The death of popular Nigerian gospel singer Olayemi Bolaji, widely known as Toluwanisings, has sparked national outrage after his associates alleged he was denied emergency care at multiple hospitals in southwestern Nigeria.
Bolaji, who collapsed in Ibadan, Oyo State, died on October 14, according to local media reports.
His personal assistant, Babadunni Olayemi, was quoted by Nigerian outlet Legit.ng as saying the team made frantic efforts to save him, visiting as many as eight hospitals across the city.
“They took him to different hospitals. Some said the doctors were on strike, while others said he was rejected,” Olayemi told Legit.ng. “We took him to about seven or eight different hospitals here in Ibadan.”
The claims quickly went viral, with many Nigerians linking the alleged refusal to an ongoing industrial action by resident doctors at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, the city’s largest referral hospital.
But UCH has pushed back against that narrative.
Citing an interview with Nigeria’s Punch newspaper, UCH Public Relations Officer Funmilayo Enitan said the hospital had no record of Bolaji being brought to its facility and that services were running at the time.
“The hospital is running its services. The strike was a local one within the hospital; it was not a national strike,” Enitan told Punch. “I was not aware that he was brought to UCH. There was no record of it with the management.”
According to Legit.ng, attempts to get an official response from the Oyo State government were unsuccessful. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, told reporters she was unaware of the singer’s death, saying: “Which gospel artiste? I don’t know the gospel artiste that died recently.”
The Commissioner for Information did not respond to calls, Legit.ng reported.
The incident has reignited long-standing concerns about Nigeria’s fragile emergency healthcare system, where patients in critical condition are often asked to travel between facilities due to strikes, lack of bed space, or demands for upfront payment — a problem repeatedly documented by local media.
Bolaji was a rising voice in Nigeria’s gospel scene and was mourned by fellow artists including Nathaniel Bassey and comedian Woli Agba.
