Olu Jacobs laid to rest in Lagos: career arc, Night of Tributes, funeral
Nollywood icon Olu Jacobs was laid to rest in Lagos on Friday 3 October 2026 after a funeral service at This Present House on Freedom Way, Lekki, closing a week of tributes for one of Nigerian screen’s defining actors. This is a career-and-funeral tribute drawn from verified public reporting — not speculation about his health.
By Editorial Team
What we know
- Funeral (FACT, Punch / THISDAY). Jacobs was interred after a funeral service at This Present House, Freedom Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, on Friday 3 October 2026. Punch and THISDAY describe a private burial following the service.
- Family present. Widow and veteran actress Joke Silva attended with their sons, named in coverage as Olusoji (Soji) and Olugbenga (Gbenga) Jacobs.
- Night of Tributes. A Night of Tributes and Service of Songs was held on Wednesday (reported as 30 September / two days before burial) at Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos Island, with Nollywood colleagues, Bible readings, performances and a candlelight procession.
- Passing. The family announced his death on 16 September 2026. He was 84. Public reports do not attribute an official cause of death from the family statement; we do not speculate beyond that.
Career arc: from RADA to Nollywood’s Lion of Lufodo
Born in 1942 to parents from Egba Alake, Jacobs spent early years in Kano and attended Holy Trinity School, THISDAY reports. His interest in performance grew after watching a Hubert Ogunde concert party at the Colonial Hotel in Kano. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
British stage and television credits in the 1970s, as summarised in THISDAY’s funeral report, include work at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, appearances on productions such as The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part and Barlow at Large, and the role of President Mageeba in Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day (1978). After returning to Nigeria around 1990, he featured in NTA’s detective series The Third Eye before becoming a cornerstone of the emerging Nollywood industry — hundreds of film credits and a reputation for discipline and mentorship.
Later honours cited in funeral coverage include a Lifetime Achievement Award at AFRIFF 2021 and an Icon Award from the Audio-Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS) in 2022. He and Joke Silva co-founded the Lufodo Group and Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts — the “Lion of Lufodo” nickname that ran through many tributes. For industry context, see our history of Nollywood from Living in Bondage and the highest-grossing Nollywood films explainer.
Night of Tributes and funeral day
At Glover Memorial Hall, colleagues including Richard Mofe-Damijo, Sola Sobowale, Kate Henshaw, Hilda Dokubo, Rita Dominic, Funke Akindele, Jide Kosoko and others shared recollections, according to Punch, Premium Times and THISDAY. RMD recalled Jacobs teaching that there are no small actors and no small lines. Sobowale described early encouragement that changed her confidence. Henshaw and Dokubo remembered his generosity on set — snacks, coffee, calming a nervous young actress.
Dignitaries at the funeral service, as listed by Punch and THISDAY, included Lagos State First Lady Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, former Ogun governor Ibikunle Amosun, former Ekiti First Lady Bisi Fayemi, and Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy Hannatu Musawa. Punch notes Darey Art Alade performed “Pray For Me,” a song whose video featured Jacobs and Silva. Son Olugbenga presented his father’s biography during the service.
What we are not claiming
Some older entertainment coverage discussed Jacobs’s health over the years. The family’s September announcement, as summarised in major Nigerian outlets, confirmed his passing at 84 and asked for privacy. It did not publicly detail a cause of death in the reports we used. This article sticks to funeral logistics, verified career facts and published tributes.
Why Jacobs mattered beyond the credits list
Funeral speakers kept returning to craft, not celebrity. Ahmed Yerima, quoted in THISDAY, recalled forgetting his own lines when Jacobs began crying in a scene Yerima had not written tears into — a story about intensity that colleagues treated as affectionate, not sensational. Norbert Young linked his own career growth to listening to Jacobs weekly on Third Eye. Those are primary recollections from the Night of Tributes, not invented colour.
The Lufodo Academy thread matters for younger actors who never shared a set with him. Co-founding a training pipeline with Joke Silva meant his influence did not stop at his own filmography. When industry mourners call him a benchmark, they are talking about that dual role: star performer and institution builder. Our Nollywood history explainer from Living in Bondage onward is the wider frame for how actors of Jacobs’s generation professionalised an industry that began as a video boom.
Punch’s funeral report adds a quiet personal detail: Darey’s performance of “Pray For Me,” a song whose video had placed Jacobs and Silva on screen together. Moments like that are why funeral coverage belongs in the entertainment press — they document how a public career intertwined with a public marriage and a private family that, in Soji’s words reported by THISDAY, Jacobs protected fiercely.
What happens next
- Expect continued memorial posts from industry bodies and Lufodo-linked programmes as the industry marks his legacy.
- Any official foundation or scholarship announcements from the family would be follow-up stories only when confirmed by primary statements.
- Readers looking for Nollywood history and box-office context can start with our Living in Bondage history and highest-grossing films guides.
More Nollywood coverage: Nollywood and Nigerian Entertainment.
Featured image: Photo: Ameyaw Debrah, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva at the 2014 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards. Source.
In-article image: Photo: Ameyaw Debrah, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Source.
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