Nigerians mourn Jab Adu

Jab Adu

Nigerians have been mourning the death of legendary actor, director, producer and dramatist, Joseph Abiodun Babatunde Adu, popularly called Jab Adu, who died two days ago at the age of 82.

Adu passed away in his Abeokuta, Ogun State after an undisclosed illness, his wife, Aina Lewis-Adu said.

The veteran actor, best remembered for his role as Bassey Okon in the hugely popular drama series, The Village Headmaster, had an illustrious career on stage, television and film.

In the 1977, he wrote, co-produced and directed the film Bisi, Daughter of the River, one of the earliest celluloid films made in Nigeria. He also produced and starred in the hit TV series Adio's Family. Both productions were received with critical acclaim.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said Adu was one of the very few quintessential master artistes left of his generation.

According to him, the actor lived an exemplary life and exhibited sterling qualities throughout his lifetime.

"He was not only well regarded as an actor, writer and producer but he also stood out for his patriotism and outstanding contributions to the broadcast and motion picture industry, one of the reasons he was honoured with the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) award by the Federal Government," the minister said in a statement.

Bala Awala, veteran director and Adu’s long time associate said, “there goes a good man, a man of peace and a true professional”.

Akin Adejuwon, artistic director of the National Troupe, described the actor’s death as “painful,” and that people like Adu “should live longer so we can go to them to get ideas on how we can move the arts and culture of this country forward.”

Ace broadcaster, Soni Irabor, said Adu one was of the most disciplined producers and actors of his time.

“Apart from the long-running TV series, ‘Village Headmaster’, I remember him on set of ‘Count Down At Kusini’ with Ossie Davies, John Chukwu, Greg Morris and Ibidun Alison in 1974. I saw great men at work in Jab Adu and Ladi Ladebo. Great memories! May his soul rest in peace,” Irabor wrote on his Facebook page.

A WhatsApp group, called the Ibadan Film Circle, also paid tributes to the legend.

Sadly, many young Nigerians don’t know who Jab Adu is and a lot of them admitted this on social media when the story of the veteran actor broke.

The Village Headmaster was created by the late Chief Segun Olusola in 1968. Adu was initially cast for the role of the headmaster but the position eventually went to Ted Mukoro.

Speaking with The Guardian, Adu said the producers were initially skeptical of his ability to play the role of Bassey Okon because he spoke very good English while the character could speak only pidgin.

“I recalled at that time that I spoke good English and so they didn’t see me as someone who could speak pidgin and it was a debate whether I should do the headmaster or Ted should do the Pidgin English part.

“But when they looked at our stature, they said Ted would fit the role of the village headmaster and so I took up the role of Bassey Okon and took the challenge of creating that character,” he said.

Adu, who was in The Village Headmaster for about nine years, said, “it was a challenge for me to create that character” but he interpreted the role successfully, partly because he grew up in Calabar.

After almost a decade in the drama series, he decided to quit. “I said listen, I can’t do the same thing all my life. I wanted to do something else that was how I left Village Headmaster.’’

Jab Adu was a devotee of Grail Message Movement.