New film relays Kudirat Abiola’s struggle

A feature-length documentary film on the ordeal of the late Hajia Kudirat Abiola, wife of
the late business mogul and winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election,
Bashorun MKO Abiola, by an American filmmaker, may be released in Nigeria soon.
Called The Supreme Price , the film, according to the director,  Joanna Lipper, a lecturer
at Harvard University, United States, traces the evolution of the pro-democracy
movement in Nigeria and efforts to increase the participation of women in leadership
roles.
“I set out to make a film that honours the personal and professional sacrifices that
Kudirat and other women activists make on a daily basis as agents of change in
Nigeria,” said the documentary filmmaker.
Lipper, in her new film, uses Hafsat Abiola has the central character of a story that
talks about   the challenges of transforming a corrupt culture of governance into a
democracy capable of serving women – a people considered as the most
marginalised population.
Hafsat, the eldest daughter of M.K.O and Kudirat, founded the Kudirat Initiative for
Democracy (KIND). Determined not to let her parents’ ideals die with them, her
experiences as an activist following the annulment of her father’s victory in the June
12, 1993 election and her mother’s assassination by agents of the military dictatorship,
among other pro-democracy issues, form the substance of Lipper’s documentary.
Kudirat Abiola, who was contesting the annulment of the June 12 election and
subsequent incarceration of her husband, was killed in 1996 by gunmen believed to
have been sent by Major Mustapha, the then CSO to former president Sani Abacha.
Lipper’s movie engages pro-democracy activists such as Professor Wole Soyinka; Dr.
Joe Okei-Odumakin, President,Women Arise for Change Initiative and Campaign for
Democracy; Olalekan Yusau Abiola, eldest son of M.K.O and  Nicholas Costello,
Hafsat’s husband, among others, as notable characters .
“What gave me the confidence to undertake this project was my access to Hafsat
Abiola and her willingness to provide introduction to other family members, the staff of
her NGO, KIND, and professionals she knew in the Nollywood community, who
welcomed me and facilitated filming in Lagos and Ogun States,” said Lipper who
teaches Using Film for Social Change in the Department of African and African-
American Studies.
Her work as a documentary filmmaker has been supported by the MacArthur
Foundation, Ford Foundation, ITVS, Britdoc Foundation, the Gucci Tribeca Documentary
Fund, Women Make Movies and Chicken & Egg Pictures.
The Supreme Price received the Gucci Tribeca Spotlighting Women Documentary
Award, while an extended trailer from the film was commissioned to launch Gucci’s
Chime for Change Women’s Empowerment Campaign at TED 2013.
Lipper, it appears, is considering making a film on the Boko Haram insurgency and the
much-talked about kidnapping of over 200 school girls from Chibok, a community in
Borno State.
According to her, “Several years ago when I began working on my documentary, I had
no way of knowing that, in the months leading up to the film’s premiere at the Human
Rights Watch Film Festival, Nigeria would be front and centre in news around the
world. The horrific kidnapping of over 250 school girls in the northern part of the
country is a tragic story that touches upon the film’s key themes: the need to protect,
educate and empower women and girls; the need for increased numbers of women
leaders in political positions of power to represent their best interests; the violent
backlash in the face of progressive change when it comes to traditional gendered
stereotypes that involve the oppression of women and the complete absence of a
Nigerian government that is accountable to the masses.”
She said two of the film’s major funders (the MacArthur Foundation and Ford
Foundation) have offices in Nigeria and do extensive impact and outreach work both in
the North and in the South.
“In addition to these two alliances, I have established partnerships with Women for
Women, Vital Voices and a number of Nigerian grassroots organisations, including the
Mobile Cinema Initiative, KIND and Women Arise,” she revealed.
She added: “I hope that this film will reach and inspire women who might not otherwise
have the opportunity to see it, and that it will provoke conversations around the world
about global solidarity amongst women when it comes to equal rights and leadership,
while protecting the rights of the most vulnerable.”