Nollywood actor returns to politics, eyes Reps seat in Surulere after being left off 2023 ballot

• Nollywood actor Olumide Oworu has announced plans to contest for the Surulere I Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives in the 2027 elections.

• Oworu, who will run on the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) platform, previously contested for the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2023.

• The actor said his previous experience strengthened his resolve to participate in governance and urged young Nigerians to take an active role in politics.

Nollywood actor Olumide Oworu has declared his intention to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2027 general elections, after he was excluded from the ballot in his 2023 bid for the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Oworu, 31, announced his candidacy for the Surulere I Federal Constituency seat on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in an Instagram post on Tuesday, November 10, 2026. He shared a campaign poster and said his campaign would be driven by a vision to "Reset Nigeria".

The actor, who contested under the Labour Party in 2023, said his previous experience had strengthened his resolve to take part in governance. He said administrative hurdles kept his name off the final ballot but that his supporters' "resilience showed me that our vision was never a passing phase."

He said young people should not sit on the sidelines while their future is decided by a political class that will not live with the consequences of its choices.

In 2023, Oworu sought to represent Surulere Constituency I in the Lagos State House of Assembly, where he was expected to challenge the incumbent lawmaker, fellow actor Desmond Elliot.

Reports at the time said his name was absent from the ballot, while Adebayo Bode was listed as the Labour Party candidate on the official declaration of result sheet. It said the candidates had been involved in legal disputes that remained unresolved until the build-up to the election.

Oworu subsequently accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of failing to comply with a Federal High Court order of February 2, 2023, concerning the submission of Labour Party candidates. INEC has not been reported to have responded.

Oworu is now seeking a seat in the National Assembly under the APM, the platform on which Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde is seeking the presidency. Makinde declared his bid in May and was later confirmed as the party's presidential candidate.

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He did not say why he left the Labour Party or how he obtained the APM ticket.