Movie Review: Abejoye – a story on tradition, power, and faith

Set in Nigeria and the United States, Abejoye is a Christian-based movie produced in seasons by the Mount Zion Faith Ministries and the Flaming Sword Ministries International. It tells the story of Olayiotan Abejoye, an influential king maker who travels to the United States to visit his son and family. 

This review shall be based on Season 1 and 2 which placed focus on Abejoye, the king maker and the peace maker respectively.

Season 1 - Abejoye, the kingmaker

Olayiotan Abejoye (played by Mike Bamiloye) travels from Nigeria to the United States to live with his son, Bamidele (acted by Wole Adeyi) and his family for some months. 

However, he comes to the U.S with the items he uses for incantations to the dismay of Laide, Bamidele’s wife.  Regularly, she would tell her husband that she does not support the behavior of his father who usually communicates with the "spiritual" world.

Laide’s reason is that their family is a godly one. Hence, any form of traditional exhibitions which are contrary to God’s word will not be tolerated in the house. 

After much back and forth, Laide (played by Gloria Bamiloye) and Bamidele finally agreed to send Baba (as Abejoye is mostly called) to Nigeria. Their Pastor (played by Adegbenga Adeboye) offered to take Baba to the airport. 

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Bamidele begins to have an affair with a church member, Dedun (acted by Bambo Adeyi). It wasn’t too long before their pastor got to know about it.

Meanwhile, Baba was not taken to the airport by the pastor as earlier promised. He was actually taken to the pastor’s home where he was converted and taught the ways of the Lord. 

After a while, Baba moved back to his son’s home with a new pattern of praying to Almighty God.  The reconciliation of Bamidele and his wife was made possible through Baba and the pastor.

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This season showed the impact of tradition on a man. The sound and effect was also top notch. Despite living in the U.S, Baba still had his traditional attire with his accessories.

Season 2- Abejoye, the peacemaker

In this season, the influential kingmaker saw himself fighting a lot of spiritual battles from his home town. Constantly, he is summoned by some chiefs in the village while asleep. At a particular point, he got attacked with several slaps on his face. Upon remembering that he is now a new creature, he returned the slap which made the elder to become paralyzed on one part of his body. This is a show of a greater power.

Meanwhile, Dedun resumed her lust for Bamidele, devising various means to bring him closer to her.

A masquerade which was sent to attack Baba in his room leaves the room after the kingmaker defeated it with the word of God. The masquerade looked for a member of the family who has broken the edge. It definitely had to be Bamidele who had resumed his adulterous ways. The masquerade flogged him till he became insane. 

Baba made a decision to put a stop to his son’s adulterous activities with Dedun. They all plan to go to her house – Baba, the pastor, his wife, Bamidele, and Laide. After much discussion, Dedun apologized to everyone for her wrong behavior.

Lessons to learn

1. He that breaks the edge, the serpent shall bite. This is a portion of the bible that spoke for itself when the masquerade could not flog anyone in the house except Bamidele. His sin of adultery was the edge the devil had on him.

2. There is power in prayer: Whenever the forces from his village tried to attack him, Baba was always quick to quote the word. His prayers always formed a covering around him.

3. Tradition is powerful but the word of God is more powerful: When Baba was still a traditionalist without God’s knowledge; they could slap him from his village without him fighting back successfully. However, after he received Christ, things became different.

4. The pastor was a strong support system: Although it is advisable to have a personal relationship with God, the importance of a pastor cannot be overemphasized. The pastor in this movie was a present help in time of need. He was also instrumental in the conversion of Olayiotan Abejoye to Christianity.