A new documentary film, The Throne of Alaafin Oyo, is to be screened on April 11, 2026, at the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, Onikan, Lagos.
The film by the award-winning filmmaker Ayankola Ayanwuyi is to start at 5pm. The event is to premiere the screening of his latest work.
Ayanwuyi has established his reputation and commitment to documenting indigenous knowledge systems and preserving cultural memory through film. He engages directly with custodians of culture, oral historians, and traditional institutions, positioning his films as interventions in how history is remembered and understood.
This latest documentary turns its focus to the Alaafin stool, one of the most storied and enduring thrones in Africa. For centuries, the institution of the Alaafin has stood at the centre of political authority, cultural identity, and historical continuity within Yoruba civilisation. At the apex of his power, the Alaafin’s territory covered many parts of Nigeria and some parts of the West African sub-region.
This new documentary, The Throne of Alaafin Oyo, according to the producer, is a 45-minute documentary on the transition from the late Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III to Oba Abimbola Owoade I. It examines the processes, rites, and ancestral frameworks that sustain the institution.
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III joined his ancestors on April 22, 2022, marking the end of a significant era in Oyo’s history, while the coronation of Oba Abimbola Owoade I on April 5, 2025, signalled the beginning of a new phase. The screening of the film this April 2026, is set to coincide with the first anniversary of the new Alaafin’s reign.
Ayanwuyi observed that the film is about continuity. “At a time when traditional institutions are often misunderstood or reduced to symbolism, it is important to return to the knowledge of what they represent.”
The Saturday, April 11, 2026, premiere at the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, will be followed by another on Thursday, April 16, 2026, at Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. Additional screenings are planned for Oyo and Ogbomoso, with further engagements expected across other Yoruba towns and, subsequently, in diaspora communities.
Beyond the screenings, the project is to stimulate intellectual and cultural discourse. Post-screening conversations involving scholars, practitioners, and members of the public.
