Nollywood actress Rita Edochie has spoken out against the growing trend of fake death rumors about Nigerian celebrities, following recent claims that her colleague Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw, had passed away.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Rita expressed outrage over the repeated false news about Iheme, which many social media users believed and mourned. She labeled the behavior as madness, criticizing bloggers and content creators who spread such baseless claims for traffic and engagement.
“This rumor has come up before, and it’s trending again,” she wrote. “Pictures of my great son and veteran colleague, Osita Iheme, trended with captions that he was dead. Crazy netizens believed the fake gist and began commenting RIP.”
The actress highlighted how social media, while beneficial for youth empowerment, has caused significant harm by promoting character defamation and spreading false news about celebrities. She also recalled being a victim of similar rumors alongside her husband, veteran actor Pete Edochie.
Rita urged bloggers to stop wishing untimely death on celebrities for personal gain, calling the practice barbaric and harmful. “You don’t have to grow your pages through death wishes on innocent people. If we all die today as celebrities, who will you watch?” she questioned.
She concluded by calling for accountability and stricter measures to curb the spread of such damaging rumors.
