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Described by many as an affable companion and an accomplished stage and screen talent, Sola Onayiga was a veteran actress and media personality who belonged to a generation of stars that gave us a wonderful childhood and staked claim to a place within our core memories.
Famous for finding her trade in television and radio dramas and later on the big screen, Oluwasolamipe Elizabeth Awojobi-Onayiga shot into the limelight for her role as Ireti in Checkmate in the early 1990s and in the now defunct family drama Fuji House of Commotion.
A family statement said she died of an undisclosed ailment on Sunday, July 17, 2022.
“It has been difficult for me to accept the passing away onto glory of my dearly beloved wife,” her husband, Pastor Tosin Onayiga, wrote in a Facebook post on July 26, 2022. “I want to thank God for a beautiful life well spent. The Lord is with us like a mighty terrible one.”
“I have just been informed that the accomplished Stage and Screen Actress and Fellow of Theatre Arts Auntie Sola Awojobi Onayiga ‘has’ passed on,” film critic Shuaib Husseini wrote on Monday, July 18, 2022, on his Facebook page.
“Auntie Sola, who is best known for playing the role of Ireti aka Catering practical in the defunct television sitcom ‘Fuji House of Commotion delightfully’, reportedly passed on this morning. Journey well, Ma! Journey well.”
According to reports, Onayiga had been admitted to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital due to an undisclosed ailment two weeks before her death on July 18, 2022. Her death came hours after fans and friends were still reeling in the shock of the death of comic actress Ada Ameh who also died on July 17, 2022, in Delta State.
Fans, colleagues and the Nollywood industry were enveloped in dark clouds to hear about the death of Sola Onayiga, the iconic thespian who freely gave us smiles in a career spanning over three decades.
Born on February 27, 1956, to the family of late Omoba Daniel Adekoya Awojobi, Sola Onayiga hailed from Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, Nigeria. Sister to late Professor Ayodele ‘The Akoka Giant’ Awojobi, a mechanical engineer whose brainchild was Autonov 1 – a bi-directional armoured vehicle that can be moved forward or backward without turning it around, Onayiga had her primary school education at Methodist Primary School, Oshodi Oko (now Oshodi Oke) and St. Mathias Catholic School. She went on to Oriwu College, Ikorodu, for her secondary education. After leaving secondary school, she worked as an interviewer with the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).
“When I finished Secondary School, I started working with the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA. I was employed as an interviewer; that is, I interviewed those who went around the country to sample opinions about the suitability of Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory. This was around 1976 and 1977. I was posted to Dodan Barracks to interview the soldiers. From there, I was posted to NET,”, she said in a 2006 interview.
She abandoned her studies at the National Institute of Internal Auditors in her second year to study Theatre Arts at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
“I obtained an admission form into the National Institute of Internal Auditors. I was given admission into the institute. When I got to Part Two, I became restless, and I felt like acting. I felt possessed by acting, and I convinced myself that I do not think I am cut out for the audit profession.
So, I concluded that audit was not my line, and I abandoned it and sought admission into the University of Ife (now OAU) to study Theatre Arts in 1981”, she revealed.
From her childhood days, Onayiga had always been interested in acting. She would watch actors like Jab Adu (Bassey Okon), and Elsie Olusola (Sisi Clara), supplementing those artistic introjections with reading newspapers and imitating TV broadcasters and people’s mannerisms.
The light was cast on her with her venture with the Organisation for Young Artiste (OYA), a theatre ensemble based at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, in 1978. The troupe submerged her in theatrical activities, increasing her love for the arts and acting as she featured in plays like Jankariwo by Ben Tomoloju, The Dilemma of a Ghost by Ama Ata Aidoo, and Trials of Brother Jero by Wole Soyinka, among others.
Her entry into TV drama and film then came after her segment of the then popular teen magazine programme, Youth Scene, which ran on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). She further featured in Oro Agbala on NTA 7, Ayeyewontan on NTA Ibadan, Children Drama on NTA 10, and Young Ones on NTA Abeokuta.
She extended her talent to radio dramas, too, appearing on shows like ‘Similar Express’, ‘Ireti Ade Olobeloloko’, Madam Philo in ‘Story Story’ and ‘Voices from a Market Place’ — a BBC Media action production.
Onayiga’s impeccable acting appears to bear testament to the popular notion that stage actors make the best actors, lending credence to Terrence Mann’s conviction that “movies will make you famous; television will make you rich, but theatre will make you good.” Onayiga became “a living testament that the route to excellence in acting begins with stagecraft,” veteran journalist, Femi Akintunde-Johnson, wrote in his book ‘Reflections’ published in 2021.
