'It became serious when dignitaries started calling me ‘Item Seven’ – Toke Makinwa recounts COP28 experience

Popular media personality and actress Toke Makinwa has shared stories from the United Arab Emirates' COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai.

When Toke was added to Nigeria's 1411-member COP28 delegation, there was a lot of online criticism, with many people doubting her attendance.

In the most recent episode of her podcast, "TokeMoments," the actress revealed that while she initially didn't give a damn about the online backlash, she began to take it seriously when certain well-known individuals began referring to her as "Item Seven" at a hotel in Dubai.

Nollywood actress Ini Edo asked Toke a question during her visit on the podcast, asking, "How was your attendance at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai? Have you listened in on the panel discussions?

Toke Makinwa replied that she had achieved all of her objectives and that the answer was one of the primary themes of COP28.

She said: “Yes. I accomplished everything I set out to do with it [COP28]. I was just shocked [by the uproar]. And I think because Dubai is three hours [ahead of Nigeria], I woke up to see the backlash on social media.

“For me, it started feeling serious when important people started calling me item seven. And I think that for me was funny. I walked into this hotel in Dubai where they were a lot of important people, all of them have seen the backlash and they started calling me ‘item seven’ and it was funny. We all just laughed. It was so funny.”

GA