Nollywood actress Toyin Lawani shocked many Nigerians with her recent post about Funke Akindele.
In her post, she wrote;
“If you guys knew the fierce competition to be l number one in those days in the Yoruba industry (I don’t know if that still exists though). The fierce competition created camps, enmity, and many professional gossips.
The number one cause of fights in the industry then was he said, she said’ before the social media era. Dear Nollywood people, let me chip this in, stop tearing the industry down with your gossips. You have caused lots of damage with ‘he-said, she said’Let me go back to my storv.
In those days of the Yoruba film industry, @funkejenifaakindele was like number one after the likes of Aunty Bukky and Aunty Faithia. I l was the next in line. The competition was much and with many gossips in between, we became competitors and persona non grata.
She moved on to the English industry, I became number one before moving on too (A word of advice to voung actors of today, no one will be number one forever.
It doesn’t mean you fall down the pecking order, it might just be that you move on to bigger things. E rora tele bashubashu. You don’t own the industry, the industry is bigger than you). In the English industry, Aunty Funke and I continued the rivalry sort of. It pitted our fans against each other.
We are two competitive Virgo women, we love to win and sometimes in that process, we splash dirt and mud. But with time, age, and more wisdom, I have realized we can compete without being negatively competitive.
Aunty Funke, I celebrate you for showing us what is possible. You are a winner. You sold over 1B, you made it possible for other women to dream.
You ran us street with that 1Bb o, this year, many of us will move to 1B and we pray God makes you bigger. Thank you for making great movies and selling them like your life depends on it. You taught other women to hustle harder. I had set records in box office records, Aunty came and beat them, today I am happy because she has challenged me to set higher goals.
Sis, let’s compliment each other even in competition at the box office, I owe you one post in December (only 1 0, I need to sell market…Lol). I pray that God will make all your dreams come true. I admire you and wish you all the best. With Love, T!”
There has been a lot of friction between Toyin Lawani and Funke Akindele over the years, even though they haven’t fully engaged in a public spat.
