Lola Shoneyin’s ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ is finally making its long-anticipated leap from page to screen. It comes nearly two decades after the novel reshaped conversations around marriage, patriarchy, and female survival in contemporary African literature.
EbonyLife Films, in partnership with Genesis Group, Nile Group, and Silverbird Group, has announced a global theatrical release slated for December 2026. The film marks the first-ever feature adaptation of Shoneyin’s acclaimed novel and promises one of the widest cinema rollouts ever for an African production, spanning Nigeria, West Africa, and multiple international territories.
First published in 2010, ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ occupies a singular place in African literature. Both biting and deeply compassionate, the novel peels back the domestic architecture of a polygamous household to expose the quiet calculations, resentments, alliances, and compromises that sustain it.
At the centre of the story is Baba Segi, a prosperous yet uneducated patriarch comfortably married to three wives, whose carefully balanced home begins to fracture when he takes a fourth. What follows is not merely marital discord but a slow unravelling of long-buried secrets, survival strategies, and betrayals, revealing how power operates within intimacy and how silence can become both shield and weapon.
The film boasts an expansive ensemble cast featuring Odunlade Adekola, Iyabo Ojo, Mercy Aigbe, Bimbo Ademoye, Omowunmi Dada, Shaffy Bello, Bisola Aiyeola, Lateef Adedimeji, Kunle Remi, Bolaji Ogunmola, Bimbo Manuel, Tina Mba, Daniel Effiong, Rotimi Fakunle, Bukunmi Adeaga Ilori, and Constance Olatunde.
Directed by Daniel Oriahi, the film is adapted for the screen by Adze Ugah, Lola Shoneyin, and Heidi Uys, offering a cinematic reimagining that seeks to preserve the novel’s layered emotional and social textures. Production is led by Heidi Uys, Chris Odeh, Mimi Bartels, and Lola Shoneyin, ensuring continuity between the literary source and its screen adaptation.
Executive producers Mo Abudu, Nnaeto Orazulike, Moses Babatope, and Guy Murray Bruce anchor the project, with Temidayo Makanjuola serving as Head of Production Design and Yolanda Okereke leading wardrobe.
After a five-year hiatus from the big screen, ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ also marks a significant moment for EbonyLife Films. Its unprecedented collaboration with Genesis, Nile, and Silverbird signals renewed ambition, positioning the film for a simultaneous December release across Nigeria and multiple international territories.
For Lola Shoneyin, whose work has consistently interrogated gendered power, silence, and social hypocrisy, the adaptation represents a new chapter for a story that has never stopped resonating. In moving from page to screen, ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ reinforces the place of African domestic narratives within global cinema.
