The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Sunday, April 5th, 2020 said that Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, was not its brand ambassador, after her arrest for defying COVID-19 lockdown order.

That came shortly after the Lagos State Police Command arrested Akindele for defying the government’s COVID-19 lockdown order by hosting a house party in her Lagos residence.

The actress had recently appeared in the NCDC’s and Dettol’s adverts, urging Nigerians to abide by social distancing and hygiene guidelines, as part of government’s measures to contain the spread of coronavirus disease in the country.

She was arrested at her house in Amen Estate, located off the Lekki-Epe Expressway and had been taken taken into custody at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.

The Police gave Akindele’s husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, aka JJC Skillz; and singer Azeez Fashola, aka Naira Marley, who were at the party, to report to the State CID, Panti or risk being declared wanted.

Reacting via its Twitter handle on Sunday evening, the centre said,

As an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, NCDC has not engaged brand ambassadors as part of our response to COVID-19. We continue to emphasise that all Nigerians maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In a similar fashion, Dettol Nigeria said,

We have been made aware through social media that Funke Akindele recently, acting in her personal capacity, had a celebration which is against the caution to the public on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NCDC partnered with Dettol on a public service message to educate our communities about preventive measures against COVID-19. Funke is not a brand ambassador of the NCDC.

As a responsible organization and brand, Dettol does not condone any breach of the guidelines on COVID-19.

As an organisation, we are concerned at the turn of events.

We will continue to support NCDC and the Nigerian government to fight COVID-19.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.