UCH says no record of Toluwanisings seeking emergency treatment
The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, has said it has no record of late gospel singer Olayemi Bolaji, popularly known as Toluwanisings, being brought to the facility for emergency treatment before his death, amid allegations that several hospitals rejected him.
Toluwanisings reportedly died on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, after slumping at home in the morning while preparing to take his child to school. His personal assistant, Babadunni Olayemi, alleged that the singer was taken to seven or eight hospitals in Ibadan but failed to receive emergency medical attention before he was eventually declared dead.
According to the aide, some hospitals reportedly attributed their inability to attend to the singer to a doctors’ strike, while others allegedly refused to treat him. He said the family and those accompanying the singer made efforts to secure medical attention as they moved between hospitals.
The allegations sparked outrage on social media, with some Nigerians linking the reported difficulties in accessing emergency care to a strike by resident doctors at UCH. Others expressed concern about the state of Nigeria’s healthcare system and patients’ access to timely medical attention.
However, UCH’s Public Relations Officer, Funmilayo Enitan, said the hospital had resumed services following the suspension of a local strike by resident doctors. She added that the hospital’s management had not received any official information indicating that Toluwanisings was brought to the facility.
“The hospital is running its services. The strike was a local one within the hospital; it was not a national strike. I was not aware that he was brought to UCH. I was not officially informed that he was brought to UCH. There was no record of it with the management,” Enitan said.
Similarly, the Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, said she was unaware of the incident when contacted on Friday. Meanwhile, the singer’s friend and colleague, Woli Agba, said Toluwanisings had repeatedly expressed concerns about Nigeria’s healthcare system and considered travelling abroad to access better medical services.
In a post on his Instagram story on Friday, Woli Agba said the singer’s concerns about the country’s healthcare system had become particularly painful in light of his death. Toluwanisings began his music career in Fuji music and was born in Ikirun, Osun State, where he grew up in a Muslim family and was known as Sodiq before converting to Christianity. The circumstances surrounding his reported search for emergency treatment have renewed concerns about access to urgent medical care in Nigeria.
