A 20-second clip from Sunday night’s premiere of Iyabo Ojo’s The Return of Arinzo in Lagos has dominated Nollywood conversations, after Funke Akindele appeared to ignore a greeting from fellow actress and producer Toyin Abraham in full view of cameras and industry guests.
The incident occurred at the launch event for Ojo’s film, which is set to hit cinemas on April 3rd. The premiere drew a significant cross-section of the industry, including Rita Dominic, Femi Adebayo, Muyiwa Ademola, Fathia Balogun, and both Funke Akindele and Toyin Abraham among the attendees.
In the now-viral clip, Abraham approached Akindele, touched her arm, and leaned in to address her for more than five seconds. Akindele maintained a forward gaze throughout and did not visibly acknowledge the greeting. Abraham then moved along to greet other guests seated beside Akindele. When she appeared to make a second attempt, the response was the same. Nothing.
The atmosphere had already been charged before the Abraham moment. Earlier in the evening, Mercy Aigbe and Funke Akindele arrived at their seats at the same table at virtually the same time, yet neither acknowledged the other’s presence.
The two sat down without so much as a glance exchanged between them, a moment that did not go unnoticed by those in attendance and set the tone for what was to come.
The aftermath moved quickly from the physical to the digital. Abraham unfollowed Akindele on Instagram and posted, then deleted, a vow to never greet her again. Akindele responded in kind, unfollowing Abraham, adding fuel to a rivalry that had shown signs of cooling as recently as September 2025, when the two were seen interacting warmly at another premiere.
Days before Sunday’s incident, Akindele had publicly defended both herself and Abraham against online body-shaming, a gesture that now reads differently in hindsight.
The tension between the two has deeper roots. Their rivalry sharpened publicly in 2021 during a box office clash between Akindele’s Omo Ghetto: The Saga and Abraham’s The Ghost and the Tout Too.
Then the Anikulapo season 2 release came and added another layer to the tension. Filmmaker Kunle Afolayan publicly shaded Akindele during the period, and Abraham wasted little time signalling whose side she was on. She created a skit in solidarity with Afolayan.
The moment was widely read as Abraham aligning against Akindele, reinforcing a narrative that had been building in industry circles that Akindele was the difficult party in these recurring conflicts.
Online reactions have been divided. Some have criticised Akindele for what they see as a public display of disrespect toward a colleague. Others have defended her right to personal boundaries, arguing that forced cordiality serves no one. Abraham, for her part, has been widely praised for how gracefully she handled the moment in real time.
What is clear is that Sunday night’s events have reset whatever goodwill had been rebuilt between them.
Nigerians react as Funke Akindele snubs Toyin Abraham at Iyabo Ojo’s movie premiere
