Popular Nigerian movie actress Saratu Gidado Daso has died at the age of 56.
Daso who had a career spanning two decades in the film industry, died in the commercial city of Kano in the early hours of Tuesday in her sleep, her family said.
The movie star became famed for her comic and antagonist roles in the Hausa film industry known as Kannywood.
Saratu Daso was a ”star and mother in Kannywood”, Abba El-Mustapha, the head of Kano State Films and Censorship Board said in his tribute.
”We pray Allah to grant her mercy and forgive her shortcomings,” he added.
Reports indicate that Daso died in her sleep after her pre-dawn meal (Sahoor) for fast on the final day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The exact cause of her death is yet to be named.
Hausa films are popular across West and Central Africa as well as among Hausa-speaking diaspora around the world.