Her first professional and paid role as a stage actress was in The King Must Dance, a play directed by Fred Agbeyegbe. There, she embodied one of the most principal and challenging roles, the feisty Queen Odosun, so well that most people began to call her by the name. Stage acting requires the projection of personalities through body language, facial expressions, strategic on-stage body movement and retentive memory. Unlike film acting, which inevitably goes through filtration, stage acting possesses a sense of immediacy, spontaneity as well as impromptu delivery which make it all the more demanding than the former.
“When you are a stage actor, you can do well anywhere because you are the master of all; you can memorise your lines, read and understand fast. Stage play does not give the chance to redo what you have done like screen acting; you go live immediately”, the veteran actress revealed.
Thus, being stage-trained, an opportunity many others didn’t have, Onayiga’s foray into on-screen acting was seamless, and her talent was quickly spotted. She got her first English soap opera role in the film Checkmate when director Bolaji Dawodu visited the National Council for Arts and Culture while rehearsals were being done. He invited her for an audition and the rest, as they say, was history.
A spin-off of Checkmate, Fuji House of Commotion marked the announcement of Sola Onayiga into the mainstream of entertainment. The sitcom, focusing on the life of a rich man married to four women and has to look after four kids, was a hilarious and widely-accepted series. Despite – and perhaps because of – her attitude as an overbearing cook who tortured her family with her unconventional culinary skills in the series, Sola Onayiga became a darling to both old and young.
Some of her other films include Ti Oluwa Ni Ile, Tinsel, Hotel Majestic and many others.
The late actress showed that her excellence was not endemic to acting alone. She tried politics in 2015, running for a seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly to represent Ikorodu constituency one under the Social Democratic Party (SDP). In 2017, she revealed that she also runs a Creative Arts Academy with her husband, a clergy and media practitioner, Tosin-Kanbi Onayiga.
Sola Onayiga might be complaisant and unassuming. Yet, her attitude to work and her talents are never in doubt. She put smiles on faces and was always a shoulder that every other person could lean on in times of trouble. A believer of humanity through and through, Onayiga etched a mark in any environment she found herself.
Since her death was announced on July 18, 2022, family, friends, colleagues and those her work has inspired have continued to pay tributes to the veteran whose deft embodiment of Ireti would remain committed to memory.
Veteran actress, Ngozi Nwosu, who acted alongside Onayiga described her as being energetic and loving.
“My woman. My co-Fuji wife, Ireti. Oh, Sola with the craft; energetic and loving. You decided to leave us too. The industry has been thrown into mourning. Saying that you will be missed is an understatement”, she wrote on her official Instagram page.
Film producer, Grace Babasola, who worked with her on the set of Fuji House of Commotion, described her as a special talent that will definitely be missed.
“I remember Kitchen Practical for a very beautiful woman. She’s an awesome soul. if you’re on set with her, she lightens up her environment. She looks out for everyone . She’s a beautiful character”, she said.
Jude Orhorha, who also acted in Fuji House of Commotion, wrote “Aunty Sola, for over 30 years, I had known you to be a senior sister who cares about everyone. You always checked on me and my family. Your sudden departure came as a rude shock to me. May your soul rest in peace.”
At Onayiga’s night of tributes on Tuesday 16, 2022, NANTAP President Israel Eboh, described her as an easy-going woman who always influenced anyone she came in contact with positively.
“Sola was commitment personified. Sola was passion personified. No one walked with Sola that she didn’t touch,” said Israel.
Her fellow cast member on the set of Checkmate, Mrs Ruth Osu, also bears testament to Kitchen Practical’s humility and calmness.
She is “down to earth. You’d never see her angry or quarrel with anyone. We are going to miss a rare gem.”
Onayiga will be buried on Friday, 19, 2022, after a funeral service at the RCCG Joyful Assembly, Ikorodu, Lagos.
Sola Onayiga sold laughter like drugs. She exuded joy and elicited the same from anyone who cared to listen to her. We got our fix from the make-believe maestro, basking in euphoric waves of her artistic intoxication. Her legacy no doubt lives in the life she lived, the good cheer she shared, and the pictures she painted in the frames of her films.
She is survived by her husband, Pastor Tosin Onayiga, sisters, brother, uncle, aunties, nephews and nieces.
The post Sola Onayiga: The Iconic Star Who Sold Smiles for Free appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
Source: TheNet
