The suspension of Linda Ikeji's film The Night of June 7th by the National Film and Video Censors Board has drawn a pointed response from one of Nollywood's most experienced voices on the subject of making films that touch living power structures in Nigeria.
Obi Emelonye, the filmmaker behind Badamasi: Portrait of a General, Nigeria's first Nollywood political biopic, dropped a comment on filmmaker and industry commentator Benneth Nwankwo's Facebook post on 29th August 2026 that laid bare a lesson he learned the hard way. "Bros, I hear whinnn for that BADAMASI matter oh," he wrote. "Whoever wants me to do a film on a live issue of national interest, will first have to pay me in advance. Incidentally it was Moses Babatope in his FilmOne days that dealt with the political fallout from BADAMASI. Linda will learn too. My take is that a good film will eventually find a way. Good luck to her."
Obi Emelonye knows exactly what Linda Ikeji is going through right now because he has been through a version of it himself, and it cost him nearly three years of his life.
Badamasi: Portrait of a General is a biopic starring Enyinna Nwigwe as former Nigerian military Head of State General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, written and directed by Obi Emelonye after a 4-year process of persuading IBB himself to grant permission for the film to be made. The film was completed in mid-2019 and its cinema release was scheduled for 29th November 2019. It never happened. Speaking publicly in December 2020, Obi Emelonye said that some very important personalities in Nigeria had become jittery about the film, and that cinema exhibitors and distributors were seeking assurances that their involvement would not put them in the bad books of powerful figures before they were willing to proceed. He described the forces blocking the release as coming from the dark corners of the country, and said he had been effectively forced to withdraw the film from a traditional cinema release and pursue a less confrontational path. "Whatever is stopping the release of the film, will not be here forever," he told Vanguard at the time. "I implore my supporters to be patient and assure them that when it is finally released, it will be a historical and political event that will shake the system."
It took until 12th June 2021, a full 19 months after the original planned release date, for the film to finally premiere at Cineworld Cinema, O2 Arena in London. It then came on Amazon Prime in May 2022, nearly 3 years after it was originally meant to open in Nigerian cinemas. Moses Babatope, then of FilmOne Entertainment, was involved in navigating part of the political fallout from that distribution journey, which Obi Emelonye referenced directly in his comment.
The parallel with Linda Ikeji's situation is not difficult to see. The Night of June 7th, produced by Linda Ikeji Media and distributed by Nile Entertainment, was inspired by the 2005 Apo Six extrajudicial killings in Abuja, one of the most consequential police accountability cases in Nigeria's post-independence history. Its nationwide cinema release, originally scheduled for 28th August 2026, was suspended by the NFVCB, which referred the film for further review by the Department of State Services with no timeline given for when that review will conclude.
In his Facebook post that drew Emelonye's comment, Benneth Nwankwo had examined the limited options available to Linda Ikeji while the regulatory process remains open, noting that YouTube distribution would expose the film to immediate piracy, Netflix acquisition could come with restrictions that block Nigerian viewers from accessing it, and that international film festival submissions, while possible, may not generate the financial returns a cinema release would. His conclusion was that the most viable path forward remained what Nile Entertainment had already signalled, full cooperation with the regulatory process and a negotiated resolution leading to a new release date.
Obi Emelonye's comment adds a crucial dimension to that analysis. He is not just sympathising with Linda Ikeji from the sidelines. He is speaking as someone who has been in same place with the same kind of institutional resistance and found a way through it, even if that way took 3 years and required accepting that Nigerian cinemas would not be the first stop. His final line have the most weight: a good film will eventually find a way.
Whether The Night of June 7th follows the same long road as Badamasi remains to be seen. But the man who lived through that road has already told her what to expect.
