Ose Oyamendan’s documentary on the life and political struggle of MKO Abiola will premiere at Lagos’ National Theatre on Independence Day, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Chief Host ahead of its nationwide cinema release on October 2.
A new documentary chronicling the life of late businessman, publisher and politician Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola and Nigeria’s historic June 12, 1993 presidential election is set to premiere nationally on October 1.
MKO, directed by international award-winning filmmaker Ose Oyamendan, will have its Nigerian premiere at the National Theatre in Lagos on Independence Day, before opening in cinemas nationwide on October 2.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is listed as Chief Host of the premiere, which comes 33 years after the June 12 election was annulled by the military government, triggering a prolonged pro-democracy struggle.
The documentary explores Abiola’s political journey, the annulment of the election, the resistance that followed and the circumstances surrounding his death in detention in 1998.
Oyamendan describes the film as an effort to revisit a defining period in Nigeria’s political history through archival material and firsthand accounts from people connected to the events.
Among those featured are former military leaders General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, Abiola’s running mate Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, and members of Abiola’s family.
The documentary also features former US ambassadors Walter Carrington and Thomas Pickering, former Canadian High Commissioner Gerald Ohlsen, foreign journalists and Theodore Zadok, who served as Abiola’s security guard during his detention.
Following its international premiere at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival on June 12, MKO has continued its run on the international documentary circuit, with screenings and theatrical releases planned across Europe and North America.
In Nigeria, Nile Entertainment is overseeing the film’s theatrical distribution and plans a nationwide campaign aimed at bringing the documentary to a broader audience, particularly younger Nigerians who did not experience the June 12 struggle firsthand.
The October 1 premiere will therefore place Abiola’s story at the centre of Nigeria’s Independence Day programme, while the October 2 cinema release is expected to take the documentary beyond the premiere audience and into cinemas across the country.
