NIGERIA: Veteran Nollywood actor Fabian Adibe has passed away at the age of 85. He died early Wednesday morning at 2:30 a.m.
Adibe was widely known for his role in the film adaptation of Things Fall Apart, where he played Ogbuefi Uzowulu alongside Pete Edochie. He belonged to the generation of actors who helped lay a strong foundation for Nollywood. Announcing his death on social media, a celebrity journalist wrote, “Things Fall Apart actor, Fabian Adibe, is dead. Died 2:00 a.m. this morning.”
In the 1970s, Adibe was part of the Odunke Artists, a group of talented Igbo young men who significantly contributed to the Nigerian arts and entertainment scene. At this time, further details surrounding his death remain unclear. The entertainment industry continues to mourn the loss of one of its pioneering figures.
Reflecting on his career before quitting acting 12 years ago, Adibe explained that he left Nollywood because of “packaging.” He said, “I left them (Nollywood) because one of their boys came and told me that they are starting a thing called ‘packaging.’ So I asked him what packaging is. He said they would give you three scripts, you will do two and get paid while the other would be for them. Why would you want me to do one for you for free? I said I wouldn’t.”
The veteran actor revealed that his acting fees ranged from N2,000 to N30,000, far lower than the current N100,000 paid to contemporaries. His last movies were Sister My Love (2006) and Slave Warrior (2007). In 2013, he launched his book Mixed Grill at age 70.
Adibe also spoke about being abandoned by colleagues and dealing with a gradual visual impairment. “None of these people that are Onitsha traders that are in Nollywood, none of them have ever phoned me or asked where this man is,” he said. Despite challenges, he remained committed to the industry, acting in over 300 films, including Living in Bondage (1993), White Kingdom 2 (2014), and international projects such as Soweto and Mr. Johnson.
Fabian Adibe’s death marks the end of a remarkable era for Nollywood, leaving behind a legacy of integrity, talent, and pioneering contributions to Nigerian cinema.
