Pioneer Nigerian comedian and member of the now rested ‘The New Masquerade’, James ‘Gringori’ Iroha, is dead.

The actor, who was 69 in September last year, died Tuesday.

Details of his death are not yet clear but the veteran actor had reportedly been suffering from eye ailment for years.

Akwari James Iroha, the deceased’s son, who announced his passing away in his Facebook post, prayed for his “cheerful soul to rest in the Lord.”

“Not long ago a man we have all come to love, a man that has made us laugh, a friend to all but will always be Dad to my little sister Ugonma, my brothers Chiemela, Uche, Kelechi and me passed on,” Akwari said in his post, Tuesday afternoon.

The death of Gringori, Officer of the Order of Niger (OON), brings to three, members of the cast of the soap which which enjoyed enormous popularity in the 70s and 80s.