"MKO": The documentary on Moshood Abiola and the annulled 1993 election to be released on October 1st in Lagos

The documentary "MKO," directed by Nigerian-American filmmaker Ose Oyamendan, will premiere on October 1, 2026, at the National Theatre in Lagos, before a theatrical release in Nigeria on October 2, reported the daily newspaper Premium Times on September 26, 2026. The theatrical distribution is being handled by Nile Entertainment.

The film traces the life and legacy of Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, a Nigerian businessman declared the winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, a vote annulled by the military then in power. A long political standoff followed, at the end of which Abiola died in detention in 1998.

The key players of the crisis on camera

The announced strength of the documentary lies in its witnesses. According to Premium Times, it features the former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, under whose authority the election was annulled, former head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel laureate in literature Wole Soyinka, as well as Baba Gana Kingibe, Abiola's running mate in 1993.

Added to these are foreign voices: American diplomats Walter Carrington and Thomas Pickering, former Canadian High Commissioner Gerald Ohlsen, and Adotei Akwei of Amnesty International, as cited by Vanguard. Members of the Abiola family and Theodore Zadok, introduced as the guard assigned to Abiola during his detention, also appear on screen.

"A warning to the world"

The director embraces a political ambition. He describes his film as an investigation into "a man, an election" and the way in which Africa was deprived of an elected leader, according to Vanguard, adding: "This is not just the story of Nigeria. It is a warning to the world." The documentary is produced by American Mark Jonathan Harris and was first presented at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival on June 12, a highly symbolic date in Nigeria.

A premiere under presidential patronage

One detail will certainly fuel debate: the October 1st premiere is being hosted by President Bola Tinubu, indicates Premium Times. A film about a confiscated election presented at the highest level of the state, featuring in its cast the man who was presiding over the country at the time: the memory of June 12 remains a disputed terrain in Nigeria, and this documentary enters it through the front door.

For African cinema, the stakes go beyond Lagos. The Nigerian film industry, immense in its volume of fiction, still rarely produces political documentaries capable of gathering so many first-hand testimonies. "MKO" puts a simple idea to the test: Africans are best placed to tell their own political history.