By Simpson Global Media News Desk
Nigeria’s entertainment industry gathered in Lagos on Wednesday, September 30, to honour veteran actor Olu Jacobs, as colleagues from different generations of Nollywood, theatre and television came together for a Night of Tributes marking the beginning of his final farewell.
The ceremony, held at the historic Glover Memorial Hall on Lagos Island, brought together members of Jacobs’ family, leading actors, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, friends and government representatives to remember a career that stretched across more than five decades.
Jacobs died on September 16, 2026, at the age of 84. His death brought tributes from across Nigeria’s entertainment industry and from audiences who had followed his work on stage, television and film for decades. His family had described him as the “Lion of Lufodo”, a reference to the creative institution he built with his wife, actress Joke Silva.
Wednesday’s gathering was not simply a memorial for a familiar screen face. It also became an opportunity for younger actors and established veterans to reflect on the professional standards, training, stage experience and mentorship associated with Jacobs’ career.
Among those who attended were Richard Mofe-Damijo, Funke Akindele, Sola Sobowale, Jide Kosoko, Adebayo Salami, Hilda Dokubo, Segun Arinze, Rita Dominic, Emeka Ike, Femi Adebayo and Madam Saje. Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy Hannatu Musawa was also present.
The event included tributes, performances and a candlelight procession as members of the industry reflected on the life of a performer whose career connected Nigerian theatre with the international stage and, later, with the rapid development of Nollywood.
A farewell attended by several generations
The composition of the gathering reflected the breadth of Jacobs’ career.
Some of the people present had worked with him during the earlier stages of Nigeria’s modern theatre and television development. Others belonged to generations that came into the industry after Nollywood had become a major part of the Nigerian entertainment economy.
The presence of actors from different generations was significant because Jacobs’ career did not belong to only one period of Nigerian entertainment.
He began in theatre, developed professional experience in Britain, appeared in international films and television productions, returned to Nigeria and subsequently became one of the most recognisable actors in the country's growing film industry.
At Glover Memorial Hall, colleagues recalled different aspects of that journey.
Reports from the ceremony said speakers highlighted his professionalism, humility, mentorship and influence on younger performers. Richard Mofe-Damijo, one of the actors who paid tribute to him, spoke about Jacobs as a father figure and linked his decision to return to Nigeria with opportunities that later generations of performers benefited from.
For Sola Sobowale, the relationship was described in similarly personal terms. A tribute reported after the ceremony highlighted Jacobs’ role in her development as an actor and teacher.
Those accounts underline an aspect of Jacobs’ career that is not fully captured by a filmography: his influence on people who worked around him.
The man behind the screen image
For many Nigerian viewers, Olu Jacobs became associated with characters who possessed authority.
He frequently played fathers, elders, traditional rulers, political figures, wealthy patriarchs and other figures whose presence could change the direction of a story.
But the range of his career was wider than those familiar roles.
Before he became a major figure in Nollywood, Jacobs had already accumulated professional experience in British theatre and television.
He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, commonly known as RADA, before appearing in British productions. His international screen credits later included films such as The Dogs of War, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and Roman Polanski’s Pirates.
His international experience gave him exposure to production systems outside Nigeria at a time when the country’s modern film industry was still developing.
When he returned to Nigeria around 1990, he joined an entertainment landscape that was changing rapidly.
One of his notable early television roles after his return was Inspector Best Idafa in the NTA detective series The Third Eye. From there, his Nigerian career expanded as home-grown film and television production grew.
That return is now an important part of how his career is remembered.
From British theatre to Nigerian screens
Jacobs’ professional journey crossed several entertainment systems.
His early exposure to acting developed in Nigeria before he travelled to Britain for formal training.
His British career included television appearances in productions such as The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part, Barlow at Large, The Venturers, Angels, The Tomorrow People and The Professionals, according to biographical accounts of his career.
His film work also took him into international productions.
These included Ashanti, The Dogs of War, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and Pirates.
That international exposure was followed by a decision to return home.
The significance of that decision has been repeatedly discussed by colleagues following his death.
Rather than remaining permanently within the British or international entertainment circuit, Jacobs returned to Nigeria and became part of the generation of professionals whose careers developed alongside the country's expanding film industry.
His subsequent work helped establish a bridge between older theatrical traditions and the screen-driven entertainment industry that eventually became known internationally as Nollywood.
