Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, popularly known as Jenifa has been shortlisted as Deputy for Lagos State Governorship candidate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that five names were released as the potential running mate of the party’s governorship candidate, Alhaji Abdulaziz Olajide Adediran popularly known as Jandor.
Others shortlisted alongside the Nollywood actress are: former governorship aspirant, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour; former Senatorial candidate for Lagos East, Yeye Shobajo, another governorship aspirant, David Kolawole Vaughan known as DAKOVA, and Engr. Teslim Balogun.
The PDP Governorship Candidate for Lagos had described all five nominees as qualified when the party commenced the screening of deputy governor nominees at its National Headquarters in Abuja last week.
Adediran said the nomination of five persons for his running mate shows that Lagos as a centre of excellency has many qualified people for the position.
“Every one of the five nominees is qualified to be my deputy governor. We represent a breath of fresh air in Lagos State. You have seen that in me and my running mate as well,” he said.
TNG reports this is coming after Tonto Dikeh was selected as her party’s 2023 Rivers Deputy Governorship candidate earlier last week. Akindele starred in the sitcom I Need to Know from 1998 to 2002, and in 2009.
She won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. The actress rose to fame for her role in the movie titled Jenifa, which earned her the nickname Jenifa. The Omo Ghetto trilogy contributed to her fame.
Akindele played the lead role in the show Jenifa’s Diary,[10] for which she was named the Best Actress in a Comedy at the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards.
Akindele came into the limelight after starring in the popular United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-sponsored sitcom I Need to Know, which ran from 1998 to 2002.
She played Bisi, a curious but highly intelligent secondary school student. Funke Akindele’s big break came in 2008 when she appeared in the movie Jenifa.
In January 2018, there was a controversy when it was reported that Funke Akindele would get her Hollywood debut in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War as she was listed as a member of the cast on IMDb.
In a July 2016 interview, Akindele stated she was acting less in the Yoruba film industry at that time because of piracy.
Akindele plays the lead character in the ongoing hit TV show Jenifa’s Diary, alongside Fisayo Ajisola, Falz, Juliana Olayode, and Aderounmu Adejumoke. The show is a spin-off from the movie Jenifa.
The 2018 comedy film Moms at War stars Funke Akindele and Omoni Oboli. In July 2019, Akindele started a new web series, Aiyetoro Town, a spinoff from her popular TV series, Jenifa’s Diary.
She is the CEO of Scene One Film Production.
