Cause of veteran actress Bukky Ajayi’s death revealed

Veteran Nigerian actress Zainab Bukky Ajayi succumbed to breast cancer and diabetes, her son Claudius Akinwade Peter-Thomas has confirmed.

Nigeria’s TNS had last week reported that the Diamond Ring actress succumbed to heart-related complications which she had been battling for long.

“Mummy was struggling with her health; she had cancer of the breast, diabetes and (she) was also hypertensive,” Mr Akinwade, a musician and the second born of the late Ms Ajayi, told Vanguard.

Bukky Ajayi passed on at her Surulere residence in Lagos last Wednesday.

Bukky Ajayi’s last born child Kunle Fawole, alias Abounce, recounted to Vanguard the film star’s last moments.

“I and mama were in the living room with some of my friends when I noticed that her heart wasn’t moving, I mean like she stopped breathing. Immediately, I checked her pulse and called my elder brothers. We felt her pulse and heartbeat. We did everything possible. But she had already passed on. And that was at about 11:23 am on Wednesday,” Mr Fawole told the outlet.

“She (Bukky) was a bit ill before this happened. She had been ill for a number of years now. She had suffered stroke some couple of years back. There was a time she also had cerebral malaria. She became diabetic, hypertensive and also suffered breast cancer before now,” added Abounce who is a rapper and actor.

Bukky Ajayi, who passed on aged 82, was widely respected in and beyond Nollywood for her acting ingenuity.

She was born into a Christian family, but she converted to Islam in the early eighties and chose the name Zainab. Her love for theatre started when she was little; her father used to take her to the cinemas. Bukky studied in England where she served as Federal Government scholar for six years before returning to Nigeria.

Bukky Ajayi’s popular movies include Mother of George, Indecent Girl, Diamond Ring, Witches, Thunderbolt among others.