Movie stars; Leo Mezie and Chioma Okoye are now at war over money raised for his kidney transplant  

It is interesting to know that actress cum movie producer, Chioma Okoye’s Purple Ribbon Care Foundation flagged off a ‘N1000 Campaign initiative’ to raise the needed money for a kidney transplant for Leo Mezie.

But while the campaign was gathering momentum, the actress suddenly made a u-turn. In a statement she posted on the WhatsApp group, Movie People, the actress explained that she decided to stop the campaign following the insistence of the ailing actor to have all the monies realized from the campaign credited into his personal account.

Chioma said her foundation has a policy of not paying money into an individual account, as it prefers to pay directly to the hospital that is handling the treatment so as to avoid breach of public trust. She went on to reveal that the foundation had a recorded verbal agreement with Mezie before the commencement of the N1000 Campaign Initiative last week.

“Leo Mezie has chosen to renege on the agreement before officially signing a written one and has instigated controversy around the campaign as well as commenced a parallel campaign which pays money directly into his account. We understand Mr. Mezie’s right to do as he wishes and we wish him the best but we as an honourable foundation will not be party to any attempt at defrauding the public nor run a fund-raising campaign that is not transparent. We, therefore withdraw the ongoing campaign.”

However, Chioma Okoye as at Thursday morning, announced remitting     the sum of N 2,036, 393.99 to Mezie’s  GTB account.

Meanwhile, the President, Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Mr. Ejezie Emeka Rollas has advised the public to desist from paying money into bank accounts that are not in Mezie’s name so as to enable him have access to the funds.