The remains of veteran Nollywood actor, Oludotun Baiyewun Jacobs, popularly known as Olu Jacobs, were on Friday laid to rest in Lagos State, as his family, colleagues and dignitaries gathered to bid farewell to the screen legend.
Jacobs’ dark, polished wooden casket, adorned with flowers, was placed in front of the altar at This Present House, Freedom Way, Lekki Phase I, where his funeral service was held.
The casket was carried into the church by pallbearers dressed in black, providing one of the most emotional moments of the ceremony as his widow, veteran actress Joke Silva, and their sons, Olusoji and Olugbenga Jacobs, watched.
Although the casket attracted attention at the funeral because of its imposing and elegant appearance, no official figure has been disclosed by the family or funeral organisers regarding its purchase price.
Beyond the high-profile attendance of political dignitaries and movie stars, the centerpiece of the emotional day was the highly polished dark wooden casket bearing the late national icon.
While the family has kept the exact price tag and the official manufacturer confidential, industry insiders and premium funeral planners estimate that a high-end casket of this caliber costs between ?2,000,000 and ?5,000,000 and more in the current Nigerian market.
The private burial followed the funeral service, according to the family’s previously announced arrangements.
But beyond the flowers, casket and solemn ceremony, the funeral brought renewed attention to the private battle fought by the actor during the later years of his life.
Jacobs died on September 16 at the age of 84 after a career spanning more than five decades across theatre, television and film. His death was announced by his family through his son, Olusoji, who described him as the ‘Lion of Lufodo’ and said the family was grateful to God for ‘a life well lived and fought.’
That reference to a life ‘fought’ became particularly significant in the tributes surrounding his burial.
At the Night of Tributes held on Wednesday at Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos, Soji offered an intimate account of the man the public knew primarily as one of Nigeria’s most commanding actors.
He said that, despite his father’s enormous reputation in the entertainment industry, he knew him first and foremost as his father.
‘I didn’t really watch his films back then. For me, he was simply Dad,’ Soji said, according to Channels Television.
He also recalled how Jacobs deliberately separated his professional life from his family life and fiercely protected the privacy of his children.
‘As much as the industry loved him and as possessive as they were of him, he always drew a fine line between that world and ours. He protected our privacy fiercely,’ he said.
Behind that private family life, however, Jacobs was dealing with a debilitating illness.
His wife, Joke Silva, had publicly disclosed in 2021 that the actor was living with dementia with Lewy bodies, a progressive neurological condition. The disclosure came after years of growing public concern about his health and his disappearance from the screen.
The illness eventually kept the veteran actor away from the public eye, even as false reports of his death repeatedly circulated on social media.
His family had to dismiss such reports several times before his actual death was announced in September.
Veteran actor, Pete Edochie, while mourning Jacobs last week, described his colleague as someone who ‘fought like a man and like a soldier’ until his death. He also praised Silva for the care she gave her husband over a period of six years.
Edochie’s tribute offered another insight into the severity and duration of Jacobs’ final battle.
He said the last six years of Jacobs’ life were not what they had expected, while acknowledging the effort made by Silva in caring for him.
For the Jacobs family, therefore, the funeral was not simply the closing ceremony for an 84-year-old actor. It was also the end of a prolonged and largely private chapter in which the screen icon battled declining health away from the cameras.
Jacobs had enjoyed an extraordinary career long before Nollywood became a globally recognised industry.
After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he worked in British theatre and television and appeared in international productions before returning to Nigeria.
He subsequently became one of the defining actors of Nigerian television and film, particularly known for his commanding portrayals of kings, chiefs, patriarchs, political figures and other men of authority.
Together with Silva, he also established the Lufodo Group and Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts, extending their influence beyond acting into film production, distribution and professional training.
At Friday’s funeral, those different chapters of his life converged.
His wife and sons stood beside his casket, while colleagues and dignitaries gathered to celebrate a career that helped shape Nigerian entertainment.
The funeral service was attended by several prominent Nigerians, including Lagos State First Lady, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu; Deputy governor Obafemi Hamzat; former Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun; and wife of former Ekiti State governor, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi.
The man who spent decades playing powerful fathers, kings and elders on screen was finally being mourned by his own children.
And as his dark wooden casket was carried away from the church, the tributes had already established that behind the celebrated actor was a father whose family watched him fight a difficult illness with dignity.
Olu Jacobs’ final journey, therefore, ended not merely with the burial of a Nollywood icon, but with the closing chapter of a life that moved from the theatre stages of Britain to Nigerian television and cinema, and ultimately into the hearts of generations of viewers.