Veteran comedian and filmmaker Moses Olaiya, popularly known as Baba Sala has passed on at the age of 82.
Ace comedian, Gbenga Adeyinka, broke the sad news Tuesday night.
“We lost him. What a great loss. An icon is gone”, he wrote on his Instagram page.
The late comedian, who was in limelight for decades, had solicited for funds to further his treatment.
Baba Sala, disclosed his illness at a briefing held on his biography due for presentation on December 4, where he looked frail and spoke with difficulty.
“I need help. Nigerians should help me. I am not dead yet, they should not let me die suffering”, he said.
Baba Sala’s first son, Reverend Dele Adejumo, had said the octogenarian was not suffering from old age but lack of funds for medical treatment, adding that his investments had all been wrecked by poor management.
Adejumo said, “He has investments but they have all been wrecked by mismanagement. He also had a three-storey building in Mushin, Lagos which he had to sell to offset debt incurred when his work, Orun Mooru, was pirated.
“We still have some of his recorded works not in public yet but machines that will be used to transform them to an acceptable format are not easily available. We do not have the kind of money they are charging us.
“We have been told that baba needs a lot of money for medical treatment abroad. He is suffering from a stroke and other ailments.
“There are many people of his age who are not like this. We are trying our best as family members. We take him to the teaching hospital weekly but he needs proper medical attention.”
Significantly, Baba Sala started his career in show business as a Highlife musician, fronting in 1964 a group known as the Federal Rhythm Dandies where he tutored and guided the jùjú music maestro King Sunny Ade who was his lead guitar player.
