2027 Election: Toyin Abraham went from campaigning for Tinubu in 2023 to rejecting APC’s campaign council in 2026— what changed?

• Toyin Abraham says she is not a member of the Lagos APC campaign council despite being listed among its entertainment members. 

• The actress says she did not know her name was on the list and insists her decision was not because of online critics.

• Abraham's latest position comes three years after her public support for Bola Tinubu triggered sustained criticism and controversy. 

When Toyin Abraham’s name appeared on the Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council this week, it brought her back into a political conversation she had publicly tried to leave behind.

The actress was listed on the campaign council the Lagos APC released on Thursday, September 17, 2026, as a member of its Entertainment and Creative Economy Directorate. The list included other entertainers such as Jide Kosoko, Eniola Badmus, Bimbo Akintola, Adebayo Salami, Saheed Balogun and Bukky Wright.

Abraham, however, said she had not agreed to join the council.

“I’m not a member of any campaign council. I have said it recently. I am staying out of politics,” she wrote on Instagram, asking the public to disregard her reported inclusion.

The next day, September 18, she addressed the issue again after an X user suggested that rejecting the role might help her avoid another round of online bullying.

Abraham said that was not why she rejected the inclusion. She explained that she had woken up to discover her name on a list she knew nothing about and reiterated that she was not interested in politics.

That position is a marked change from 2023, when Abraham was an outspoken supporter of Bola Tinubu during the presidential campaign.

She met Tinubu alongside then-Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and publicly explained why she supported him. In a post about the meeting, she said listening to Tinubu’s ideas and plans had renewed her hope and reaffirmed why he was her choice.

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Her political choice quickly became a source of intense online criticism. In March 2023, Abraham said some supporters of Peter Obi had petitioned Netflix to remove her films and had targeted brands associated with her. 

She also said she was receiving insults and curses directed not only at her but also at her husband, Kolawole Ajeyemi, and their son.

The criticism continued after the election and became particularly intense as Nigerians confronted worsening economic conditions under the new administration.

By June 4, 2024, Abraham was publicly reflecting on the consequences of having made her political choice so openly. Responding to questions on X about what Tinubu’s camp had promised her during the campaign, she said she had been assured of “good governance and happiness for everyone".

But when another user asked whether she believed Tinubu had failed in governance, Abraham did not give a direct assessment. Instead, she said she was not a politician or government official and added, "I have learnt my lesson never to be open with my choice again.”

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That same day, the backlash became more personal. During an Instagram Live, Abraham broke down while discussing people attacking her over her political choice and said she would not accept attacks involving her young son or other members of her family.

The June episode, however, was not the end of the controversy.

In July 2024, Abraham took legal action against social media users over what she described as cyberbullying, threats and defamatory statements involving her and her family. One of the disputes centred on an X user known as Big Ayo, who accused her of using money allegedly linked to Tinubu to pay for her husband’s hair transplant.

Abraham denied the allegation and reported the matter to the cybercrime authorities. She also denied claims that she had caused the man’s mother to be arrested, explaining that she had filed a complaint as a citizen because of what she described as threats and attacks against her family.

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Her decision to involve the police then became a separate source of public controversy, with critics questioning whether the criminal justice system should have been used in what they regarded as a dispute involving alleged defamation and online speech.

The episode also reignited calls from some Nigerians for her films to be removed from streaming platforms.

Against that background, Abraham’s latest rejection of the Lagos APC campaign council has a clear chronology.

In 2023, she openly campaigned for Tinubu. In 2024, she faced sustained criticism over that choice, said she had “learnt her lesson” and would keep future political choices private, and became embroiled in a separate dispute over her response to online attacks. 

In September 2026, her name appeared on an APC campaign council list, and she immediately said she was not part of it.

For now, the Lagos APC's published list carries her name, while Abraham says she is staying out of the campaign.