Lasun Alagbe
Ailing veteran filmmaker, Dr Ola Balogun, has declared that his vital organs and entire body should be handed over to relevant medical institutions upon his demise.
Balogun announced this in his Will which he published on WhatsApp on Tuesday August 4, 2026.
In the document titled PUBLIC RENDITION OF MY LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT, Balogun writes: “Barely a week after I was privileged to celebrate my 81st birthday on August 1st, a fresh medical alert has obliged me to once more seek treatment at the Josek medical centre in Ogba, Ikeja.
“Consequently, I am hastily writing these few lines, not knowing whether or not I am destined to emerge alive from my latest confrontation with illness…
“Since I do not have the material possibility of calling on a legal practitioner at the present moment to seek help in drawing up a final version of my last will and testament, I have decided to have recourse to the present public document in order to leave instructions behind in the event that my physical being should succumb to death within the next few days or weeks.
“I am encouraged in this decision by the sterling example of the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who calmly sat down to pen a final version of his will a few weeks before his death.
“Like the late sage, I firmly believe that departure from earthly existence should involve a well-thought out and orderly process, rather akin to preparation for a long journey.
Balogun donated his film legacies in the form of copyright earnings to ‘the Nigerian people’.
On his organs, however, he notes in the document: “I hereby further direct that immediately after my physical demise would have been medically certified, my remains should be speedily dissected in order to extract any vital organs that might be useful for donation to persons in need of vital organs such as the kidneys, the eyes etc.
“After that, I hereby direct that whatever is left over should be speedily handed over to appropriate medical institutions for use by future doctors who are learning how to carry out dissections within the scope of their study of morbid anatomy.
“The above decisions concerning the disposal of my corpse are rooted in the firm conviction that my physical remains should, if possible, be useful to the living…”
