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Nifemi ‘Peteru’ Owomoyela, a Nigerian fast-rising comedian, MC and OAP, who was renowned for mimicking people, is dead. He was 35 years old.
Netng gathered that the Ibadan-based comedian died on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, a month after burying his father who died in August 2022.
“We lost him yesterday. He was sick,” a source close to the late comedian told Netng on Thursday, December 22, 2022, and said he was 35 years old.
Some of Owomoyela’s colleagues and music star Abolore ‘9ice’ Akande also confirmed his death in separate posts on their Instagram pages.
Peteru, as he was fondly called, was one of the entertainers putting Ibadan at the forefront of the Nigerian entertainment industry through his annual show Peteru Unleashed.
Born in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to parents who are from Ifon in Ondo state, Owomoyela was an alumnus of Government College Ibadan and studied Purchasing and Supply at The Polytechnic Ibadan.
Owomoyela, who battled with stuttering when he was younger, started his creative journey as a member of his church’s drama group – the Christ Apostolic Church in Ibadan, before joining a dance group where he discovered and refined his talent as a comedian.
“I stutter sometimes. In fact, if you had met me nine years ago you would know that stuttering for me, wasn’t bad. It was just worse,” he said. “I couldn’t speak without hitting my hands on my head or my lap. Whenever I wanted to talk, I would become agitated, and tears would run down my eyes.”
He said his journey as a comedian started at an event at the University of Ilorin, which he attended with his dance group.
“I can say I have been a comedian for a long time. When things were not good at home, and everybody was always down, I tried to bring out the humour in everything. I joined a dance group when I was younger, and I was usually the funny guy in the group. During one event we went for at the University of llorin, the MC came late and I got coerced into handling the show. Firstborn, the comedian, saw and liked it so he told me to come to Lagos,” Owomoyela said in a 2015 interview while narrating how his journey as a comedian started.
Narrating how he became known as Peteru, Owomoyela said “when I was in Lagos, Firstborn made me his opening act. I had a Peteru joke I told many times then, and it was hilarious and before I knew it, the name just sort of stuck.”
His rise to stardom started when he emerged winner of the comedy category of the Amstel Malta Showtime competition in Ibadan in September 2012.
He described winning the competition, which came at a time he was considering quitting comedy, as the turning point of his career.
“Right after I took part in an Amstel Malta competition and came out as the best comedian in the South-West of Nigeria, it gave me the assurance that I could still do it. At this stage, though, I cannot quit. Comedy for me is life, and it is all I want to do,” Owomoyela told IBCity Info magazine in 2015.
Fans and colleagues like Ayo ‘Woli Agba’ Ajewole, 9ice, among others, have described Owomoyela’s death as shocking and painful.
“This is the saddest news ever!” Bukunmi ‘Kie Kie’ Adeaga-Ilori wrote on Instagram. “Rest in peace Peteru! I honestly can’t believe I’m writing this.”
Nifemi ‘Peteru’ Owomoyela who got married in 2015, is survived by his wife, mother and siblings.
The post Nifemi ‘Peteru’ Owomoyela, Fast-rising Comedian And Amstel Malta Showtime 2012 Winner, Dies At 35 appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
Source: TheNet
