14 Things You May Not Know About Ace Broadcaster and Actor Sadiq Daba

Paul Mbagwu

Abubakar Sadiq Daba is a veteran actor, producer and director who have spent about 40 years of his life behind and in front of the camera.

Starting out as a newscaster to acting, his sterling career has been crowned with awards and recognition. One of which is his recent award as ‘Garkuwan Nollywood’ Hausa for ‘Shield of Nollywood’, given to him by stakeholders in the movie industry.

With an array of successful classic TV series like “Cockrow at Dawn” and “Behind the Clouds” to his name, Sadiq Daba is one of the greatest Nollywood actors. Here are some things you may not know about this great thespian complied by The Eagle News:

1. Sadiq Daba is from Kano State, he grew up in Sierra Leone where he attended St. Edwards Secondary School.
2. He enjoyed listening to the 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 at age 15, and on a trip to Kaduna Khalifa Baba Ahmed was impressed by his voice at Hamdallah Hotel and introduced him to Radio Television Kaduna. He started there as a continuity announcer.
4. Daba has 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 including the St. Edwards College, Sierra Leone, NTA/TV College, ABU: Mass Communication. He also went on various training tours to Germany, U.K. among others.
7. Some of his popular series and movies are Cock Crow at Dawn, where he featured as Bitrus; Behind the Clouds, Ripples, Village Headmaster, Moment of Truth, October 1, etc,. Many still have fond memories of Bitrus.
8. He is still married to a Yoruba woman, Bolaji Daba (a student) whom he met in Jos (Cock Crow at Dawn Was shot in Jos), he has six children (A female and five males) and six grandchildren.
9. His Best Actor award in 2015 Africa Movie Academy Awards for his role as Inspector Waziri on October 1 gives him enormous joy.
10. 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.
11. He had turned down job offers to work at Mnet and AIT for his love for working in Nigerian Television Authority where he spent most of his time.
12. Seven 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 to have prostate cancer and Leukemia. He lives on a drug called Gleevec, which costs about 1.7 million naira, but gets the drug 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 has produced a programme called Soul of Highlife — which took him to different countries such as Sierria Leone and Ghana — where he spoke to highlife music legends.