"I’ve Planned For Old Age" Says Oga Bello As He Poses With His 18 Children

Oga Bello with Cchildren. Photo: Playground.ng

To be the father of 17 graduates and one undergraduate is no joke. For veteran Nollywood Yoruba actor, Adebayo Salami, it’s time to enjoy peace. A father of 18 children who have proved to be disciplined professionals, he has reasons to be happy.

The actor who clocked 63 a few months back declared, “My mind is at peace. I have trained my children (I have 17 graduates and two undergraduates). This means that I have planned for my old age.”

The father of Femi Adebayo, who is also an actor and was appointed the Special Assistant to the Kwara State Governor on Culture, Oga Bello has other sons in Nollywood who are either acting or into production. Was this planned by him?

 

With son, Femi Adebayo

He replied, “I never called any of them to, neither did I insist they join the movie industry, or ask them not to. As a responsible father, all I owe them is good and quality education. They are graduates and I didn’t force them to do any course. There is Femi, Sodiq, Tope and Rilwan. Sodiq is a production manager and producer. Tope is a director, producer and writer. Femi is an actor and a writer, Rilwan is a production editor. When Femi, who is a lawyer, decided to act, I gave him my blessings. Sodiq is a geologist; Tope and Rilwan computer scientists. In fact, when they joined the industry, I was relieved because I won’t have to start looking for white collar jobs for them after graduation.”

Does he plan retirement after spending 52 years as an actor?

He said, “An artiste does not retire. If you have a talent like mine and you don’t put it to use, it will haunt you. Instead of retiring, you move with time. I am going to keep acting for as long as I live.”