Popular Yoruba actor, Murphy Afolabi, has been buried.
The Osogbo-born actor, popularly known for his Yoruba accent, was buried at his Ikorodu house located at Owoniboys, Mopelufa, by Aleke Bus stop, in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, amid a crowd of mourning friends, family and sympathizers.
Afolabi, who clocked 49 on May 5, died on Sunday after he reportedly slipped in his bathroom at his Ajao Estate residence.
It was reported that some youths in the area, who crowded the late actor’s yet-to-be-completed building, prevented reporters from covering the burial until later in the evening when the burial took place.
The burial, which was scheduled for 1pm, did not take place until around 6pm as the body of the deceased did not arrive at the venue of the burial until around past 5pm.
It was also observed that the burial ground had been dug much earlier before the arrival of the deceased’s body.
The house of the late actor was filled up by colleagues and sympathizers. Among them was the President of the Theatre Arts and Movies Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Bolaji Amusan, alias Mr. Latin, who was waylaid and prevented from getting to the burial ground by some youths, who described themselves as “omo adugbo” (area boys), and demanded that Mr. Latin “settle” them before they would allow him access to the burial ground.
The issue was later resolved and Mr. Latin was eventually granted access to Afolabi’s burial ground.
Speaking with journalists, he described Afolabi’s demise as a “great loss” to the Nigerian movie industry.
He said, “Anybody can die. Murphy was not sick as far as we know. As you must have heard, he went to have his bath in the bathroom, slipped, and died. The news of his death came as a rude shock to us and is a great loss to the industry.”
Other actors who paid their last respect to the Late Afolabi, included Fausat Balogun (popularly known as Madam Saje), Yemi Ayebo (popularly known as Yemi My Lover), Mercy Aigbe, Oluwole Coker (also known as Baraka), and Taiwo Akinwande (popularly known as Yetunde Wunmi).
Each of the actors at the venue hailed Afolabi for his contributions to the Nigerian movie industry. Amusan said Afolabi was “a good person” and advised those he left behind in the industry to strive to have good records.
Wunmi, who was sobbing while speaking to journalists, said Afolabi was too young to have died.