By Yinka Akanbi
Veteran popular family TV sitcom and titular character, ‘Papa Ajasco’, whose real name is Femi Ogunrombi, is dead.
His death was confirmed by a theatre practitioner and scholar, Dr. Husseini Shaibu, via his social media handles on Sunday.
He wrote, “I have just been reliably informed that the ethnomusicologist, former Music Instructor with the National Troupe of Nigeria and one time stand-in for the ‘Papa Ajasco’ character on the popular Wale Adenuga-produced comic series, ‘Papa Ajasco’, Mr. Femi Ogunrombi is dead.
“I am told that the actor, singer, highlifist and trained nurse whom we fondly called ‘Uncle Ogurombo’ (not to his hearing though) passed on this evening (Saturday).”
The late Ogunrombi was popular for his role in Adenuga’s Papa Ajasco series.
He began playing the character when the former character, Abiodun Ayoyinka, pulled out of the show.
The TV comic series, Papa Ajasco and Company (formerly The Ajasco Family) is a Nigerian family television sitcom created by Wale Adenuga in 1996. The show is a spin-off of a feature film of the same title produced by Adenuga in 1984.
The story revolves around the Ajasco family and their comic interpretations of major societal issues. The main characters include the womanising patriarch, Papa Ajasco, his long-suffering wife, Mama Ajasco, their mischievous son, Bobo Ajasco, local playboy Boy Alinco, promiscuous gold-digger, Miss Pepeiye, and illiterate ne’er-do-wells Pa James and Pa Jimoh.
At its prime, Papa Ajasco was widely considered to be Nigeria’s most- watched comedy series, viewed weekly in 12 African countries.
