Nollywood actor, Adeyemi Okanlawon, has apologized to the incoming member of the Lagos State Labour Party House of Representatives, Thaddeus Attah, after facing criticism over an open letter he wrote to the lawmaker on Friday.
Thaddeus, a candidate for the Labour Party, defeated actor-turned-politician Olubankole Wellington for the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat. Wellington had run under the banner of the People’s Democratic Party.
With 24,075 votes, Attah was ahead of incumbent Babajide Obanikoro of the All Progressives Congress (18,666) and singer Banky W (16,901).
Okanlawon wrote an open letter on his Instagram page on Friday in which he expressed regret over Wellington’s defeat in the race and asked for an audience with Attah to hear about his intentions for the district.
The letter read in part, “With little or no online presence, and for someone that overthrew both an incumbent and a public figure, I am yet to find any indications of your campaign manifesto.
“It would therefore be a great pleasure if you sir will do me the honour of accepting an invitation to join me online for a live Instagram conversation this weekend to address concerns and respond to questions many others like myself may have.”
Okanlawon had drawn criticism for his demand, with many claiming that he was being patronizing to the politician.In another post shared on Friday, Okanlawon apologised to Attah for the letter which he wished was better worded.
“In the early hours of today, and in the spirit of the season, I wrote an open letter addressed to the House of Representative-elect of the Eti-Osa Local Government Area, Mr. Thaddeus Attah. Now I admit, I could have chosen better words. I could have not allowed the frustrations that I’ve felt about these past few weeks affect the message that I was trying to pass across.
“And so I apologise to Mr Attah. I apologise to anybody else who must have felt that I was overreaching,” he said in the video.
The actor then reiterated his demand for a meeting with the newly elected lawmaker to discuss his objectives for the district and to determine how constituents might lend assistance.
Toke Makinwa is another entertainer who had drawn criticism for questioning the new representative’s credibility.
The former radio presenter bemoaned Banky W’s defeat in now-deleted tweets and claimed that the Labour Party candidate was unidentified.
“The news of LP winning Eti-Osa House of Representatives is so painful because he didn’t campaign, we don’t even know him. Banky worked so hard, Banky deserves to win Eti-Osa,” she tweeted.
She, however, later congratulated Attah on Wednesday saying that, “To lead by example, I congratulate the winner of the house of rep for Eti-Osa in Lagos state. Here’s wishing him all the best. Let’s fix Nigeria.”
