Nollywood deaths worry industry watchers

This is certainly not the best of times for the Nigerian film industry, as there has been a steady blight of death in the industry.

Just as stakeholders are trying to live with the reality of the painful exit of Mike Odiachi who died at the General Hospital, Ikorodu on Monday, February 15, the industry was hit again by the death of one of the few surviving actors in popular old TV drama, The Village Headmaster, Joseph Adu, popularly known as Jab Adu.

Jab Adu died last Sunday, at the age of 83. While the news of his death is still fresh in the minds of everyone, the industry was jolted again by the death of another famous actor, Sam Agbebi, who also featured in that popular TV drama, Village Headmaster. Agbebi, the palace servant who later became Lawyer Iyanda in the TV series died on Tuesday, after Jab Adu passed on last Sunday, expanding the death list of cast and crew members.

His death has marked the end of an era for a generation of thorough-bred actors who distinguished themselves in their chosen career. 62-year- old Agbebi who hailed from Osun state reportedly had been sick for over five years.

He was said to have been suffering from severe pains in the leg, a situation which forced him to quit his job as a part-time lecturer at the Lagos State University (LASU) and rendered him inactive.

Adu was one of the few surviving casts of the popular TV drama, The Village Headmaster,a film that featured another late actor, Justice Esiri.

He also featured in some other interesting movies such as Cool Red (1976), Bisi, Daughter of the River (1977) and Wetin Dey (2007), playing actor and producer respectively. Before his acting career kick-started, he was a banker with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a time that also saw him combining banking with acting.

The talented Cross River state-born actor featured as an actor and writer in ‘The Village Headmaster,’ playing the role of Bassey Okon, the doctor, dispenser and pharmacist of Oja village.

Meanwhile, paying tributes to the departed Jab Adu, veteran producer, Zeb Ejiro described him as “a theater legend, someone that helped build the theatre in Nigeria that we are all enjoying today.

He was a professional to the core and he was very dedicated to his work. We will all miss him.” For Zik Zulu Okafor, the news of his death was a painful one. “He was one of the pioneers in the industry. He was an authentic producers.

Those are the people we are looking up to and he would be greatly missed. According to Comrade Victor Ashaolu of the Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners, ANTP, Jab Adu’s death was another tragedy for theater world. Those were the people we are emulating. I am from the same constituency with him.”

Earlier in the week, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has condoled with the family of the deceased, describing hi m as “one of the very few quintessential master artistes left of his generation.”