‘MKO’ Dominates Billboards Ahead Of October 1 Presidential Premiere

A nationwide publicity blitz has begun for MKO, the much-awaited film on the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, with giant billboards springing up in strategic locations across Nigeria ahead of its October 1 national premiere.

The massive outdoor campaign signals the final countdown to the Nigerian release of the historical film, which revisits one of the most consequential episodes in the country’s political history and the turbulent events that followed the annulment of the election widely associated with the late Chief MKO Abiola.

In Lagos, “MKO” is commanding prominent outdoor spaces, with a sprawling billboard announcing its October 2 cinema release to motorists and commuters.

The film will, however, make its formal Nigerian debut a day earlier at a National Command Premiere at the National Theatre, Lagos, on October 1, Nigeria’s Independence Day.

According to the promoters, the premiere will be hosted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Managing Director of Nile Entertainment, distributors of the film, Moses Babatope, said the nationwide publicity drive was intended to take the story to as wide an audience as possible.

“It is a great movie about Nigerian history and life, and we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to see it,” Babatope said.

Directed by award-winning Hollywood-based Nigerian-American filmmaker Ose Oyamendan, MKO reconstructs the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and examines the political and social upheavals that followed.

The election and its annulment triggered a prolonged political crisis, pro-democracy agitation and events that became defining chapters in Nigeria’s struggle for democratic rule.

The Nigerian rollout follows the film’s international premiere at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival in the United Kingdom on June 12.

Its choice of June 12 for the international premiere and October 1 for its Nigerian premiere ties the film’s release to two dates with particular significance in Nigeria’s political history — Democracy Day and Independence Day.

With the nationwide billboard campaign now gathering pace, the producers and distributors are seeking to move the June 12 story from history books and political discourse onto the big screen for a new generation of Nigerians.

MKO opens in cinemas nationwide on October 2.