“It Was Hard on Him”: Joke Silva Recalls Olu Jacobs’ Painful Battle With Dementia

The public knew Olu Jacobs as the commanding voice, the distinguished presence and the veteran actor whose career stretched across generations.

But behind the celebrated image was a private battle that his wife, actress Joke Silva, once described as painful for both the actor and the family.

Years before his death, Silva revealed that Jacobs had been living with dementia with Lewy bodies, a progressive neurological condition that affects the brain and can cause changes in thinking, movement and behaviour.

Her words have taken on new weight following Jacobs’ death at the age of 84 on September 16, 2026.

His family announced his passing in a statement that described him as “The Lion of Lufodo” and appealed for privacy as they mourned.

“It was hard on him”

In a 2021 interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, Silva spoke publicly for the first time about the condition her husband had been dealing with for several years.

She explained that the illness made it difficult for Jacobs to understand what was happening around him.

“It’s hard on him because he doesn’t understand what is going on and it is hard on us family members as well,” she said.

Silva also described the condition as degenerative and said the family had been dealing with it for years.

“We have gone through it over the past couple of years and we thank God,” she said.

At the time, Silva’s disclosure offered the public a rare glimpse into the private reality of a man who had spent decades portraying characters for audiences.

The actor’s illness gradually kept him away from the screen and public life, even as his reputation as one of Nigeria’s most respected performers remained intact.

A career larger than illnessJacobs built a career that crossed theatre, television and film, including work in Britain before he became one of the defining figures of Nigeria’s modern entertainment industry.

He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and later became known for performances that helped establish the professional stature of Nigerian film and theatre.

He received the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic and won several major industry awards during his career.

His death on September 16 brought an outpouring of tributes from across Nigeria’s entertainment industry and beyond.

President Bola Tinubu described Jacobs as a major figure whose career contributed to the development and professionalisation of Nigeria’s creative industry.

Yet behind the public tributes is also the story of a family that spent years dealing with a difficult illness away from the spotlight.

Understanding Lewy body dementiaDementia with Lewy bodies is a form of dementia associated with abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain.

It can affect thinking, attention, movement, sleep and behaviour, with symptoms varying from person to person.

It is different from the normal changes associated with ageing and can be difficult for both patients and caregivers.

There is currently no cure for Lewy body dementia, although treatment and supportive care can help manage individual symptoms and improve quality of life.

Silva’s account is therefore significant not because it explains everything about Jacobs’ final years, but because it shows the human side of caring for someone living with a progressive neurological condition.

ADVERTISEMENT

ValidViewNetwork reports that when Silva spoke publicly about Jacobs’ illness in 2021, she was not simply discussing a medical diagnosis.

She was describing what the disease meant inside a family, where the person affected may struggle to understand what is happening while those closest to them learn to cope with the changes.

Now that the curtain has finally fallen on Olu Jacobs’ remarkable life, those words offer a more intimate understanding of the years that the legendary actor spent away from the stage and screen.

The performances may have ended, but the legacy remains, ValidViewNetwork reports.