- Nollywood actress Bimbo Akintola revealed that a major reason for her strong public support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the last election was a reaction against being bullied by an opposition supporter.
- Speaking on the With Chude podcast, Akintola urged Nigerians to stop bullying one another over political choices, insisting that everyone has the right to their own opinion, which cannot be taken away.
Nollywood actress Bimbo Akintola has revealed that her strong support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the last election was significantly intensified as a direct reaction to being bullied by an opposition supporter.
Speaking on the With Chude podcast, the movie star explained that the act of bullying spurred her to increase her backing for the then-APC candidate, emphasizing that Nigerians must respect differing political opinions.
“I supported President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the last election because somebody annoyed me with their bullying… Nigerians are annoying. Don’t bully other people. We have our rights to differences of opinion.”
Akintola highlighted the case of colleague Joke Silva, who was also severely bullied for her political choice. The actress asserted that the bullying prompted her to issue a public challenge:
“So, I made a video and said, ‘I’m also supporting Tinubu, kill me, let me see if you can change my mind.’ We need to stop bullying. We need to agree that we can never agree with everybody… You can’t take my voice away from me; it’s mine,” she stated.
In other news…. Nollywood icon Antar Laniyan has triggered widespread reactions after revealing the unusual and emotional story behind his name.
The actor shared the story during an episode of Behind The Fame, where he spoke about his late mother and the extraordinary experience surrounding his birth. Laniyan recounted that, according to his mother, he stayed in her womb for 18 months far beyond the typical pregnancy duration.
The unusual delay caused concern within their community, with many believing the situation might have had spiritual implications rather than medical ones.
During the interview, Laniyan explained that his mother was advised to consume a creature called “Anta” a lizard-like animal in Yoruba tradition believed to trigger labour. She followed the advice, the animal was cooked for her, and remarkably, he was born about an hour after she ate it.
Because of that experience, his mother chose to name him after the creature.
Laniyan said the name carries significant meaning for him, serving as a reminder of the sacrifices mothers make. He noted that people often don’t realise what their mothers endured to bring them into the world.
He added that the name wasn’t always spelled the way it is today. As a child, he faced teasing from schoolmates, prompting him to add the letter “R,” which transformed the original name into “Antar.”
In his exact words:
“There’s a story behind it, and I like telling it at times because I want every individual to know the importance of having a mother: a good mother, a great one.
“The kind of things that our mother passed through before they gave birth to us individually, we do not know because we were not there. But when a mother goes into telling you how you came to be, you will weep for yourself.
“I overstayed in my mother’s womb; I stayed 18 months, according to her. People around were wondering what was wrong. I mean, something must have gone wrong, not medically. So it could be spiritual. She had to eat something in Yoruba called Anta. It looks like a lizard, smaller than a crocodile.
“So my mother didn’t see anything wrong with adding that thing to my name. She had to take it. They had to prepare it for her. She took it. An hour later, I came. When I got to primary school and my friends were playing with the name, I added an R to make it Antar.”
The video has since gone viral, sparking conversations about cultural practices, maternal sacrifice, and the actor’s remarkable birth story.
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