By Sylvester Kwentua

It is no more news to Nigerians that many entertainers participated in the just concluded 2023 elections. What may however be news, is how they fared in the various challenges they took upon themselves. For this reason, Potpourri brings you highlights of their exploits in the political arena.

Funke Akindele:

Nollywood veteran actress and producer, Funke Akindele, decided to vie for a political office for the first time. As a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Funke contested as the deputy governorship candidate of the party, at the just concluded elections.

Funke Akindele and her principal, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, aka Jandor, were defeated woefully. Funke, it will be noted, lost her own polling unit to the APC.

Reacting to her defeat at the polls, Funke Akindele on Instagram, said: “It has been an amazing and insightful experience on my journey to the ballot and I must say, it was an absolute learning curve for me. A lot of things have been learned and unlearned. I sincerely do not regret taking this huge step of running for office,”

Desmond Elliot

Desmond Elliot is a household name when it comes to acting in Nigeria. In the last election, Desmond Elliott, an APC member, contested for a seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Surulere Constituency 1. The actor cum politician won his bid to return to the house, in an election that was keenly contested.

After final collation of results, Elliot came tops with 17,877 votes while the candidate of the Labour Party, came second with 7,822 votes. It was not an easy ride for Desmond, as his supposed sins against the youths, from the past, threatened to ruin his return bid.

Olumide Oworu:

Youthful, funny, talented and fresh-faced Nollywood actor Olumide Oworu is one of the new kids on the block, both in the movie industry and in politics.

Olumide Oworu declared his interest in contesting for a political position weeks before the presidential election. He was to contest against Desmond Elliot, for the Lagos State House of Assembly position in the Surulere Constituency 1. 

Sadly for him, it was later revealed that Olumide was not on the ballot. Instead, a Bode Adebayo was on the LP ballot contesting for the Surulere constituency, not the young actor. An omission he later reacted to.

In a statement recently released, Olumide insisted that his participation in the election exercise was not for clout. With regards to his name not being on the ballot paper on the day of the election, Olumide stated that INEC failed to obey a court order issued on February 2, directing the commission to open its website for the Labour Party to submit the names of its candidates or accept the manual submission. He added that INEC failed to upload the names on the list sent by the Labour Party in October 2022.

Tonto Dikeh:

Tonto Dikeh surprised a lot of people when she indicated her interest to contest as the deputy governor of Rivers state.

The ace Nollywood actress whose participation in the 2023 elections brought a lot of enthusiasm and fun into the race, later dashed her fans hopes, after she and her principal, Tonte Ibraye, announced that they were stepping down for the candidate of the APC in Rivers state, Tonye Cole.

Banky W:

Mr Capable, as he is also known, has always shown keen interest in taking up political positions in the past elections. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and he contested for a seat at the National assembly, under their platform.

However, he lost. This is his second attempt at running for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives for the Eti-Osa federal constituency.

Caroline Danjuma:

Carolina Danjuma is another Nollywood actress who contested in the last general elections. Like her other two female colleagues, Caroline vied to be the next deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State.

However, her dream didn’t come true as she and her principal, Iboro Otu, who contested on the African Action Congress (AAC) platform, came a distant sixth to Umo Eno of the People’s Democratic Party who won the governorship election in Akwa Ibom.

Femi Branch:

A veteran Nollywood actor, Femi Branch, was the deputy governorship candidate alongside his principal, Tofunmi Ogunronbi, under the National Rescue Movement (NRM) party. Femi Branch’s party came a distant 12th in the Ogun State gubernatorial elections. It was a blowout.