Ose Oyamendan: Shaping Moral Imagination Through Documentaries – THISDAYLIVE

Oluchi Chibuzor

On June 12, 1993, Nigeria was set to conduct its first presidential election since a military coup d’etat in 1983. But the results of that election — which saw Social Democratic Party candidate Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (or MKO) appear to win the popular vote— were annulled by the military leadership of the time, which claimed the election was “corrupt.”

Abiola was subsequently jailed in 1994. Four years later, an American delegation flew to Nigeria to visit Abiola in jail and negotiate his release. Shortly after drinking tea with the visiting diplomats, he died.

An official autopsy, conducted by an international team of pathologists from the UK, U.S., and Canada, found “substantial evidence of long-standing heart disease” and ruled the death was from natural causes.

Ose Oyamendan, a journalist who had fled to America and joined Amnesty International following the military’s shutdown of the newspaper he wrote for, went on to become a filmmaker, releasing his documentary directorial debut, Aswat Acherim (Other Voices), in 2021.

The Nigerian-American filmmaker is based between Los Angeles, Lagos, and London. A graduate of the prestigious MFA program in Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California, He made his feature debut with Aswat Acherim, a critically acclaimed, award-winning documentary that captures the unlikely friendships forged between residents of Sderot, an Israeli border town, and their neighbors in Gaza.

His works have earned accolades at major international festivals, including Tribeca, Rome, and Houston WorldFest, and have reached global audiences through theatrical releases, television broadcasts, and top streaming platforms. He is an alumnus of the Fox Writers Initiative, Tribeca All Access and founder of Nollywood in Hollywood.

The Nigerian-American filmmaker also established the non-profit organisation, Nollywood in Hollywood, which included an annual film fest, seminars, training programs and networking events.

His latest documentary, MKO, which would premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest on June 12 — the 33rd anniversary of the fateful Nigerian presidential election — and sees Oyamendan speaking with an assortment of participants with varying vantage points, ranging from the military general who annulled the election to members of Abiola’s family and various international diplomats and journalists, to explore the events of the time, and the questions that remain unanswered.

Here, Oyamendan shares his thoughts on the reasons behind the film, the vibrancy of the Nigerian filmmaking community, and the responsibility of storytellers in an increasingly fragmented media age.

“I am Black and in love with the stories we carry. I was born in Nigeria but partly shaped in America. That duality is not theoretical. It lives in my body. It hums in my memory. It is a rhythm, sometimes dissonant, sometimes beautiful, that guides how I see, how I listen, how I tell stories. Stories that stretch, that ache, that survived the crossing of a vast and restless ocean. I wake up every day thinking of ways to lay a narrative bridge across that ocean.

“Documentary remains one of the most powerful ways the Black diaspora remembers its history and imagines its future. Through the medium, we preserve memory, reclaim identity, and affirm that our stories matter. One dream I am proud to see alive today is Nollywood in Hollywood, the non-profit initiative I founded in 2019 in partnership with two of America’s leading film institutions to showcase Nigerian films and talent. It is more than a platform; it is a cultural bridge across the ocean,” he explained.

Since then, Nigerian storytelling has entered an extraordinary period of growth. At home, cinema networks continue to expand. Last year at Cannes, Screen Nigeria launched as part of the country’s “Destination 2030: Nigeria Everywhere” initiative, signaling a bold commitment to exporting Nigerian culture to the world.

Box office revenue across West Africa continues to rise dramatically, proving the appetite for our stories is stronger than ever. Today, Nigeria stands as the second-largest producer of films in the world after India, an astonishing achievement for an industry built largely through grit, independence, and belief.

Yet alongside this momentum comes uncertainty. The promise of investment through streamer commissions has almost all but disappeared. Across the world, storytellers are confronting collapsing business models, shifting technologies, and systems increasingly controlled by algorithms rather than human connection. Audiences are fragmenting.

Traditional pathways are disappearing. But if there is one thing Nollywood understands, it is survival.

Speaking of survival, he said, “my journey into film was born in crisis about three decades ago. 1993 was a year that was meant to be the dawn of a new era for Nigeria, the world’s most populous Black nation. After years of military rule, the country stood on the cusp of democracy.

“I had just stepped into the world of journalism, a fresh college graduate working for Weekend Concord, Africa’s biggest-selling weekly paper.”

 Oyamendan added: “Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola — MKO — emerged at a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s history, offering the nation a vision of its greatest future. He was the most charismatic man I had ever met — and I have met thousands through my work as a journalist, activist, and filmmaker. A billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and political force, MKO won what was Nigeria’s freest election, only to be imprisoned and silenced after the military annulled the results.

“When the press and dissent were crushed with bullets, I fled to America, where, working at Amnesty International USA, I became part of a high-stakes global battle to save Nigeria’s soul, uncovering global hypocrisy where oil interests outweighed human lives. Years later, during the 1998 oil crisis, an American delegation visited Abiola in custody. After sharing tea, he collapsed and died.

“Now, I have the privilege to tell this story to the world through MKO, our feature documentary about to make its world premiere at the Sheffield Doc Festival. Most of the key actors have refused to talk until now.

“MKO is an investigative documentary about a man, an election, and what we depict as the global conspiracy that robbed Africaás largest democracy of her elected leader. It is a story told by those who lived it — presidents, diplomats, politicians, activists, family members, and journalists. By a stroke of fortune, the premiere is on the anniversary of the election that upended Nigeria’s future: June 12.

“This pivotal moment in Africa’s history shows us how the crisis altered so many destinies— including my own. Dreams perished in tragic deaths and hopes were buried. Some of the hunted did live and planted new dreams — like Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a key opposition leader, who is now the current president of the country.

“In my case, I traded journalism for film, beating the narrow path of finding a global place for an African voice, looking for vehicles to transport narratives of the Black diaspora.

“Whether through Nollywood, Hollywood, or the bridges between them, what I view as my mission remains clear: to center Black voices, challenge forgetting, and help build a world where our stories are not merely seen, but deeply valued and celebrated.

“MKO is not just Nigerian history. It is a warning to the world. Art is never merely entertainment. Art is memory. Art is resistance. Art is survival. And as the global documentary industry shifts beneath our feet, the responsibility of storytellers becomes even more urgent. The stories we tell today will shape the moral imagination of tomorrow.”