Ogogo’s aide: How we discovered he had cancer

Azeez Ayinde Onifade, the Nollywood star popularly known as Olu Ogogo, has recounted how cancer was discovered in the late veteran actor Taiwo ‘Ogogo‘ Hassan.

Onifade, a close associate of the deceased, spoke in a recent interview with Oyinmomo TV, where he discussed their relationship and how he became part of the actor’s life in Lagos.

“There was a time I visited him. He told me his wife would soon put to bed, and he wanted me to attend the naming with two of my friends. That’s the naming of his daughter called Halimat,” he said.

“… It was when I had started staying with him in Lagos that Khalid and Fuhad were born.”

Onifade said his move to Lagos was tied to the period when Ogogo first fell ill.

“Then he fell sick, and one day he called me. He asked where I was, and I said I was at Ilaro. He said he wanted me to come to Lagos that night,” he said.

“I went to meet him. I got there and asked what the problem was. He said some Islamic clerics asked him to go back to his roots in order to proffer a solution to his sickness.

“That he needed to buy goats, prepare food and give alms; that God would answer his prayers if he invited Islamic clerics and gave alms.

“He handed over the money to me that day, so I went to Costain with his elder brother, Waheed Taiwo, to buy the goat.

“I took the goat to Ilaro. The following day he came to meet us at Ilaro. We did all the necessary things.”

Onifade said Ogogo later returned to Lagos, where doctors discovered that he had an ulcer.

According to Onifade, Ogogo was eventually taken to Ilorin, where Islamic clerics spent three days praying for him.

“He said they got to Ilorin and they used three days. That was how long it took the alfas to do the prayers,” he said.

“We got back to Lagos, and everybody kept coming to say different things.

“He was later advised to go see another baba who ended up giving him the remedy for his ulcer.”

Onifade said Ogogo was meticulous about his health and continued to undergo medical tests whenever he experienced discomfort.

“As far as I’m concerned, Ogogo was the number one person who never joked about his health. He would even suggest running tests to his doctor, Dr Almat, at Ebute. The doctor would add all the tests, and he would do all the tests,” he said.

“He kept telling me he had some discomfort in some part of his body. It got to a stage that I had to let him understand that I didn’t like the smell of hospitals. The smell of injections and the like makes me nauseous.

“… One day at Ilaro, he told me something was stuck around his back and was restraining him. We went to Apena Hospital, and he was asked to do a test, which he did. The following morning, he took the test result.

“Again, he was referred to go and run another test somewhere else. When the result was out, he was asked to go for another test at Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere. We made our way there.

“After the test that day, he was asked not to eat for three days. It was the kind of test where a tube is inserted down the throat, and if this happens when the person has eaten, he will throw up.

“Before they ran the test, they said he was looking dehydrated because he hadn’t eaten. They had to commence drips on him. Afterwards, they ran the test.

“By the time they ran about six to seven tests on him, the time was almost 9 pm. When they were done, he asked if he could eat and they said yes.”

Onifade said a doctor Ogogo knew at Hossanna Hospital in Ilaro advised them to take him to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), where he was diagnosed with cancer.

“She said it’s not easy to get bed space at LASUTH, that it’s better they went there that night so she could plead with her bosses to help with the bed space, that he didn’t need to go back to Ikorodu and come back the following day again,” he said.

“So, when we got there that night, he got a bed space. I was asked to go home but return early the following morning. Me, his wives, children and brother Shina Adeyemi went back home.

“When we got there the following morning, they said the result of his tests would be out in two days. When the result was out, he had seen it, but I knew nothing about it.

“On the fourth day, his firstborn, Rashida, told me the result of the test that was carried out on him. They discovered he had cancer.”

Ogogo passed away on August 23 at age 66 after battling stage four cancer. He was buried the following day.