Nigeria bid farewell to veteran actor Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs in Lagos on Friday, 2 October 2026, closing the final chapter on one of African cinema’s most commanding screen figures. Family members, acting colleagues, and senior state officials gathered at This Present House in Lekki Phase 1 to honour the thespian, who died on 16 September at the age of 84 following a prolonged struggle with dementia. His passing ends an exceptional creative era.
His widow, actress Joke Silva, led the family through the funeral rites alongside their children, drawing together several generations of screenwriters, producers, and performers who built their careers around his stately theatrical style. Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, former Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, and screen icons including Kate Henshaw, Shaffy Bello, Stephanie Okereke, and Keppy Ekpenyong attended the ceremony to pay their last respects. R&B musician Darey Art Alade performed his reflective anthem “Pray For Me” during the service, as guests celebrated a rare craftsman who gave commercial Nollywood its dramatic weight. True artistic pedigree leaves deep roots.
Born in 1942 to parents from Egba Alake in modern Ogun State, Jacobs discovered his passion for performance after watching Hubert Ogunde’s travelling concert party perform at the Colonial Hotel in Kano. He subsequently moved to Britain in the 1960s to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, working through British stage and television roles in programmes such as The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part, and Barlow at Large. He brought rigorous classical training back home to help build a domestic cinema that previously relied on improvisation. Classical stage discipline reshaped local screens.
Jacobs played regal monarchs, fierce patriarchs, and unyielding industrialists with a baritone voice and measured gravitas that elevated low-budget video cassettes into high art across the continent. Alongside his wife, he co-founded the Lufodo Group and the Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts, establishing professional training standards to mentor young Nigerian performers and strengthen production crews. His enduring legacy lies in proving that African screen acting could demand international respect without shedding its indigenous rhythm. Rare masters never leave their craft empty.
The funeral service marked the culmination of a week of nationwide remembrance, following a Night of Tributes in Lagos that brought together film pioneers and political leaders. By training fresh generations and demanding technical discipline on set, Jacobs gave the country an enduring artistic foundation that continues to feed global streaming networks today. His private interment in Lagos secures his physical rest while his vast cinematic catalogue ensures that his voice will instruct African storytellers for decades to come. A towering curtain now falls.