The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has disclaimed movie star, Funke Akindele aka Jenifer as a brand ambassador for its COVID-19 response.
The Nigerian Police on Sunday arrested the actress for organising a house party for husband, JJC Skillz; flouting the lockdown order by the Federal Government over COVID-19 pandemic.
Funke Akindele and Abdulrasheed Bello, her husband; received a 14-day community service sentence each, including a fine of N100 each.
Akindele, had featured in NCDC and Dettol Nigeria campaign against the spread of Coronavirus in the country; which made many Nigerians see the actress as the agency’s brand ambassador.
However, a twitter user, had called on NCDC to immediately quarantine everybody that attended the house party.
“dear @NCDCgov your Ambassador Funke Akindele, her husband JJC, Eniola Badmus, Naira Marley and the entire family threw a packed house party yesterday
”I love Funke and have nothing against her but everyone in that house should be forcefully quarantined, please treat as urgent.”
Reacting via its microblogging platform, Twitter, NCDC claimed it has not engaged brand ambassadors as part of their response to COVID-19.
“As an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, NCDC has not engaged brand ambassadors as part of our response to #COVID19. We continue to emphasise that all Nigerians maintain #socialdistancing to prevent the spread of #COVID19.”
Dettol’s statment
Correspondingly, Dettol Nigeria also confirmed that Akindele is not an ambassador of the NCDC.
“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 organization we are concerned at the turn of events.
“We will continue to support NCDC and the Nigerian govt to fight COVID-19.”