Veteran actor, producer and traditionalist, Chief Jimoh Aliu, is dead.
The 86-year-old was reported to have breathed his last at the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, earlier today, Thursday September 17 after a brief illness.
Born in Okemesi-Ekiti, the deceased began acting in 1959 after joining Akin Ogungbe Theatre Group and left in 1966 to form his own troupe, Jimoh Aliu Concert Party, in Ondo State.
Also a dramatist and playwright, Aliu had no formal education but became an iconic playwright in Nigeria’s cultural landscape focusing on Yoruba mythology, culture and values which influenced his 65-year theatre career.
He produced and featured in various Nollywood Yoruba movies, popular amongst which are ‘Arelu’, ‘Yonpon Yorin’ and ‘Fopomoyo’.
He was the pioneer President of the Association of Nigeria Theatre Practitioners (ANTP), after the late Hubert Ogunde and Adeyemi Afolayan (Ade Love) had succeeded in creating an assemblage of Yoruba folk theatre artistes into a unified front.
