From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

A popular Nigerian actor, Kasimu Yero, is dead.

While alive, he had lamented few months ago of the poor state of Nigerian movies, regretting that religious and tribal sentiments have bastardised the film industry in the country.

He died on Sunday afternoon at his home,  Marafan Estate of Kaduna city.

A family member, Yakubu Aliyu said the deceased will be buried in Kaduna sunday evening.

“Late Kasimu Yero will be buried after a prayer in Maiduguri Road Mosque, Kaduna,” he said.

Kasimu Yero will be remembered for his acting role in the NTA drama series, “Magana Jarice” in Hausa, meaning ‘Wisdom is an asset.’

It will be recalled that in early June 2017, the Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone, Shehu Sani paid a visit to the then ailing Alhaji Kasimu Yero in his residence.

 

However, the controversy that followed Sani’s visit saw attacks and accusations trending on social media, where it was alleged that the senator tried to smear the image of Yero’s family by posting unfavourable pictures of the elderly and ailing veteran actor.

 

Fans rained abuse on Senator Sani on social media, after he posted the picture of himself visiting Yero, who was recovering from an ailment.

 

But Yero  was quoted as having thanked the Senator for his visit.

 

He was reported to have pleaded with the senator to sponsor a rebranded ‘Magana Jari Ce’ to meet international standard.

 

After the furore, Senator Sani was said to have apologised to the family and explained that his visit was innocent. “I just thought about him and decided to check up on him. When we entered his sitting room, he was asleep on a mattress in his living room wearing shorts and a T- shirt. His daughter was in the room and the veteran asked her to leave the place but I insisted she stayed because I felt she would gain from what he will tell me, so at least I have a witness on his side as to what happened.”

 

In their discussions, the film icon frowned at the poor productions in the country and lamented that the Nigerian government is not bothered about the well-being of people who made an impact in the development of the country through films.

 

“In our day, our productions were meant for the whole nation, young or old, and for all tribes. In most cases today, you will find that most of the programmes are biased with tribal and religious sentiments taking the centre stage”. Yero was qouted to have said.

 

END.