The British actor is based in Los Angeles.

In what could be described as a waste of public funds, the Enugu State Government, on Tuesday placed a full page advertorial in The Nation Newspaper to congratulate British actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

The British actor beat Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale to win the Leading Actor award at the 2014 EE British Film Academy Film Awards, BAFTAS, on February 16.

While Ejiofor in his acceptance speech did not remember the Enugu State government, as he thanked Steve McQueen, director of ‘12 years A Slave,’ the cast of the movie especially Michael Fassbender, his mom, and his late dad, the Enugu state government went ahead to congratulate “our brother”.

Ejiofor was born in London to Nigerian parents. His father, Arinze, was a doctor, and his mother, Obiajulu, was a pharmacist. His younger sister is CNN correspondent Zain Asher.

Ejiofor’s father died in 1988, when the actor was 11, during a family trip to Nigeria for a wedding. Both were on their way to Lagos after the celebrations when their car was involved in a head-on crash with a lorry and Ejiofor’s father was killed.

The actor always identifies himself as a British citizen in interviews.