The Supreme Price

Hafsat Abiola is the daughter of M.K.O. Abiola, who was elected president of Nigeria in 1993 and was deposed by the army. His wife, human rights defender Kudirat Abiola, was killed. Now, Hafsat walks in the footsteps of her parents to promote women’s rights and democracy in Nigeria.

When M.K.O. Abiola was elected president of Nigeria in 1993, this promised to be the end of years of military dictatorship. Unimpressed, the military regime had the outcome of the elections invalidated and shortly afterwards Abiola was put in prison. His wife Kudirat Abiola took over the leadership of the pro-democratic movement. In 1996 she was shot.

Hafsat Abiola continues her parents’ brave efforts at the head of a progressive women’s movement that seeks to break the spiral of corruption and patriarchism. This will not be easy, as even one of her brothers refuses to vote for her: ‘Women are unfit for political office, that is men’s work.’

The film provides an insight into one of Africa’s most densely populated countries from the perspective of women and reveals a long tradition of political corruption and violation of women’s rights.