- Popular filmmaker, Toyin Abraham, debuted her movie, Iyalode, at the cinemas on June 6, 2025 amidst pomp and pageantry
- The movie featured ace actors such as Muyiwa Ademola, Gabriel Afolayan, Ibrahim Chatta, Peju Ogunmola, Kolawole Ajeyemi, Bukky Wright, Wale Ojo, Kehinde Bankole and Aisha Lawal
- Despite the star-studded cast, the film didn't meet expectations and cast further doubts on the production credentials of Toyin Abraham
What’s the worst cocktail you can be served for a Sallah break, can you think of any? Let me suggest one for you: watch a Toyin Abraham film at an Osogbo cinema.
Let me start from the setting of the cinema, the movies on offer and the kind of people there. Despite the list of movies on offer, the attendants spoke about getting low patronage for foreign movies, so, the movies they were sure to show were the Yoruba ones: Muyiwa Ademola’s Ori: The Rebirth and Toyin Abraham’s Iyalode.
Africa Magic 1 Me 0.
Ori: The Rebirth would not show until another 2-3 hours, Iyalode was the one I could wait for without wasting my fare to the cinema. My sponsor, Papa, would rather not watch anything but I didn’t want his money to pass me buy.
Upon getting into the cinema, I almost mistook it for an interview session, with the way people had their phones’ flashes on, recording and taking pictures. It felt like, are you lots coming to the cinema for the first time?
Then, a goat in human clothing who sat behind me put their legs on my chair, almost touching my head. I didn’t even know how to react. What they could muster was, "my leg was aching and I had to stretch it." Why not put it on my head, huh?
Now to Toyin Abraham’s Iyalode:
I almost blamed the cinema for the poor picture quality and barely audible sound. But when the interlude music between scenes came out very loud but the dialogues very low, it became apparent that this was not a projection issue, it was a technical glitch from the source.
A lot of things suggested that the film was rushed.
First, Toyin Abraham cannot tell me that it wasn’t Iyabo Ojo’s Labake Olododo that inspired her Iyalode. And at this point, Toyin Abraham unshakeably impresses as someone who cannot come up with fresh ideas of her own until others launch first.
Her delusional rivalry with Funke Akindele further lends credence to this.
The movie was off from the get-go. The plot? Non-existent. The acting? Cringing. The picture and sound? Awful.
Seeing Breath of Life’s Wale Ojo and Adire’s Kehinde Bankole, both AMVCA-awarded Best Lead Actor and Actress, respectively, in the movie was an anti-climactic moment. What are you people doing here? Their steeze definitely went from 100 to zero, in the twinkle of an eye.
What’s to really say about 'Iyalode'?
The movie centres around Toyin Abraham, of course. Playing the role of Ashabi Adikaka, a powerful warrior, she comes from a lineage of Iyalodes (women leaders), but there’s a condition to getting the title – you must not be handicapped.
Her mother, a role played by the legendary Peju Ogunmola, has a swollen foot and is ineligible. The mother with whom she had no relationship with, summons her through the Earth deity, and she returns to her village to take up the vacant chieftaincy stool of Iyalode.
She reunites with her childhood friend, only for her to die at the hands of an invading army. She tries to retaliate but loses her arm in the process, making her also ineligible for the title. Back to square one. The mother commits suicide, another person is installed as Iyalode and Adikaka didn’t make it back in time from her journey to restore her hand.
The Earth deity that won a war for Adikaka was suddenly nowhere to be found when she was to lose a war and an arm.
Final words
Having watched Elevator Baby, among other movies Toyin Abraham has starred in, she is no doubt a fantastic actor. Same opinion I have of Mercy Aigbe and Iyabo Ojo but their antics have overshadowed their stage brilliance.
For Abraham, it is her desire to produce movies. At this point, she should concentrate more on starring in the movies of more brilliant directors and producers who can further explore the growing trend of epics – I’m saying this with one eye on Odunlade Adekola.
And obviously, Nollywood people don’t like to tell themselves the truth. Kolawole Ajeyemi, Toyin Abraham’s husband who also acted in the movie, is by default a blind supporter, but what about others who could have told her at some point that, “errrmm, Aunty Toyin, this your story no really gel oh, e go good make we rethink am?”
Regardless, Toyin Abraham will be back in December but I won’t be there.
Movie Review: Everybody Loves Jenifa so much they ignore its disjointed plots
Earlier, TheRadar reviewed Everybody Loves Jenifa movie by the famous Funke Akindele. The movie broke all sorts of records at Nigeria’s box office and became the highest-grossing Nollywood ever.
Although there were reservations with its plot and character development, the movie once again reinforced the star power of Funke Akindele, Jenifa.
