Veteran Actor, ‘Papa Ajasco’ is Dead

Veteran Nollywood actor, Femi Ogunrombi, who was a stand-in character for Papa Ajasco in the popular 1996 Sitcom has passed on.

A theatre practitioner, journalist and lecturer, Dr. Shaibu Husseini,  announced the death of the veteran, on his Twitter page yesterday.

“I have just been reliably informed that the ethnomusicologist, former Music Instructor with @National Troupe and one time stand in for the ‘Papa Ajasco’ character on the popular @waleadenugaprod Comic Series ‘Papa Ajasco’ Mr. Femi Ogunrombi is dead,” he tweeted.

A digital journalist and talent manager, Mr. Mayowa Adenekan,  while also sharing the news on the social media said that the late actor was a the stand-in actor when the first Papa Ajasco character pulled out.

“Veteran actor Femi Ogunrombi a.k.a  Papa Ajasco is dead. I see a lot of people using images of the first papa Ajasco Mr. Abiodun Ayoyinka, but the one that died is Mr. Femi Ogunrombi, the one that took over the character when Mr Abiodun Ayoyinka pulled out of the show. May his soul RIP,” he said.

Ogunrombi, a multi instrumentalist, music teacher, composer, actor, producer and director of music/film studied music and drama at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

He founded and conducted a choral group called The Ayoro Voices. This group was the cultural image of OAU between 1980 and 1983 respectively.

In 1994, Ogunrombi joined the National Troupe of Nigeria as Music Instructor. By 1998, he rose to the position of Director of Music. He inaugurated and conducted the National Choir and in 1998, he left the government to pursue his own music business.

In 2006, Ogunrombi joined the popular TV comedy programme as Papa Ajasco. Papa Ajasco and Company was created by Wale Adenuga Productions. Ogunrombi at the same time became the Coordinator of Studies for Adenuga’s PEFTI film Institute.