Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan

Renown Yoruba actor, broadcaster, poet and writer, Mr Adebayo Faleti, is dead. 

According to sources, Adebayo, an old student of Ibadan Boys High School, died Sunday morning in his Ibadan home.

Adebayo, one of the pioneer staff of the first television station in Africa, Western Nigeria Television (WNTV), died at the age of 86. 

He was responsible for translating Nigeria’s National Anthem from English to Yoruba. He also translated speeches made by military president of Nigeria Ibrahim Babangida and Mr Ernest Shonekan, Head of National Interim Government of Nigeria, from English to Yoruba.

Faleti has published a dictionary containing the formal and official use of Yoruba names. 

He received many awards, both locally and internationally, including the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) the Festival of Arts award with Eda Ko L’aropin and the Afro-Hollywood Award for Outstanding Performance in Arts

A family source who confirmed his death, said his body had been taken to the anatomy section in UCH.