Dr Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State has said he picked actress Funke Akindele as his running mate and not Jenifa, a character she played in the award winning series Jenifa’s Dairy.
Jandor said this when he appeared as a guest on the Arise TV programme, The Morning Show, on Wednesday. He said:
“I have not picked that character called Suliyat, I’ve not picked that character called Jenifa. I’ve picked Funke Akindele who is an entrepreneur, who is a Lagosian, who has been able to grow her business from zero to the success it is today, who understands what it takes to put heads together.
“Even the ruling party calling us unserious because I picked somebody in that industry, once gave their ticket to Desmond Elliot in the same industry. But the main problem is the conspiracy of silence in the Nollywood industry.”
Adediran also accused the Lagos State government of pulling down his campaign posters.
He claimed the state government, through the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASSA), “threatened” two advert companies handling his campaign posters to pull them down or have their licenses withdrawn.
Funke Akindele’s announcement as Jandor’s running mate was met with mixed reactions from Nigerians. While some supported the actress, others called the party ‘unserious’ over the decision to pick the Jenifa’s Dairy star as the party’s candidate for the deputy governorship position.