Ilaro Gathers Today to Bid Ogogo Farewell at 8th-Day Fidau

ILARO

Eight days after veteran Yoruba actor Alhaji Taiwo Hassan Babatunde, popularly known as Ogogo, was laid to rest in his hometown, Ilaro gathers again today for the Fidau prayer marking the close of the week-long mourning period, an occasion drawing clerics, theatre practitioners, monarchs, fans of Ogogo, and politicians to a programme that, on paper, runs eighteen items long.

Ogogo, who died on 23 August 2026 at age 66. Today’s programme is a religious and cultural observance, not a legal or political proceeding, though its guest list, as with many such events involving prominent Nigerians, has drawn its own share of attention.

How the week unfolded

Findings by ValidViewNetwork, tracing coverage since his final illness became public, show the eight days leading here moved fast.

Ogogo’s daughters, Kira and Lima Taiwo, first made emotional public appeals for medical help in the days before his death, revealing their father was battling stage-four cancer and that doctors had ruled out further chemotherapy given how advanced the illness had become.

He eventually died on Sunday, 23 August, and was buried the following day in Ilaro according to Islamic rites, in a ceremony that drew hundreds of sympathisers, including fellow veterans Yinka Quadri, Jide Kosoko and Femi Adebayo.

Quadri later recalled his final hospital visit to Ogogo, saying the ailing actor had spent the visit reassuring him rather than the other way round, even asking the attending doctor to confirm he had eaten well that morning.

What today’s programme signals

Checks by ValidViewNetwork against the family’s published order of proceedings show a carefully layered event: opening prayers by the Yewa Muslim Community leadership, Quranic recitation, condolence messages from both the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland and the Christian Association of Nigeria in Yewaland, tributes from colleagues under the banner “May Your Soul Rest in Perfect Peace,” and special prayers not only for Ogogo’s children and extended family but for Yewaland’s fortunes in the 2027 elections and for Senator Olamilekan Adeola, popularly called Yayi.

The programme closes with a royal message from the Olu of Ilaro and a keynote address from Governor Dapo Abiodun, before a vote of thanks from Princess Halimat Ayinke Taiwo.

The bigger tribute still to come

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Today’s Fidau is not the final act. The family has already announced a 40-day Artists’ Day at the Pavilion Hall in Ilaro, to be coordinated by the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), bringing together actors, musicians and comedians for a fuller celebration of Ogogo’s more than four-decade career, one that spanned over 300 productions including Owo Blow, Anikulapo and Omo Ghetto.

For now, though, Ilaro’s attention is on today: a town, a family, and an industry gathering once more to pray a departed icon into rest.