Veteran Yoruba actor Tombolo rides okada to feed family, seeks help
- Ezekiel Atilola, known as Tombolo, says he now rides a commercial motorcycle to support his household.
- In an interview shared by Kunle Afod, he said he sold his own bike to pay a daughter's polytechnic fees.
- Afod has asked Nigerians to send financial help to the veteran actor, who started on stage in 1984.
A veteran of Yoruba theatre and film, Ezekiel Atilola, is asking Nigerians for help after turning to commercial motorcycle riding to keep his family going.
Most people know him as Tombolo, the name he took from a film role that made him a familiar face in Yoruba productions.
His situation came back into public view through an interview with actor Kunle Afod, posted on Afod's YouTube channel. Clips from the conversation have been circulating online since 16 October.
Atilola told Afod that acting alone no longer brings in enough to run his home. He has never produced a film of his own, he said, because he has not found the financial backing to do so.
Sold his bike for school fees
The actor said he sold his personal motorcycle to raise the polytechnic fees for one of his daughters.
The bike he now uses for okada work was bought on instalment. According to the interview, the total cost is ₦1.5 million, and he pays ₦30,000 every week. He has kept up the payments since January.
Atilola described a thin support network. He said he is his mother's only son, with three older sisters, and that the relatives people know have no money to spare either.
"There is no one to help me," he said in the interview.
He also spoke of his attachment to the stage, saying he still believes in theatre and enjoys it.
Atilola's career began on the theatre stage in 1984, and he went on to appear in several Yoruba productions over the decades.
This is not the first time his circumstances have drawn attention. Videos of him working as a motorcycle rider spread online in 2023, and reports at the time confirmed that okada work had become a regular source of income for him.
What happens next
At the end of the interview, Afod asked Atilola to make his bank account details public and urged well-meaning Nigerians to give whatever they can.
For now, there is no word on whether any organisation or government body plans to step in. The immediate hope is that public donations ease the weekly instalment burden and give the veteran actor a steadier income.
