CELEBRITY OF THE DAY: Adebayo Salami a.k.a Oga Bello Complete Biography

CELEBRITY OF THE DAY:

Adebayo Salami a.k.a Oga Bello Complete Biography

BIOGRAPHY:

EARLY LIFE: Adebayo Salami popularly known by his stage name Oga Bello, is a veteran Nigerian actor, filmmaker, movie producer and director. Albeit of Kwara descent, Salami was born on 9 May 1953 in Lagos State where he had both primary and secondary education.

Career

He began his acting career in 1964 with a group called Young Concert Party, under the leadership of Ojo Ladipo, popularly known as Baba Mero. After a few years, the group changed its name to Ojo Ladipo Theatre Group, and later metamorphosed into Awada Kerikeri Theatre Group. Following the demise of Ojo Ladipo in 1978, Salami took the mantle of leadership of the group, which brought him into the limelight.

He featured in the first Yoruba film, Ajani Ogun, in which the late Adeyemi Afolayan, the father of Kunle Afolayan and Gabriel Afolayan, plays the lead role.

He also featured in a movie titled Kadara by Adeyemi Afolayan (Ade love). He later featured in the popular Nigerian comedy series Comedy half hour with the stage name Oga Bello.

He produced his first movie, Ogun Ajaye, in 1985, from the stable of Awada Kerikeri.

Since 1985, he has produced, directed and featured in several Yoruba movies.

He was a pioneer member of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners, and also served as president of the association.

 

Marital Life

Veteran Yoruba Actor, Adebayo Salami aka Oga Bello is blessed with wonderful children. The living legend of the Yoruba movie industry was born in Lagos Over 63 years ago but he is from Kwara state, Ilorin. For him, education started at Ansarudeen, Oke-Ejigbo and his secondary school was at Adebo Commercial School in Lagos before he later went to Lagos drama school created by Christopher Olude. Oga Bello got married to wives and his union is blessed with 17 delightful children who are flourishing in their chosen career.

Amazingly, 15 of these children are graduates while 2 are still in the University. Apart from the regular Adebayos, we know in acting, there are many others doing well for themselves in other professions.
However, a thorough investigation shows the actor’s 9 sons and what they do for a living.
They are Wale, Femi, Sadiq, Tope, Ridwan, Layiwola, Hammed Akeem and Kunle Adebayo. Wale Adebayo is the first son of the family. He was based in America before he relocated to Nigeria some years ago to monitor his companies here. He is the boss of Flexyklin, an organization that is into Cleaning Business, Landscaping with his office located in Abuja and several branches in Lagos, Ilorin and Ibadan. He is happily married with a son.

The second born of the family is no other than top actor, Femi Adebayo. Jelili Oniso as he is fondly called is a well- known Nigerian actor, Property Lawyer and the boss of J-15 School of Performing Arts, located at Mokola Area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

Femi was married and his union is blessed with a daughter and a set of twins (Baby Boys) whom he treasures more than anything.

Sadiq Adebayo is another fantastic son of Oga Bello. He appears on screen once in a while but no actors and actresses dare toy with him as his job in movie making is more crucial than those of the movie stars. He is a location manager who put actors, producers and directors through so many things before going on set. He is the boss of Blackman Entertainment. He got married a couple of years back and he is blessed with a kid. He is a graduate of Geology and Mineral Science from the University of Ilorin.

Next on this list is ace movie director, Tope Adebayo. He graduated from the University of Ilorin in 2006 as a Computer Engineer. He did his compulsory one year National Youths Service Corps’ (NYSC) in Akwa Ibom. He is today progressing in the acting industry day by day. Another popular name in the movie industry who is also son of Oga Bello is Ridwan Adebayo, the intelligent dude is a Video Editor and he edits for the big boys in the industry, and he also handles almost all the post production of his family.

Layiwola Adebayo runs a boutique called “Trends Spotter”. He is a graduate of History and International Studies and he was the Student Union Government President of the Lagos State University (LASU) 2011 set.
Hammed Adebayo works with a Private school in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State as the
school’s coordinator. Number 8 on this list is Akeem Adebayo. He is based in Ilorin. He is into clothes
designing with his office located in Ilorin. The last son of “Baba Oni Baba” as Oga Bello is also called is Kunle Adebayo and he is an undergraduate of History and International Studies of the University Ilorin, (300 Level)