Nigerian professor Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso, popularly known as Kole Omotoso, died on Wednesday at the age of 80 in Johannesburg.
Omotoso rose to prominence in South Africa, where he lived for many years, as the face of Vodacom’s “Yebo Gogo, Hello Grandma” commercial in the early 2000s.
His smile, which was featured on television and billboards, helped him become one of the most known faces.
The family issued a statement announcing his death.
“We are mourning the loss of our father, husband and grandfather Prof. Bankole ‘Kole’ Omotoso, who passed away after a long period of illness in Johannesburg on July 19, 2023,” it read.
While Omotoso’s smile captured the hearts of South Africans, he was also a renowned intellectual, author and social critic.
Omotoso’s extensive work, in particular, the 1988 publication of “Just Before Dawn”, landed him in political trouble.
From 1989 he was forced to work mostly outside of Nigeria and, in the interest of reuniting the family, in 1992 the Omotosos relocated to Cape Town where Kole Omotoso held professor positions at the English Department of the University of the Western Cape and the Drama Department of the University of Stellenbosch.
He gained his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh.
The renowned professor moved to South Africa with his family when he accepted a lectureship position at the University of the Western Cape in 1991.
His children include renowned director Akin Omotoso and novelist and architect Yewande Omotoso.
“A born scholar, he never missed an opportunity to engage in new topics. An astute socio-political critic, his criticality never got in the way of his belief in humanity. We will miss him,” the family said.
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