By Editor
LAGOS — Forty years after it made history at the National Theatre, Ajofest ’86 (Ajo Festival of Plays), a landmark 1986 privately funded theatre festival in Nigeria is set for a grand homecoming.
This is as theatre veterans and members of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) have concluded plans to reconvene for a reunion and reflections event tagged Ajofest ’86 – 40 Years Later.
The commemorative event will hold on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 4:00 p.m., at Queen Amina Gardens, National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. It will also be streamed live.
Ajofest ’86 was the brainchild of veteran legal practitioner and dramatist, Fred Agbeyegbe. Conceived and privately financed by Agbeyegbe through Ajo Productions, the festival featured four of his plays — The King Must Dance Naked, Woe Unto Death, The Last Omen, and Budiso — staged over four consecutive weekends in 1986.
Performed before sold-out audiences at a time of military rule, the festival was celebrated for its daring political satire and artistic boldness. It also launched a generation of stage and screen stars including Richard Mofe-Damijo, Antar Laniyan, Ayo Lijadu, Lara Akinsola and Sola Awojobi.
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The original company was led by artistic director Jide Ogungbade, associate director Ben Tomoloju and stage manager Segun Ogunfidodo. The ensemble included Christina Achebe, Yinka Adeyemo, Lara Akinsola, Sola Awojobi, Yomi Gbolagunte, Antar Laniyan, Ayo Lijadu, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Segun Ojewuyi, Akpor Otebele, Pero Sosan and Tunji Sotimirin.
Four decades later, surviving cast and crew members will return for the anniversary.
Former Arts Editor of The Guardian, Ben Tomoloju, will deliver the keynote address. A panel discussion on the festival’s legacy will feature Richard Mofe-Damijo, Ayo Lijadu, Yomi Layinka and Lara Akinsola, and will be moderated by Dr. Lookman Sanusi.
Reflections will be shared by Prof. Segun Ojewuyi, Dr. Tunji Sotimirin, Godwin Onohwosa, Jahman Anikulapo and Adeniran Makinde, FTA. The NANTAP-affiliated Crown Troupe of Africa will coordinate dramatic readings from all four plays, while tributes will be paid to fallen contributors including Jide Ogungbade, Pero Sosan, Sola Awojobi, Victoria Ajomeyimje and Akpor Otebele.
According to the organisers, the reunion is more than nostalgia. With much of Ajofest’s legacy surviving only in oral memory, the event seeks to formally document firsthand accounts and preserve its place in Nigerian theatre history.
“Ajofest ’86 was a bold act of private investment in Nigerian theatre, and its plays spoke truth at a critical time in our national life,” said Dr. Lillian Agbeyegbe, Coordinator of the Organizing Committee. “Forty years later, we want to honour the visionaries who built it, preserve their firsthand stories, and pass that rich legacy to the next generation.”
National President of NANTAP, Adeniran Makinde, FTA, said the partnership underscores the association’s commitment to honouring the foundations of modern Nigerian performance.
“Ajofest ’86 proved that independent theatre could thrive and reshape our cultural dialogue,” he said.
The committee has invited members of the arts community and the public, whether they witnessed the festival in 1986 or are discovering it for the first time, to attend. It also called for archival materials such as photographs, programmes, newspaper clippings, audio/video recordings and personal anecdotes to help build a permanent public archive.
