Just five days before Taiwo Hassan, the veteran Yoruba actor known as Ogogo, actually died, his family was pushing back against false reports claiming he already had. On August 18, rumors of his death spread rapidly online, prompting his daughter Lima to publicly dismiss them and ask people to stop circulating unverified claims about her father’s condition. On Sunday, the real news arrived, delivered by his other daughter, Kira, in an emotional Instagram Live session where she repeated, through tears, “My daddy is dead.”
Hassan died at 66 following a battle with stage-four cancer, according to a burial announcement shared by fellow veteran actor Jide Kosoko, who confirmed that burial would take place Monday, August 24, 2026, in Ogogo’s hometown of Ilaro, Ogun State. He reportedly died at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.
His death arrived just days after his daughters, Kira and Haleemah, went public with the severity of his diagnosis and appealed for medical help, specifically hospitals and specialists willing to continue treatment that had stalled elsewhere. That appeal generated an enormous response. Yinka Quadri, a close friend and colleague of Hassan’s, said more than 300, and possibly over 500, people reached out with offers of medical, spiritual, or other assistance, a volume Quadri described as genuinely difficult for the family to manage while trying to determine which offers could realistically help without disrupting Ogogo’s ongoing care.
Among those who stepped in was Ogun State governorship aspirant Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, known as Yayi, who reportedly helped connect the family with cancer specialists. Actress Toyosi Adesanya said Adeola personally reached out to specialists on the family’s behalf, and that Ogogo had subsequently been admitted for treatment as a result.
Not every offer of help was welcomed, though. In a TikTok live session on Saturday, the day before her father’s death, Kira alleged that some individuals reaching out to the family under the guise of assistance were actually attempting to extract money from them amid her father’s illness, a claim that added a difficult layer of scrutiny to what was already an overwhelming show of public support.
Hassan’s death closes out a career that spanned more than four decades in the Yoruba film industry, one that made him among Nollywood’s most recognizable and respected veteran performers, appearing in several hundred films across his lifetime.
