When Literature Became Cinema: Ibadan Scholars Celebrate Wale Okediran’s “Tenants Of The House”

An Evening Where Literature Met the Camera

FOR several hours on Saturday 15 August 2026, the University of Ibadan became the meeting point of literature, cinema, politics and scholarship as academics, writers, filmmakers and cultural enthusiasts gathered to celebrate one of Dr. Wale Okediran’s most enduring creative works.

The occasion was a Film Screening and Discourse organised by the Ibadan Film Circle at the Gallery of the Senior Staff Club, University of Ibadan. At the centre of the event was Tenants of the House, the film adaptation of Okediran’s acclaimed political novel of the same title.

But the gathering was more than a conventional film screening.

It became a forum for examining the relationship between fiction and reality, literature and cinema, public office and public responsibility. It also provided an opportunity to interrogate some of the political and social contradictions that continue to shape Nigeria.

The relaxed setting brought together scholars and cultural practitioners from different intellectual and professional backgrounds. Conversations moved easily between serious academic reflection and informal exchanges. Old acquaintances reunited, new friendships emerged and the atmosphere combined the seriousness of a university seminar with the warmth of a literary gathering.

At the centre of it all was the journey of a novel published in 2009 that has continued to find new audiences and new meanings.

A Political Novel Finds a New Life on Screen

Tenants of the House draws substantially from Okediran’s understanding of Nigeria’s political environment and his experience as a member of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007.

The novel explores the intrigues that surround political power: ambition, corruption, betrayal, personal interests, competing loyalties and the often difficult relationship between public service and private ambition.

Its adaptation into film expanded the reach of those concerns.

Directed by Kunle Afolayan, written for the screen by Tunde Babalola and produced by Okediran, the film translates the political world of the novel into a visual narrative built around Samuel Bakura, an idealistic legislator determined to use public office to address the conflict between herders and farmers.

Bakura’s attempt to advance a legislative solution, however, places him in conflict with a political environment where competing interests, manipulation and personal ambition often threaten the pursuit of the public good.

The result is a story that goes beyond the mechanics of parliamentary politics.

It asks a more fundamental question: what does it mean to hold public office?

The title itself provides one possible answer.

Those who occupy political office, the narrative suggests, are not permanent owners of power. They are tenants. Their authority is temporary, while the institutions they occupy ultimately belong to the people.

That metaphor gives Tenants of the House continuing relevance in a political environment where questions of accountability, corruption and public trust remain central to democratic debate.

The Film as a Mirror of Political Society

The University of Ibadan screening created an opportunity for viewers to consider how fiction can sometimes illuminate realities that ordinary political language struggles to explain.

Through its characters and conflicts, Tenants of the House examines the pressures confronting individuals who attempt to act according to principle within institutions shaped by powerful interests.

The film explores political corruption and betrayal, but it also touches on gender, education, social responsibility and conflict resolution.

The question of girl-child education, represented through the experiences of Lizzie, broadens the narrative beyond the chambers of political power. Meanwhile, the conflict between herders and farmers connects the fictional story to one of the difficult social and security questions that has continued to affect communities across Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

These themes explain why the film generated discussion rather than passive appreciation.

For many members of the audience, the screening became an intellectual invitation to examine the relationship between creative storytelling and social responsibility.

When Adaptation Becomes Interpretation

One of the major issues raised by the event was the complex relationship between a literary text and its cinematic adaptation.

A novel and a film may tell the same basic story, but they do not necessarily tell it in the same way.

The transition from page to screen requires choices. Characters may change. Events may be compressed. Scenes may disappear. New scenes may emerge. Even the fate of central characters can sometimes take a different direction.

This tension between fidelity and interpretation has long shaped discussions around film adaptation.

In the case of Tenants of the House, viewers familiar with the original novel were able to compare the literary work with its cinematic version and consider the creative decisions involved in translating a political narrative from one artistic medium to another.

The discussion therefore moved beyond the simple question of whether the film was faithful to the book.

A more interesting question emerged: can a film remain connected to its source while developing an artistic identity of its own?

The Ibadan gathering suggested that the answer lies partly in accepting adaptation as interpretation rather than mere reproduction.

A filmmaker does not simply photograph a book. Cinema has its own language, demands and possibilities.

Celebrating a Writer Who Has Occupied Many Worlds

The evening also provided an opportunity to reflect on Okediran’s unusual journey through medicine, politics and literature.

As a medical doctor, writer, former legislator and literary figure, Okediran has moved through several professional worlds. Each has offered a different perspective on Nigerian society.

His experience in the House of Representatives gave him direct exposure to the political environment that later became material for creative exploration.

However, Tenants of the House does not operate as a political memoir. It transforms elements of political experience into fiction, using imagination to investigate broader questions about institutions, leadership and human behaviour.

This blending of lived experience and creative invention gives the work a distinctive position within Nigerian political literature.

The story does not simply ask whether politicians are corrupt or whether institutions fail. Instead, it examines the human and institutional pressures that shape political choices.

That complexity helps explain why the work has remained open to literary interpretation and cinematic adaptation.

University of Ibadan as a Space for Cultural Conversation

The choice of the University of Ibadan as the venue also carried symbolic importance.

For decades, the institution has occupied a major place in Nigerian intellectual, literary and cultural history. Writers, scholars, scientists and public intellectuals have contributed to its reputation as one of Africa’s important centres of learning.

The screening demonstrated that the intellectual role of a university extends beyond classrooms and formal academic programmes.

Universities also provide spaces where society can examine itself.

Through the screening and discussion of Tenants of the House, questions about leadership, corruption, education, conflict and public morality returned to the centre of public conversation.

The film therefore became more than entertainment.

It became a cultural text through which Nigeria could reflect on its political condition.

Building Bridges Between Books & Screens

Perhaps the wider significance of the event lies in what it says about the future of Nigerian storytelling.

Nigeria possesses a vast body of literature that has documented political upheaval, social transformation, migration, conflict, family life and the everyday experiences of its people.

Yet many literary works remain largely within the world of books.

Film offers another possibility.

A novel can reach new audiences when it is adapted for the screen. Young viewers who may never encounter the original text may discover its themes through cinema. Others may watch the film and return to the book with renewed curiosity.

This relationship can create a productive creative cycle.

Literature provides stories. Cinema reinterprets them. Audiences engage with both forms. Scholars and critics then examine the resulting conversations.

The Ibadan Film Circle’s event reflected that larger ecosystem.

By bringing scholars, writers, filmmakers and viewers together, it demonstrated that literature and cinema need not operate as separate cultural territories.

They can strengthen one another.

More Than a Celebration

Ultimately, the evening was not simply about honouring a writer or screening a film.

It was about celebrating the continuing journey of an idea.

Tenants of the House began as a novel. It became a subject of literary discussion. It later found a new form through cinema. At the University of Ibadan, it became the basis for another stage of its life: collective intellectual engagement.

The audience did not merely watch a story.

It debated power.

It discussed political responsibility.

It considered the challenges of adapting literature into film.

And it reflected on the role of creative artists in helping societies understand themselves.

In that sense, the evening demonstrated the enduring power of literature.

A book may leave the bookshelf. A story may enter the cinema. But the questions it raises can continue travelling.