Several Nigerians on X (formerly Twitter) have reacted to the congratulatory messages sent by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos governor, and Atiku Abubakar, the former vice-president, to Funke Akindele on her box office record.
On Thursday, ‘A Tribe Called Judah‘, a family comedy-drama produced by Akindele, became the first Nollywood movie to hit N1 billion at the Nigerian box office.
The movie earned N1 billion in just 3 weeks, making it the fastest Nigerian film to achieve the feat.
It also became the highest-grossing Nollywood movie of all time, with earnings still counting. The film made Akindele the highest-grossing Nollywood director of all time.
Since achieving the feat, several prominent Nigerians — including President Bola Tinubu — have sent congratulatory messages to Akindele.
Joining the fray, Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, hailed Akindele over the “phenomenal success of A Tribe Called Judah.
I extend my heartiest congratulations to @funkeakindele for the phenomenal success of “A Tribe Called Judah”. This film has not only shattered box office records by becoming the first Nigerian movie to earn 1 billion naira in domestic theatres, but it also stands as a beacon of cultural pride and the unyielding spirit of Nollywood,” the tweet, which was shared on Friday, reads in part.
In the same vein, Sanwo-Olu, on Saturday, praised the filmmaker over the “phenomenal success of A Tribe Called Judah.
In the now-deleted tweet, the governor appeared to have adopted similar lines to what Atiku used in his post, sparking a wave of mixed reactions on social media.
While some users accused Sanwo-Olu’s X handler of plagiarism, others implied that the operators of both politicians’ social media accounts might have used AI — a technology that mimics human intelligence to perform tasks.
Na the same AI write both posts,” a user wrote.
Sanwo-Olu had to copy Atiku’s tweet. No originality, no emotional intelligence. Kai,” another user added.
FS Yusuf wrote: “Sanwo-Olu or Atiku should sack their media aide. That was so much mental laziness to copy a tweet from a public figure and post word-for-word. What happened to paraphrasing?
Here is what some users had to say:
