Is there anything more delicious to watch in a movie than a good love triangle? No, there isn’t. Love triangles are awesome. They’re messy and frustrating but also just angsty and exciting enough to keep you glued to the screen, picking sides and hoping your favourite couple becomes endgame. Here are some of Nollywood’s most iconic love triangles.
Bernice, Rhyme, and Jay in Beyonce & Rihanna (2008 )
There’s too much plot to summarise here, but suffice it to say this is one love triangle where everyone in it should have just stayed single! My goodness. What starts as an intense rivalry between Bernice (Nadia Buari) and Rhyme (Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde) in a singing competition somehow devolves into a super embarrassing fight over a man named Jay (Jim Iyke).
Bayo, Lena, and Dami in Searching (2024)
Bayo (Eso Dike) took us on a wild ride with his sweeping love for the two beautiful best friends — Lena (Kiekie) & Dami (Bolaji Ogunmola) — and honestly, I don’t blame him. Whom do you choose: Lena, the hilarious half of the duo, or Dami, who is charming in her own unique way? The only downside to this triangle is that the girls are best friends. And I’m pretty sure there are ancient texts ( i.e. the rules of feminism) that best friends shouldn’t fight over a man.
Richard, Sylvia, and Gbemi in Sylvia (2018)
Maturing is realizing that Sylvia (Zainab Balogun) had every right to be upset. Sylvia and Richard (Chris Attoh) had a good and sweet thing going. They’re each other’s day ones and confidantes, only for Richard to abandon her when he suddenly becomes obsessed with Gbemi (Ini-Dima Okojie). Abolish men for real.
Kemi, Umar, and Tunde in Flowergirl (2013)
Kemi (Damilola Adegbite) is a young, impressionable lady dying to get married. When her relationship with Umar (Chris Attoh) begins to go south, she turns to Tunde (Blossom Chukwugekwu), a famous Nollywood movie star, to help her save her relationship by making Umar jealous. Things come to a head when she starts falling for Tunde for real and now has to choose between the two of them.
Demi, Kanla, and Mbali in All’s Fair in Love (2024)
Once again, I have to state that it’s against the laws of nature for best friends to have the same love interest. Demi (Deyemi Okanlawon) and Kanla (Timini Egbuson) are childhood friends who are building a business together. In a bid to expand, they hire Mbali (Buhle Samuels) as an executive assistant. Shortly after, they find themselves smitten with her. For best friends who live and work together, I don’t get how Mbali was able to string them along with no suspicion. Shoutout to her for excelling in a field usually dominated by men.
Isoken, Kevin, and Osaze in Isoken (2017)
The plot of this one is simple: Isoken (Dakore Akande) is a young, successful, and intelligent lady in her mid-thirties. Like many Nigerian women in that stage of life, she’s under pressure from family to get married. In the blink of an eye, Isoken goes from getting no men to having to choose between the handsome, husband material Osaze (Joseph Benjamin) and the sweet and unassuming, Caucasian Kevin (Marc Rhys).
Toyin, Uche, and Sunday in A Sunday Affair (2022)
Why choose between two best friends when you can show them both shege? In A Sunday Affair, we are introduced to lifelong besties Toyin (Dakore Akande) and Uche (Nse Ikpe-Etim), who decide to risk it all for a man named Sunday (Oris Erhuero) who is actually MARRIED to someone else but decides to date both of them simultaneously anyway. Truly the messiest love triangle in the history of film.
Tomide, Rachel, and Imani in Reel Love (2025)
Don’t you just hate when you come up with the idea for your boyfriend to pretend to date someone to save his career but he falls for that person for real so now you have to resort to increasingly insane hijinks to tear them apart? That’s what happens in Reel Love. When influencer Tomide (Timini Egbuson) gets cancelled after a viral fight with a shop assistant named Rachel (TJ Omosuku), his fiancée, Imani (Atlanta Johnson) comes up with the most chaotic PR stunt: a fake romance between Tomide and Rachel to win back his fans. You can already guess how this turns out.
Jemima, Frederick, and Sadiq in Letters to A Stranger (2007)
Jemima (Genevieve Nnaji) is a writer, who, in a bid to escape the issues she’s having with her boyfriend, Frederick (Fred Amata), starts writing letters to a stranger on her laptop. One day, she dials a wrong number that connects her to Sadiq (Yemi Blaq). She and Sadiq start talking frequently and feelings grow. Now she’s torn between a bird in the hand (Frederick) and one in the bush (Yemi).