A career that exceeded 120 Nigerian films
Jacobs’ Nigerian filmography eventually extended beyond 120 productions, according to multiple biographical and industry accounts.
That figure gives only a numerical indication of the scale of his career.
The roles themselves demonstrate the variety of stories in which he participated.
He appeared in films including Adesuwa, Potomanto, Oloibiri, Dry, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, The Antique and other Nigerian productions.
In Oloibiri, he played a character connected to an oil-producing community, while in other productions his roles were rooted in family relationships, traditional authority, social conflict or political power.
His performances therefore covered different genres and generations of Nigerian filmmaking.
His deep voice and controlled delivery became particularly recognisable to audiences.
But the consistency of his performances was also linked to his theatrical training.
Theatre requires actors to project voice and emotion while maintaining concentration over extended performances. Those skills can translate differently to film and television, where camera work can capture smaller gestures.
Jacobs worked across both environments.
That breadth became one of the defining features of his career.
Recognition from the Nigerian film industry
Jacobs’ work was recognised through major industry awards and national honours.
He won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2007 for Dancing Heart. He later received the Industry Merit Award at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards in 2013.
In 2016, the Africa Movie Academy Awards honoured Jacobs and Joke Silva with a Lifetime Achievement Award recognising their contributions to African cinema.
The Nigerian government also conferred on Jacobs the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, or MFR, in 2011.
Those honours came at different stages of his career.
They also reflected the fact that his contribution was not confined to commercial film acting.
He had spent decades working across theatre, television, cinema and professional training.
The Lufodo chapter
Another important part of Jacobs’ legacy is the work he did with Joke Silva outside individual film roles.
The couple co-founded the Lufodo Group, with interests associated with film production and distribution, and established the Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts.
The academy created another avenue through which professional knowledge could be passed to younger people interested in performance and the creative industries.
This is particularly relevant to the tributes delivered at Glover Memorial Hall.
Several of the accounts from the event focused not simply on Jacobs as a successful actor but on his relationship with younger performers.
An actor’s influence can spread through direct teaching, professional example and the opportunities created by institutions.
The Lufodo initiative provided an institutional dimension to the work he and Silva had already done through their individual careers.
It meant that their contribution could extend beyond the performances for which audiences knew them.
Joke Silva and the final farewell
The Night of Tributes also marked a public moment for Joke Silva, Jacobs’ wife and long-time professional collaborator.
Silva was present at Glover Memorial Hall with members of their family.
The couple had built a decades-long partnership in Nigerian entertainment, both as performers and as creative entrepreneurs.
Their professional relationship was intertwined with the development of Lufodo and with the wider evolution of Nigeria’s theatre and film industries.
Jacobs’ death therefore represented not only the loss of an individual actor but also the end of a major chapter in a partnership that had been visible within Nigerian entertainment for decades.
Reports from the Night of Tributes said Silva sat with their sons Gbenga and Soji during the ceremony.
The family’s programme had been announced before the event.
The Night of Tributes was scheduled for September 30 at Glover Memorial Hall, while the funeral service was fixed for October 2 at This Present House on Freedom Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
The family selected shades of blue for the Night of Tributes and shades of green for the funeral service.
Glover Memorial Hall and the symbolism of the venue
The choice of Glover Memorial Hall carried particular significance.
The historic Lagos venue has long been associated with theatre and performing arts.
It was also a place connected to Jacobs and Silva before his death. In 2022, Glover Memorial Hall was handed over by the Lagos State Government to a board that included the couple among its members, reflecting their involvement in efforts connected with the preservation and development of the performing-arts space.
Holding Jacobs’ tribute at the venue therefore placed his farewell within a building associated with the wider theatrical tradition from which his career emerged.
The setting linked the memorial not only to Nollywood but also to the stage.
That connection matters because Jacobs’ career did not begin with the Nigerian film industry.
His foundation was theatre.
He brought that training into television and film and continued to be regarded by colleagues as an actor whose technical background distinguished his work.
The memorial at Glover therefore became a reminder of the continuity between Nigerian theatre and modern screen entertainment.
The return that helped shape a generation
One of the recurring themes in tributes to Jacobs has been his decision to return to Nigeria after building an international career.
