Ẹ̀DÁ ONÍLÉ ỌLÁ: A BIOGRAPHY

Ẹ̀DÁ ONÍLÉ ỌLÁ: A BIOGRAPHY.

Chief Lere Paimo, MFR was born on November 19, 1939, in Ile Ikoyi Odan, Osupa, Ogbomosho, a city in Oyo State southwestern Nigeria. His father was a tobacco and yam farmer, the leader of the local farmers’ organization. His mother was a trader. Chief Lere Paimo was sent to primary school in Ogbomoso, but then left for the Gold Coast where he continued his education in the Gold Coast ( current day Ghana) up to teacher training college where he obtained Teacher’s Grade two certificate. He eventually returned back to Nigeria and decided to stay in Osogbo where he worked as a class-room teacher in a Baptist Missionary School.

He began acting in 1958 after he joined the Oyin Adejobi theatre group, a theatre group founded by Pa Oyinade Adejobi before he later joined Duro Ladipo’s Theatre Group where he featured in a stage play titled Obamoro with the role of “Chief B asa”. He became popular following a lead role as Soun Ogunola played in an epic yoruba film t Thtled Ogbori Elemosho which brought him into limelight. He had featured, produced and directed several Nigerian films since he began acting in 1963. In 2005, in recognition of his im In around 1960, while working as a teacher in Osogbo, he decided to join Oyin Adejobi theatre group, a theatre group founded by Pa Oyinade Adejobi which was an organization performing plays for churches, schools, and cultural and social clubs. A year later in about 1961, Duro Ladipo invited him to Mbari Club, the cultural centre founded by Ulli Beier to take part in an art production. He was interested in painting as well as in theatre, so he accepted the invitation.

From the beginning, Lere Paimo’s talent as an actor was recognized and he was given leading roles. In Eda, a Yoruba version of Ev he played Everyman himself, so memorably that up till today his nickname has remained Eda Onile ola. While with Duro Ladipo, he featured in a stage play titled Obamoro with the role of “Chief Basa”. eryman,mense contributions to the Nigerian film industry, he was bestowed a National award of Member of the Federal Republic alongside Zeb Ejiro by Olusegun Obasanjo the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In May 2013, it was reported that he had a partial stroke, an attack he survived. In April 2014, he won an ₦1,000,000 cash prize in a Nigerian game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

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