Papa Urhobo

Stephen Ebihor, known across Nigeria as Papa Urhobo, Papi Urhobo, or Papy Urhobo, was a Delta State-born singer whose voice became inseparable from one of the defining Nigerian dancehall hits of the mid-2000s. Obituaries and cultural platforms identify him as a celebrated figure in Asaba's entertainment community and as an artist who carried Urhobo musical colour into contemporary pop and dancehall settings. Press also records him as Stephen "Papi Urhobo" Ebihor. On the hit that made him known nationally he introduces himself as "the Jizzy Majestic a.k.a. Papi Urhobo." Later interview titles styled him Minister or Mystical Minister Majestic. Those are stage names, not a second legal identity.

His breakthrough association with national audiences came through Timaya's "Ogologomma" (also spelled Ogologoma in some press), a track on Timaya's debut studio album True Story. Nigerian music coverage commonly dates that album to 2007, and Timaya's Wikipedia discography lists the album as 2007. On the record, Ebihor's featured verse and ad-libs became one of the song's most memorable elements. In the lyric he introduces himself as "the Jizzy Majestic a.k.a. Papi Urhobo," folding Urhobo-language lines into a Pidgin and multi-language party anthem that still circulates on YouTube and lyric sites. Timaya, from Bayelsa, rose in the same era with Dem Mama Records and a mix of Nigerian pop, dancehall, and Afro-Caribbean flavours. Papa Urhobo's contribution sat inside that early national dancehall wave even though he remained more strongly identified with Delta State stages than with Lagos chart machinery.

Away from the Timaya hit, he built a long local reputation as a live performer. Videos from his own channel and from Wisdom Band Asaba show him fronting brass-and-rhythm live sets in Sapele, at Asagba of Asaba coronation entertainment, and at anniversary events. A 2021 upload on his channel marked "20yrs on stage anniversary and album listening party," pointing to a stage career that stretched back into the early 2000s. In April 2025, Global Times Nigeria listed Papi Urhobo among performers at the Ukodo Festival in Asaba alongside better-known national acts. An earlier narrative clip, "Papy Urobo My Story" (uploaded 10 November 2011), framed parts of his path in the shadow of the Ogologomma moment. In November 2024 he appeared on Meverse Show's Reality Talk under his Stephen Ebihor / Papy Urhobo identity, speaking at length about the Timaya collaboration, Lagos travel for the video era, and his sense that sustained support never followed the hit. Auto-captions from that episode have him saying he did not want money so much as shared creative continuity, and that he still needed help to go further. Those interviews are primary-voice sources for personality and grievance. They are not court findings about Timaya, and Timaya's own public response to the later illness appeals is not documented in the obituaries checked.

Exact birth date was never published in the Legit.ng, Blueprint, or Premium Times obituaries. A 2022 video on his channel titled "PAPY URHOBO @46TH 2022" implies he was about forty-six that year, which would place a birth year around 1976. Legit.ng's article schema description separately states he "passed away aged 51." Those two press-side clues do not agree to the year, and neither is a published civil birth date. This profile does not invent a birth day or year. A July 2024 channel video celebrates "Mr & Mrs Stephen Ebihor" on 17 July. That date may be a wedding anniversary, a birthday, or a joint party, and must not be treated as a confirmed individual birth date. Exact town of birth is not named in the obituaries checked. He is identified as a Delta State native of Urhobo heritage, later celebrated inside Asaba's entertainment community. Schooling was not made public.

In July 2026 his health crisis became public. Blueprint and Premium Times report that on 29 July he posted on Instagram that an accident had left him with a cracked bone and unable to walk, and that he needed funds for surgery. On 2 August he posted an update thanking contributors. His wife also appealed for help, including in a video shared on the Facebook page of Ossai Success, then identified in press as Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Delta State Governor. She said scans or X-rays were required before hospital admission for surgery. That Facebook page is not Papa Urhobo's own account. Weeks later, as he lay critically ill without adequate funds, the wife's plea spread again. Philanthropist Dr Hilary Obi Ibegbulem, popularly called "The Lion," paid hospital bills and moved him into a VIP ward for specialist care, according to Legit.ng. Despite that intervention, he did not recover. The exact hospital and the exact clinical diagnosis were not named in the major obituaries.

He died in the early hours of Tuesday, 8 September 2026, after a prolonged battle with illness, survived by his wife and children, according to Legit.ng. Names of the wife and children were not made public in the obituaries checked. Parents and siblings were not named either. Urhobo Worldwide, a digital platform for Urhobo heritage and music, posted the family-facing statement on Instagram the same Tuesday. That account is a community platform, not his personal Instagram. The statement read, in part: "With profound sadness, we acknowledge the passing of our dear brother, friend, colleague, and fellow entertainer, Stephen Ebihor Aka Papy Urhobo." It asked the public not to circulate unverified burial details until the family spoke officially, and asked for prayers for the wife and children. Legit.ng published the same wording on behalf of family and the Asaba entertainment community. Fans online mourned the voice on Ogologomma and the timing of help that arrived late. One comment reported by Legit.ng said, "Rest in peace papi Urhobo. Your legacy would continue to live on. This one pain me oh." Burial arrangements had not been announced as of the obituaries of 8 September 2026.

No individual national music awards for Papa Urhobo were documented in those obituaries. Timaya's True Story era collected industry awards for Timaya, which contextualise the hit's prominence but are not Papa Urhobo's personal trophies. Net worth was not published and is not estimated here. Education was not made public. What remains is a clear artistic footprint: an Urhobo featured voice that helped make a national hit, decades of Asaba-centred live work with Wisdom Band, and a final chapter that put Nigerian entertainment's medical-funding gaps back into public view.

This profile is Stephen Ebihor, Papa Urhobo, the featured vocalist on Timaya's Ogologomma and the Asaba Wisdom Band frontman who died on 8 September 2026. It is not Johnson Adjan, Omokomoko, or other traditional Urhobo archive artists. It is not "B Papa," and it is not unrelated Papa or Papi stage names.