4th January, 2013
Bisi Komolafe, the Yoruba movie actress, who died in the early hours of 1 January at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, western Nigeria, was buried amid tears Friday morning. Her corpse was received by her family and colleagues at the UCH mortuary, after which it was taken for a funeral mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Oke Padre in Ibadan. She was then buried at a cemetery a few metres away from the mortuary.
Most of Bisi’s friends and colleagues are still shocked over her death. Those who managed to speak described the death as a big blow to the industry, considering the fact that she was one of the most promising and versatile actresses.
The deceased was described as easy-going.
One of her best friends in the industry, Titi Osinowo, said: “I’m not in the right frame of mind to talk about Bisi now. I still can’t still believe she is gone. Wait a minute, does it mean we won’t see Bisi again?”
Bisi’s publicist, Faith Irabor, said: “She was like my sister and she was in her prime. I’m a woman and could be a victim of what happened to her. This is very sad indeed.”
The late Bisi, P.M.NEWS gathered, was in and out of the hospital for about three months after she had a miscarriage, which resulted in complications. President of the Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners, ANTP, Prince Jide Kosoko, who confirmed Bisi’s death to Entertainment Cafe, described it as an ill-timed development. According to him, “I got to know of her illness on 31 December when Yinka Quadri called me that there is a need for us to raise funds for her treatment abroad. But unfortunately, we got the shocker a day after that she was dead. It is sad that this is coming on a New Year day.”
Some of the movies she starred in are Igboro Ti Daru, Aye Ore Meji, Ogbe Inu, Akanmole, Alakada and Akun.
Bisi is the latest in a long list of deaths among actors. In the last three years, the profession has lost Ashley Nwosu, Sam Loco-Efe, Lekan Lekinson, James Iroha, a.k.a. Gringory, Brown Etiemwen, Geraldine Ekeocha, Ahmed Alasari and Yemisi Eleto.
Similar fate befell Face-2-Face actress, Cassandra Gabriel; Pete Eneh, Enebeli Elebuwa, Akin Ogungbe, Ahmed Oduola (Dento) and David Ihieze.
Concerned at the rate of the deaths, some of the actors including Iya Rainbow, Segun Arinze, Justus Esiri, Femi Ogedengbe Dele Odule and Hakeem Rahman among others ran to Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God for a special prayer session against deaths and sicknesses. The special service held in 2011 at the church’s headquarters in Ebute-Metta, Lagos.
Meanwhile, General Overseer of Consuming Fire Prayer Ministry, Ogba, Lagos, Pastor Sebastine Ndu, has claimed that rivalry is the cause of recurrent deaths in the Nollywood.
The clergyman claimed that Nigerian actors are being attacked by their counterparts in Ghana and South Africa.
“Nigerian actors have been outshining these people for many years and they (the foreigners) are desperate to take over. So, Nollywood actors need total deliverance from all forces that may be coming from outside or within. The deaths are beyond ordinary,” Ndu stated.