EbonyLife’s Mo Abudu on TIFF Premiere ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ and ‘the Consequences of the Decisions We Take as Women’

Nigerian super-producer Mo Abudu returns to the red carpet at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival this week, where “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives,” premiering in the TIFF Centrepiece strand, marks the fifth official selection in Toronto for her EbonyLife Films production banner.

Based on Lola Shoneyin’s 2010 debut novel, which was later adapted for the stage, the film is set within a seemingly harmonious polygamous household anchored by Baba Segi, a wealthy patriarch with three wives, seven children and a carefully maintained family order.

That order is overturned with the arrival of his youngest wife, Bolanle, unsettling the fragile balance within the household and setting into a motion of series of revelations that expose long-buried secrets, hidden betrayals and truths capable of destroying the family forever. 

Directed by Daniel Oriahi — last seen at the Tribeca Film Festival with the 2024 thriller “The Weekend” — the film stars Odunlade Adekola, Iyabo Ojo, Mercy Aigbe, Bimbo Ademoye and Omowunmi Dada, with a supporting cast that includes Nkechi Blessing, Bimbo Manuel, Bisola Aiyeola, Olarotimi Fakunle, Constance Olatunde and Maleek Sanni. It’s produced by EbonyLife Films, the film strand of Abudu’s EbonyLife Group, in partnership with Genesis Media Group, Nile Media Entertainment Group, Silverbird Group and Flytime Entertainment.

Speaking to Variety from Lagos, where the Nigerian mogul was preparing to fly to Paris to speak at the Lumière Summit, Abudu discussed the motivation behind the big-screen adaptation of Shoneyin’s debut novel, describing it as “a study of the consequences of the decisions we take as women.”

“[The film] really delves into the lives of the women,” she said. “You try to understand why they made the decisions they made.”

While admitting that the premise might not sit too comfortably with Western audiences, she counseled tolerance and urged viewers to keep an open mind. “It’s a very relatable cultural story for us as Yoruba people. Polygamy is real in this society, and I think the characters are extremely relatable,” she said. “It was important for us to be authentic in telling the story in the right way.”

Nollywood veteran Oriahi is directing his fifth feature, following the genre-bending thriller “The Weekend,” which premiered in Tribeca’s Midnight strand in 2024. He returns to Toronto 10 years after debuting “Taxi Driver: Oko Ashewo,” an action comedy produced by EbonyLife Films.

“Baba Segi’s Wives” marks his latest collaboration with the production shingle, which includes directing episodes of the company’s hit Netflix series “Blood Sisters” and the 13-episode drama “Hallelujah.” “I’ve always admired his work,” said Abudu, noting that she also tapped the director to teach at her EbonyLife Creative Academy.

After premiering in Toronto, where Abudu will also join production and distribution veteran Moses Babatope, of the Nile Media Entertainment Group, for a session on the global success of the Nigerian film industry at the inaugural TIFF market, “Baba Segi’s Wives” will continue on to the BFI London Film Festival, where it plays in the Journey strand. 

From there, the film will open in cinemas across Nigeria in December, marking the first EbonyLife theatrical release since 2019, with the company spending much of the intervening period producing films and TV series for Netflix, which inked a multi-title deal with Abudu’s outfit in 2020. 

“They kept us really busy,” the producer said, pointing to a slate of 10 feature films and series released on the streamer between 2019 and 2026. “We have had a very strong and productive relationship with Netflix over more than a decade,” dating back to EbonyLife’s first film, “Fifty,” which was licensed to the platform in 2015. The company’s most recent production, “Blood Sisters 2,” dropped on the streamer in June and has remained on the top 10 in Nigeria ever since. 

With “Baba Segi’s Wives,” however, Abudu said the time was right to return to the big screen. “When I look at the skill of the cast, when I look at the IP, and how well it’s known and loved and respected around the world, we felt that it definitely deserves that recognition,” she said. “Having been out of cinemas since 2019, we wanted to come back into cinemas with something as powerful as this story.”