Kira Taiwo has accused some Nigerians of trying to profit from her father Taiwo Hassan Ogogo’s battle with stage-four cancer, saying the family is still trying to secure treatment while facing pressure from people asking for money. She made the allegation during an emotional TikTok live session on Saturday.
Her complaint comes after Kira and Lima Taiwo recently went public with separate appeals for help on Instagram, describing their father’s condition as stage-four cancer and saying the family needed support. Kira said the demands being made of them included N800k, N5m, 11,000 dollars and N18,000 dollars, sums she said the family could not meet while its priority remained getting him treated.
Ogogo, a veteran Yoruba actor, has become the focus of the family’s public campaign as his daughters try to draw attention to his illness. Kira said the strain has also affected her own wellbeing, adding that she had become withdrawn and avoided social media because seeing pictures of her father while he is ill has been difficult for her.
The public appeal has also exposed how complicated the family’s search for help has become. Lima said Ogogo’s condition had deteriorated, that hospitals had refused to continue treating him, and that the family only learned how serious the illness was about three weeks earlier. She said his appearance had not initially suggested he was seriously ill.
That gap between the family’s urgent need and the money being demanded from them is now at the center of the story. Kira said she was not asking for sympathy, only for a way to save her father, but she also described feeling overwhelmed enough to want to check her blood pressure during the live session. For now, the family’s next step is still unclear, and the question is whether help will come in a form they can actually use.
