By Samuel Onyekwere
Veteran Hausa drama actor Usman Baba Pategi, popularly known as Samanja, is dead. He died in the early hours of Sunday morning at a private hospital in Kaduna State, after a prolonged illness.
The late Kannywood actor served in the Nigerian Army before retiring to work for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) in Kaduna.
The comic actor, who came to limelight with the TV drama series Samanja, passed away at the age of 84, leaving behind two wives and twelve children.
According to a statement released on behalf of the family by one of his sons, Mohammad Usman, the late actor’s funeral prayer will be held at the Kabala Costain mosque in the Kaduna metropolis, in accordance with an Islamic injunction.
