Nollywood veteran actor Charles Olumo popularly known as Agbako, has celebrated his birthday. The popular and talented Yoruba actor clocked 97 years on Friday, February 18, 2022.
Longevity is a gift from God as it is beyond human comprehension.
Call him one of the oldest Nollywood actors and you might not be wrong. Alhaji Abudulsalam Sanyaolu popularly known as Charles Olumo or Agbako in Yoruba movies turns 96 and Nigerians decided to celebrate him while he is still alive.
The stern-looking skinny fellow with a devious character in most movies he was cast to play in was not expecting the celebration of his birthday as orchestrated by Nigerians who went to internet to make the day memorable for the aged actor.
Few things to know about the legend
Alhaji Abdulsalam Sanyaolu is a Nigerian actor from Abeokuta, Ogun State. He mainly acts in Yoruba-language film in “Nollywood”.
Alhaji Abdulsalam Sanyaolu began acting in 1953 at a church in Lagos.
A sudden glance at the man popularly known as Charles Olumo ‘Agbako’ as he approaches and you’d be forgiven for contemplating to dust your slippers and taking to your heels. Besides the diminutive nonagerian’s energetic strides, greyish goatee and usual stern look, Olumo has, in a career spanning over 50 decades, earned a reputation as one of Nollywood’s most feared characters. Indeed, he has proudly credited himself as the ‘first bad man’ of the Nigerian film industry.
At a young age when Olumo, whose real name is Abdulsalam Sanyaolu was sent to school, he didn’t immediately realise he could put smiles on millions of Nigerians’ faces with his talent. He completed his primary school education in his hometown at Egba-Owode High School, Ogidan. He then proceeded to complete his secondary school education at Lisabi Grammar School in Abeokuta. Just as his dreams of attending the University began to look like a reality, Olumo desperately began to get his hands dirty as an apprentice at a mechanic workshop in Ibadan in order to earn a living. He spent the next four years there, while his University dreams slowly faded.