‘It Was Not Yet Time’: How Mike Bamiloye First Rejected the Agbara Nla Remake

‘Dad Rejected Our Plan to Remake Agbara Nla’ — Damilola Mike-Bamiloye

For about four years, the idea existed only as a conversation.Damilola Mike-Bamiloye and his brother, Joshua, wanted to return to one of the most recognisable films in the history of Mount Zion Films, Agbara Nla.

Their father, Mike Bamiloye, was not convinced. He told them it was “not yet time.” They listened.

Four years later, the same idea returned to the family, this time with a producer friend, renewed conviction and, eventually, the approval of the man who created the original.

The result is Agbara Nla: The Return, a new cinematic production based on the 1993 Mount Zion classic.

In an interview, Damilola explained that the delay now looks less like a rejection and more like timing.“When dad told us four years ago that it was not yet time, it was simply because it was not yet time,” he said.

When Mike Bamiloye Said No

The original Agbara Nla was released in 1993 and became one of Mount Zion Films’ defining productions. Damilola said he and Joshua approached their father about remaking it about four years ago because they wanted to revisit some of the ministry’s older stories and present them to a contemporary audience.

They imagined how familiar scenes could work with modern filmmaking techniques and a new generation of actors.

But their father declined.

There was no argument. They simply left the idea. The project resurfaced later when Damilola discussed Christian filmmaking with a producer friend, Chris. He suggested Agbara Nla almost casually. Chris did not treat it casually.

According to Damilola, the producer immediately became convinced that the film should be remade. The brothers returned to their father.This time, the answer was different.

“He did not discourage us. Instead, he gave us his approval and said, ‘Yes, go ahead and do it,’” Damilola recalled.

The film was eventually shot in about 20 to 21 days. Looking back, Damilola believes the earlier delay may have been necessary.

Had the remake been produced when he and Joshua first wanted it, he said, it might not have carried the same impact.

Same Story, Different Generation

The new film is not being presented as a completely different story. Damilola says the major characters and the original storyline remain, but the presentation has been rebuilt for contemporary audiences.

That distinction is important.

A remake can preserve the identity of an old story without reproducing the limitations of the era in which it was first made.

The original was created for a generation that encountered Christian drama largely through television, home video and church networks.

The new production is entering an audience accustomed to cinema screens, sophisticated cameras, digital effects, faster visual storytelling and high production standards.

Damilola says that was deliberate. The team used modern cameras, graphics, illustrations, special effects and extensive post-production to give the story a cinematic treatment.

The objective, he explained, was not to replace the message with technology, but to use technology to carry the message further.

Isawuru Returns

Perhaps the most emotionally significant element of the remake is the return of Mike Bamiloye as Isawuru, the character he played in the 1993 film.

For Damilola, the experience was deeply personal. He was only four years old when his father played Isawuru in the original.

As a child, he said, he would gather his siblings and imitate scenes from the movie. He even attempted to reproduce Isawuru’s incantations with a leaf, although he admits he often got the words wrong.

He also remembers watching his father apply his own make-up and powder his hair to make himself look older for the role.

There is now an unusual reversal. Mike Bamiloye no longer needs make-up to play an older Isawuru.

At 60, Damilola said, his father can inhabit the character at his own age.

For the younger Bamiloye, watching that transformation was more than an acting experience. It was watching a piece of his childhood return with his father still available to play the same character.

What Has Changed?

The new film also goes beyond simply reproducing the 1993 screenplay. Damilola said additional material gives audiences more insight into who Isawuru was and what happened before the events viewers saw in the original.

The remake introduces a king and the kingdom of Muwonleru, elements that were not part of the original film.

It also expands the conflict between the king and Isawuru. According to Damilola, these additions are intended to strengthen the storytelling rather than dilute the identity of the original.

That may be one of the central tests of the remake. Fans who grew up with Agbara Nla will arrive with memories of the original.

Younger viewers will arrive without that emotional baggage. The filmmakers therefore have to satisfy nostalgia without making nostalgia the entire film.

Spiritual Warfare in a Modern World

At the heart of Agbara Nla remains the subject that made the original distinctive: spiritual warfare and the supremacy of God’s power.

Damilola does not see those themes as outdated. His argument is that the message is rooted in the Christian understanding of God’s word as enduring across generations. He described the film as an attempt to act out that message rather than merely preach it.

The new production therefore retains themes of spiritual warfare, dependence on God and the need to seek God’s kingdom.

But Damilola deliberately avoids telling audiences exactly what they must take away from the film.

Different people, he argues, may encounter the same story from different circumstances in their lives and therefore receive different lessons from it.

That is a useful distinction for a faith-based film entering the commercial cinema space. The filmmakers have a clear evangelical purpose, but the audience will still bring its own questions, experiences and interpretations into the theatre.

From Home Video to Cinema

Perhaps the biggest change between 1993 and 2026 is not the story. It is the screen. Damilola said the original Agbara Nla was written with cinema in mind, but the new production has undergone extensive script development and post-production to meet contemporary cinema expectations.

He described the project as the product of contributions from different professionals rather than a film shaped through one person’s perspective alone.

The result, he says, is intended to combine drama with action, thriller elements, visual effects and a fuller cinematic experience.

That represents a significant shift for Mount Zion Films. The ministry built much of its cultural influence through Christian drama, television and home-video productions.

Now, the cinema offers a different kind of reach. It also brings a different standard. Audiences accustomed to large-budget Nigerian and international productions will judge the film not only by its message, but by its acting, sound, editing, visual effects, pacing and storytelling.

A Father’s Legacy, A Son’s Responsibility

For Damilola, however, the remake is about more than production technology. It is also about inheritance. His father created Mount Zion Films and helped establish a model of filmmaking built around Christian evangelism.

Damilola and Joshua now belong to a generation expected to carry that vision forward without simply copying everything that came before them.

He says the answer is to keep the foundation intact. The technology can change. The storytelling can evolve. The cameras can become better. The distribution can move from television and home video to cinema and digital platforms.

But the central mission, he says, remains the same: God’s Word, evangelism and winning souls through drama.

That may ultimately be the most important question surrounding Agbara Nla: The Return.

Can a story born in 1993 speak convincingly to Nigerians living in 2026 without losing the reason it was created in the first place?

The Bamiloyes believe it can. And perhaps the most revealing part of the story is that they did not rush to prove it.

Four years ago, their father said, not yet. Now, the son who once played Isawuru with his siblings as a four-year-old is directing the man who created and embodied the character.

The story has returned. But this time, the child watching from the living room has grown old enough to help tell it.

ValidViewNetwork reports that Agbara Nla: The Return represents both a revival of a Mount Zion classic and an attempt to carry its faith-based message into a new cinematic generation.