You Can’t Criticize Tinubu In My Presence – Antar Laniyan

Veteran Nollywood actor Antar Laniyan has declared that he does not entertain anyone criticising President Bola Tinubu in his presence. He recently had his say during an appearance on the African A-List podcast, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, Laniyan said he would rather leave a gathering than listen to or engage in conversations that condemn BAT.

The moviestar added that his position would not change even if he personally had issues with the President.

His words, “If you are my friend and while we are together, you talk against President Bola Tinubu, I will walk away because he has not been what you’re saying to me. I don’t have to support you.

Even if he does it to me, I will not engage in the conversation, I will still walk away.”

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.