Tinubu, Osinbajo & Barbara Odoh.

As the political system in Nigerian is gearing up for the presidential election come 2023 and with the players desiring to twist the game in their favour, Veteran Nollywood Actor, Barbara Odoh has admonished her colleague actors never to endorse anyone of those jostling to be President of Nigeria whom they feel is incompetent and or, are corrupt candidates.

According to Barbara Odoh, Nigerians who admire and love Nollwyood stars have been through a lot of hardship recently, with soaring food prices, a high cost of living and worsening of levels of insecurity, so celebrities should not disappoint themselves by promoting candidates who cannot better the lives of the people., as she says that the year 2023, would be a defining year for Nigeria, and so, actors should not support people for the sake of supporting them.

You would recall that a video emerged recently where an undisclosed preacher was laying curses on Nollywood Actors, especially those of them who participated in supporting and are in support of any candidate for the 2023 presidency, which was what prompted Barbara Odoh’s reaction in support of what the said preacher said in the video.

The actress in a phone conversation, acknowledged the fact that though the preacher may have reacted in anger over some certain Nollywood actors who came out to canvass support for the candidacy of the National Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he should have chosen his words carefully and restricted his reaction to those who were involved in the alleged endorsement and not resort to cursing Nollywood as an industry.

She said: “If an actor must identify him/herself with a candidate, he should feel the pulse of the candidate or aspirant. “The actor should be able to understand the ideology of the candidate, because, politics goes beyond elections.

“Politics and elections are routes to governance and governance tells on lives and destinies and as you know, our film industry was built through the determination and investment of private sector players.

“It was built and sustained by creatives who toiled to make Nollywood the third largest film industry in the world. “Our industry creates jobs almost on a daily basis, we contribute to the country’s GDP, so we must guard our reputation jealously and been seen to only support what is just and good”.

On the presidential aspiration of former Governor of Lagos and National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Barbara Odoh, who herself was a deputy governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for Lagos in 2019 urged that the former governor support a younger candidate with the right qualification and attributes.

According to her, “Asiwaju has contributed immensely to the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria, but I think it is time for him to handover to the next generation, as Nigeria now need a vibrant, younger and an intellectually sound President who can unite, inspire and lead the people.

So, I expect him as the Jagaban of Nigerian politics, to pick from the array of persons he has raised as sons to run for President and he can advise such a person as a statesman”, she opined.