Veteran Nollywood actor Pete Edochie has dismissed fresh reports suggesting he is dead, describing the claims as false and familiar.

The 78-year-old spoke out after rumours spread online that he had been rushed to hospital and died, with claims that his son, Uche Edochie, confirmed the development on social media.

Reacting in a telephone conversation with Vanguard, the actor said the reports were untrue and insisted he is fine.

“I’m alive and will die when my maker calls me home.”

Edochie said the death rumours have followed him for years, adding that he has had to address similar claims repeatedly.

“I have been killed about seven times. There was a time they said I travelled abroad and died there. At other times, they said that the plane I boarded from Enugu to Ethiopia suddenly crashed and I didn’t survive. There was also a day, my wife woke up to prepare for church service, when her telephone rang and the caller said he heard that I passed away this morning. Last year, somebody from Ghana alleged that Pete Edochie was already in the grave.

“However, there was something late Nnamdi Azikwe thought me when I interviewed him. He said that anybody who’s wishing you death will die before you. All those people that wished Zik death died before him. That was what I learnt from Zik. On the 7th of March, I will be 79. My father died at 96, so we have longevity in my family,” Pete Edoche said.

Edochie is widely known for his roles in classic Nollywood titles and for playing the character Ebubedike, a performance that helped cement his status as one of the industry’s most recognisable faces.

He has remained active in the film industry for decades and has received several honours, including the Member of the Order of the Niger award and the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards Industry Merit Award for his contributions to Nigerian cinema.

Why celebrity death rumours spread online

Fake celebrity death stories have become a familiar trend on Nigerian social media, often spreading fast before any verification.

In many cases, a single post claiming a public figure has “died” can spark hundreds of reactions within minutes, from prayers and tributes to arguments and corrections, pushing the rumour further into people’s timelines.

Over the years, similar false death claims have trended around other celebrities, including actor Olu Jacobs and music legend King Sunny Ade, forcing them or their families to respond publicly.

Sunny Ade once dismissed such claims, saying, “I don’t know where the story is coming from or who could have thought of going to town with such rumours.

“Don’t mind them. But they can’t kill me. God will not allow anything to happen to me. I performed at Tunji Braithwaite’s burial on Saturday night and I wasn’t ill. I am just coming from Oba Awujale’s palace in Ijebu Ode as you are talking to me. I am very healthy,” he said.