Nollywood actress Sarah Martins has revealed that Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, donated ₦20 million to support her charity initiative.
This comes a day after the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC/KAI) apprehended her for allegedly violating environmental laws.
Recall that the actress was apprehended on Thursday during a charity cooking outreach in the Admiralty area of Lekki Phase 1.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, stated that Ms Martins breached ‘objective four’ of the LAGESC/KAI Law on street vending, which prohibits the sale or preparation of food on roads or pavements.
In a video posted on her Instagram page on Friday, Ms Martins revealed that Mr Tinubu rewarded her financially and encouraged her to expand her charitable initiative.
A woman featured in the video was seen presenting an envelope containing N20 million to Ms Martins, explaining that Mr Tinubu admired the actress’s humanitarian efforts and wanted her to secure a proper shop for public safety and sustainability.
“He said you will be able to get a shop with this, where you can continue to harness your cooking skills and scale your production. He also said that when you get a shop, he’ll be responsible for equipping it with suitable industrial equipment. So this is just for you to get the shop.
“This is just to support what you do. This is to encourage you to pursue your passion. He watches you, follows you, and sees all that you do. And this is to encourage you to come to the big lane. The development needs a reputation,” she noted.
Ms Martins said the gesture extended to her would go a long way towards putting smiles on the faces of street children.
She said: “From disgrace to grace. From the office of the President, our philanthropic youth leader, Mr Seyi Tinubu, just supported my NGO with N20 million. Nigerians, please help me say thank you to him. He didn’t only give me N20 million. He also promised to take my free food charity outreach to the next level on behalf of the Golden Heart Foundation. I am beyond grateful, sir. And my beautiful Queen, Dr Bea, thank you for everything. We are in this together.
“Forward ever! Cheers to the next level. I am short of words. I am literally speechless. God bless you. God will surely continue to water every area of your life. You will go, succeed, and excel where others go and fail. Thank you for teaming up with me to continually put smiles on the faces of the vulnerable and homeless people through this.”
The actress explained that her decision to cook on the streets was driven by a desire to bring smiles to the faces of families who wake up each day uncertain of their next meal.
She said, “I just love humanity, so I feel like the best way I can help Nigeria support what the government is already doing is to put smiles on the faces of the people constantly, those who wake up without having hope of where their next meal will come from.
“So I said, let me be the hope for them, like someone waking up and knowing there is food somewhere for them to eat for free. That was the intention behind my motive. And for you to key into this.”
The Imo-born actress began acting in 2004 but gained recognition for her charitable street cooking initiative.
She’s known for movies like “The Widows,” “Dangerous Mad Man,” “The Gods Are Wise,” “Family Lies,” and “Feast of the Spirits,” among others.
