Sadiq Abubakar Daba Popularly known as Sadiq Daba was a veteran actor, producer and director who spent over 40 years of his life behind and in front of the camera.
He started his career as a newscaster after which he started acting in movies which is professionalism was well reckoned with various awards and recognitions of which his recent award was “‘Garkuwan Nollywood’ Hausa for shield of Nollywood,” which was given to him by stakeholders in the movie industry.
With an array of successful classic T.V series like ‘Cock crow at dawn’ and ‘Behind the Clouds’ to his name, Daba was one of the greatest Nollywood actors. We have listed 15 Things you need to know about the great actor and newscaster.
1. Sadiq Daba was born in 1953 and hailed from Kano state but grew up in Sierra Leone where he attended St. Edwards Secondary School.
2. He enjoyed listening to radio and mimicked the leading broadcasters then. His father bought him a tape recorder which he used in honing his skills.
3.He returned to Nigeria in 1968 when he was 15 and on a trip to Kaduna, Khalifa Baba Ahmed was impressed by his voice at Hamdalla Hotel and introduced him to Radio Television Kaduna. He started there as a community announcer.
4. Daba worked as a news anchor, reporter and editor at RKTV, NTPC Lagos and NTA Lagos.
5. From Kaduna, he moved to Jos in Plateau state and to other parts of the Nation. He served at Nigeria Television Authority for 35 years from where he read the news, reported, acted, produced and directed.
6. Daba studied at several educational institutions here in Nigeria which include, NTA/T.V College, ABU Mass Communication. He also travelled to Germany, U.K and other countries for various training tours.
7. Beside Cock crow at dawn where he played the role of Bitrus, Daba also acted in other popular T.V series and movies like; Behind the Cloud, Ripples, Village Headmaster, Moment of Truth, October 1 for which he won the Best actor award in 2015 Africa Movie Academy Award for his role as Inspector Waziri. An award that gave him enormous joy until his demise. He also acted in several other movies.
8. Until his death, he was still married to a Yoruba woman, Bolaji Daba, a student he met in Jos. Do not forget that ‘Cock crow at dawn’ was shot in Jos. He was the father of 6 children ( a female and five males) and six grand-children.
9. His look-alike son, Abdukadiri Daba was on location with him for October 1 movie; there he acted some scenes as his father. Except one looks closely, one would not know he was the one. Abdukadiri Daba studied Mass Communication in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
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10. Sadiq Daba turned down job offers to work at Mnet and AIT because of his love for working in NTA where he spent most of his
time.
11. In 2015, he won Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as “Inspector Waziri” in October
12. Over 7 years ago, Daba retired from NTA and decided to partner with his long time friend and CEO of Dasamal Television Network (DTN), Isiaku Aliya for a show titled “Sadiq Daba Presents.”
13. On September 7, 2017, Sadiq Daba was diagnosed of Prostrate Cancer and Leukemia. He lived on a drug called Gleevec which costs about 1.7 million naira but gets the drug for free-of-charge from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, courtesy of a Foreign Foundation.
14. As part of his consultancy services since his retirement, Daba produced a programme called ‘Soul of Highlife’ which took him to different countries such as Sierra Leone and Ghana where he spoke with highlife music legends.
15. He died on the 3rd of March, 2021 after a long battle with Cancer. He was 67 years of age.
May his soul rest in Peace.
