit without saying anything, and would communicate a million messages with his facial expressions, body language and gestures without verbalising just one word of dramatic dialogue. That doesn’t come cheap. We are going to miss that,” Mr Inojie added.

Now this video hits very differently.

Rip JOHN OKAFOR

Your Mr ibu persona would always live long in our memories pic.twitter.com/Fr3NadT2Km

— Veezy (@veezyveezy12) March 3, 2024

This comes after the National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Emeka Rollas confirmed John Okafor's death.

He died on Saturday, March 2, at the age of 62. In a post on Instagram, Mr Rollas revealed that the actor, who had been unwell for months, died of cardiac arrest.

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Before his death, Mr Ibu had been unwell for months. He underwent multiple surgeries that saw one his legs amputated.

The Enugu-born actor featured in more than 200 Nollywood movies.

He burst onto the scene in 2004 with the movie Mr Ibu, which tells the story of the eponymous single father and his son as they journey through life, getting into a series of tricky, and hilarious, predicaments.

"His facial expressions and his body were his biggest selling points," film director Babangida Bangis told the BBC, contrasting him to most comic actors who use words to make people laugh.

"Mr Ibu was different as he doesn't even have to talk to elicit laughter, as his face just like Mr Bean [Rowan Atkinson] will do the trick,"he said.

He went on to star in many more movies including Coffin Producers, Husband Suppliers, International Players, Mr Ibu in London (2004), Police Recruit (2003), 9 Wives (2005), Ibu in Prison (2006) and Keziah (2007).