The choice is important in the history of Nigerian entertainment because it occurred during a period when local television and film were developing new audiences and production models.
Jacobs returned to a country whose entertainment industry was not yet the global commercial force it would become.
His subsequent career coincided with the expansion of home-video production and the emergence of Nollywood as an internationally recognised film industry.
He became part of a generation of performers who helped establish professional standards for the expanding industry.
That does not mean Nollywood was created by a single group of actors.
The industry developed through the work of producers, directors, writers, technicians, distributors, marketers, investors and performers across Nigeria and the wider African entertainment market.
Jacobs was one participant in that much larger development.
But his longevity meant that he remained visible across several phases of the industry's growth.
Younger audiences encountered him through films released decades after his theatre and international television work.
That continuity helped make him a recognisable bridge between generations.
A screen presence that became familiar to audiences
Jacobs’ acting style became familiar enough that audiences could often recognise him before knowing the name of the character he was playing.
His voice was distinctive.
His delivery was deliberate.
His screen presence could establish authority without requiring lengthy dialogue.
That made him particularly effective in roles where a character's status was central to the story.
Yet his filmography also included characters who were less powerful and more vulnerable.
The diversity of those roles is one reason his work continued to be discussed after his death.
A career spanning more than five decades naturally contains different acting styles, production standards and storytelling conventions.
Jacobs worked through those changes.
He moved from stage productions to British television, international films, Nigerian television, early Nollywood and later high-profile Nigerian cinema.
His career therefore provides a record of how an actor adapted to changing forms of entertainment.
Remembering films as well as the man
Following his death, audiences and entertainment publications revisited several of Jacobs’ best-known performances.
African Movie Database noted that his work included more than 120 films as well as numerous stage and television productions, and highlighted films such as Oloibiri as examples of the range of his later Nigerian work.
Other accounts have revisited Dry, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, Adesuwa, Potomanto and The Antique among his Nigerian screen credits.
The continued interest in those films demonstrates how an actor's legacy can survive through recorded performances.
A live theatre performance disappears after the curtain closes unless it is recorded or remembered.
Film and television create another kind of archive.
A performance can be viewed by people who were not born when it was first released.
For Jacobs, that means future Nigerian audiences will continue to encounter his work even though his active career has ended.
The importance of mentorship
The tributes from younger and established actors have repeatedly drawn attention to Jacobs as a mentor.
Mentorship in the entertainment industry can take several forms.
It can involve formal teaching.
It can happen through rehearsals.
It can involve correcting an emerging performer.
It can also simply involve demonstrating professional conduct on a set or stage.
For an actor entering a demanding industry, the example provided by an experienced colleague can influence how that person approaches preparation, discipline and collaboration.
Reports from the Night of Tributes indicate that colleagues remembered Jacobs in this context.
Richard Mofe-Damijo spoke about the opportunities associated with Jacobs’ decision to return to Nigeria, while Sola Sobowale recalled his influence on her development as an actor.
Such recollections show how professional legacies are often transmitted from one generation to another.
Beyond Nollywood
It would be too narrow to describe Jacobs only as a Nollywood actor.
His career predated the popular use of the term Nollywood.
He worked in British theatre and television, appeared in international films and later became a central figure in Nigeria’s home-grown film industry.
His career consequently illustrates the international movement of African performers.
Nigerian actors have long worked outside the country, just as international productions have employed Nigerian performers.
Jacobs’ career demonstrates that this movement existed before the current global expansion of African entertainment.
His British and international work gave him experience that he later brought into Nigeria.
His Nigerian work then became the dominant part of how many audiences remembered him.
That combination is one of the distinctive features of his professional history.
A national entertainment figure
Although his work was primarily artistic, Jacobs eventually became a public figure whose career was recognised beyond entertainment circles.
The MFR national honour was one formal recognition of his contribution to Nigeria’s creative sector.
Industry awards provided another.
His work with Lufodo added an institutional dimension.
And his long relationship with Silva made him part of one of the most visible partnerships in Nigerian entertainment.
The result was a public profile that went beyond individual films.
For many Nigerians, Jacobs became part of the country's entertainment memory.
His characters appeared during different stages of viewers’ lives.
A person who watched him on television as a child could later encounter him in a cinema production as an adult.
Another viewer might have first encountered him through a family film or a television rerun.
