Veteran Nollywood actor Olu Jacobs has been laid to rest in Lagos following a funeral service held on Friday.
The service took place at the Freedom Centre in Lekki, where family members, colleagues, friends, dignitaries and leading figures in the Nigerian film industry gathered to honour the late actor.
Jacobs, who died in September at the age of 82, had a career spanning several decades and became one of Nigeria’s most recognised actors.
Among those who attended the funeral were Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, and former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun.
Nollywood personalities at the ceremony included Shaffy Bello, Keppy Ekpeyong, Stan Nze, Morayo Afolabi-Brown, Ireti Doyle, Lala Akindoju, Kate Henshaw, OC Ukeje, Patrick Doyle, Stephanie Okereke and Ernest Obi.
The funeral followed a night of tributes and a service of songs held on Wednesday to celebrate Jacobs’ life and contributions to the Nigerian entertainment industry.
Born in 1942 to parents from Egba Alake, Jacobs spent his early years in Kano, where he attended Holy Trinity School.
His interest in the performing arts developed after he watched a Hubert Ogunde concert party performance at the Colonial Hotel in Kano.
He later moved to England, where he trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Jacobs began his stage career in the 1970s. In 1972, he played The Boy in A Taste of Honey at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
He subsequently appeared in several British television productions, including The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part and Barlow at Large.
In 1978, he portrayed President Mageeba in Michael Codron’s presentation of Sir Tom Stoppard’s play Night and Day.
After returning to Nigeria in 1990, Jacobs featured in the NTA detective series The Third Eye before becoming a prominent figure in the country’s emerging Nollywood industry.
He went on to feature in hundreds of films, establishing himself as one of the acclaimed performers in Nigerian cinema.
His career earned him several honours, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), an Icon Award from the Audio-Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS) in 2022, and the Industry Merit Award at the 2023 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA).
The awards recognised Jacobs’ longstanding contribution to Nigerian film and the wider entertainment industry.
