Veteran TV broadcaster and Nollywood actor, Sadiq Abubakar Daba, known simply as Sadiq Daba has reportedly died on Wednesday, March 3.
According to NTA2 Lagos Network Centre, he died yesterday evening around 8:30 pm after battling leukaemia and cancer for years.
In 2017, Daba was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia and later prostate cancer for which he underwent several treatments.
Back in 2019, billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, paid for the hospital bills of the actor.
Giving a reason for his action, Otedola stated that he was moved because Sadiq Daba created good memories for him and others.
Originally from Kano state, Daba grew up in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He moved back to Nigeria at the age of 15. In Sierra Leone, he attended primary school and St. Edward’s Secondary school.
He returned to Nigeria and got higher degrees in many institutions including Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna state.
Growing up, he wanted to be a broadcaster. He finally got a chance in 1968, when he met a certain Alifa Baba Hammed. The latter found him impressive and arranged for an audition at the Radio Television, Kaduna.
Then, Daba worked as a news anchor, reporter, and editor at RKTV, NTPC Lagos, and NTA Lagos.
His acting career came to prominence in the late 1970s, starring in Cockcrow at Dawn.
Daba featured in a lot of other films and soap operas like ‘Behind the Clouds’, ‘A Place Like Home’, ‘Soweto’, and ‘Moment of Truth’.
In 2015, he won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as “Inspector Waziri” in Kunle Afolayan’s October 1. He was last seen acting in Kunle Afolayan’s 2020 movie ‘Citation’ as Professor Yahaya.
Daba announced his diagnosis of Leukemia and Prostate Cancer in 2017 and several Nigerians rallied around him to source funds.
He was married to Bolaji Daba and they share two children and grandchildren.
May his soul rest in peace.