This generational familiarity is difficult to quantify, but it is an important component of the response to his death.
The final public gathering before the funeral
The September 30 Night of Tributes was the first major public farewell in the programme announced by Jacobs’ family.
The event brought together the industry figures who had worked alongside him, those he had mentored and audiences represented through the performers and filmmakers in attendance.
The funeral service is scheduled for Friday, October 2, at 10 a.m. at This Present House, Freedom Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, after which the family has said there will be a private interment.
The transition from the Night of Tributes to the funeral service marks the formal end of the public farewell programme.
For the entertainment industry, however, Jacobs’ professional legacy will continue through his films, recorded television work, theatre history and the performers who say they were influenced by him.
What remains after the farewell
The immediate attention surrounding Jacobs’ funeral will eventually fade.
The larger questions about his contribution to Nigerian entertainment will remain.
How should the industry preserve the work of performers from earlier generations?
How can professional training systems ensure that technical acting skills are passed to younger performers?
How can Nigerian theatre and film institutions maintain archives that allow future audiences to study the work of artists such as Jacobs?
And how can the industry ensure that the knowledge accumulated over decades is not lost when individual practitioners leave the stage?
Jacobs’ career offers one possible answer through the combination of performance, institution-building and mentorship.
He did not only act.
He helped establish a platform for training through Lufodo.
He worked with Silva on creative ventures.
He remained connected to theatre while becoming a major film actor.
His career therefore provides material for future actors and scholars to study as part of the development of Nigerian performing arts.
An enduring connection between theatre and film
Perhaps one of the clearest threads through Jacobs’ career is the connection between theatre and cinema.
He came from a theatrical tradition that placed emphasis on voice, movement, character construction and live performance.
He then moved into television and film, where those skills had to be adapted to cameras, editing and different production environments.
His career demonstrated that theatre training could provide a foundation for screen acting.
That lesson remains relevant to Nigeria's entertainment industry.
As Nollywood expands and Nigerian performers gain more opportunities in international productions, formal acting training and stage experience can continue to play a role in preparing performers for demanding screen work.
Jacobs’ professional journey provides an example of that pathway.
A career measured in decades
Olu Jacobs’ career spanned more than five decades.
It began before Nollywood had become the globally recognised Nigerian film industry that exists today.
It continued through the growth of Nigerian television and home-video production.
It extended into modern cinema.
Along the way, he accumulated international experience, national honours, industry awards and an extensive filmography.
His death at 84 brought that career to an end.
But the Night of Tributes demonstrated that the end of an actor’s life does not necessarily mark the end of the actor’s public presence.
Films remain.
Television programmes remain.
Photographs remain.
Interviews remain.
Students trained by the actor continue working.
Colleagues continue telling stories about him.
And audiences continue returning to performances made years earlier.
That is the nature of a recorded entertainment legacy.
The industry says goodbye
At Glover Memorial Hall, the Nigerian entertainment industry gathered around Jacobs’ family to mark the beginning of his final farewell.
The evening brought together veteran actors who knew him personally, contemporary stars who worked in the industry he helped shape, younger performers who regarded him as an influence, and government representatives who acknowledged his contribution to the creative sector.
The tributes also showed that Jacobs’ influence cannot be reduced to the number of films in which he appeared.
His legacy includes the professional path he travelled, the decision to return to Nigeria, the performances that became part of Nigerian popular culture, the institution he built with Joke Silva and the actors who say his guidance affected their careers.
The Night of Tributes was therefore both a farewell and a record of professional memory.
As the industry moves toward the funeral service on October 2, the focus will shift from the public gathering at Glover Memorial Hall to the private grief of the Jacobs family.
For Nigerian entertainment, however, the work remains.
The films will continue to be watched.
The performances will continue to be studied.
The stories of his career will continue to be told.
And the actors who learned from him will carry parts of that professional knowledge into the next generation.
Olu Jacobs’ final public farewell in Lagos has consequently become more than a ceremony marking the death of a celebrated actor. It has become a moment for Nollywood to look back at one of the careers that connected Nigerian theatre, television, international cinema and the modern Nigerian film industry.
His funeral on October 2 will formally close the farewell programme announced by his family.
His career, preserved through decades of recorded performances and through the work of those he influenced, will remain part of Nigeria’s entertainment history.
Comments
Post a Comment