Tinubu joins officials at Lagos premiere of MKO Abiola documentary

President Bola Tinubu attended the national premiere of “MKO”, a documentary about the life and political legacy of late businessman and politician Moshood Abiola, in Lagos on Thursday. The screening was held at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts in Iganmu as part of events marking Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary. Tinubu served as chief host and attended with First Lady Oluremi Tinubu.

Those present included Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila. Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Culture Minister Hannatu Musawa and former Ogun governor Segun Osoba also attended. The documentary’s director and producer, Nigerian-American filmmaker Ose Oyamendan, said the film examined the political choices made during the crisis surrounding the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and the consequences for Nigeria.

Oyamendan also recalled Tinubu’s involvement in the pro-democracy movement during military rule. He said the president had stood with demands for recognition of what supporters regarded as Abiola’s electoral mandate, and described the film as a record of a wider struggle that shaped Nigeria’s democratic development. “MKO” covers Abiola’s life, political career and legacy, including his detention and death in custody in 1998.

It uses archival material and interviews with people connected to the period, including former military leaders Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and Abiola’s 1993 running mate, Baba Gana Kingibe. Other contributors include former US ambassador Walter Carrington, former US deputy secretary of state Thomas Pickering, former Canadian high commissioner Gerald Ohlsen, members of the Abiola family, foreign journalists and Theodore Zadok, who served as Abiola’s security guard during his detention. The 108-minute film had its international premiere at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival in the United Kingdom on 12 June.

Following the Lagos premiere, it is scheduled to open in cinemas across Nigeria from Friday, 2 October, with Nile Entertainment handling distribution. Distributor Moses Babatope said the documentary could preserve an important part of Nigeria’s political history and make it accessible to younger people who did not experience the June 12 crisis.