There’s a pattern with Nollywood sequels. They either struggle to match the energy of the first film or take a completely different direction trying to outdo it, which is a gamble that doesn’t always pay off. Ajosepo 2: The Gathering falls somewhere in the middle. It’s loud, it’s funny, and it keeps you entertained. But somewhere between all the chaos and the kanyamata, you start missing the version of this story that had more to say.
The original Ajosepo worked because it had layers. Yes, it was funny, but underneath the comedy was a story about marriage, family dysfunction, and the weight of secrets. The comedy landed harder because there were actual stakes holding it up. The Gathering replaces all of that with pure chaos, and while it delivers on that promise, comedy ends up being almost the only thing on the table.
The film picks up two years after Dapo and Tani’s wedding, this time centering on Jide and Mary’s upcoming union. Same family, same dysfunction, new couple at the center of the storm. And just like the first film had its central chaos driver in the magun incident, this one has kanyamata. Except here, it wasn’t even meant for who it hit.
The love potion was intended for Gbenga, but Odunlade Adekola’s character, a man undone entirely by his own sweet tooth, accidentally drank the spiked concoction and promptly lost his entire dignity. It’s genuinely funny, and Adekola wrings every drop of comedy out of the situation with effortless timing.
But unlike the magun subplot in Ajosepo, which grew out of real consequences for a man whose behavior was already putting his son’s marriage at risk, the kanyamata saga feels more like a standalone comic set piece than something with actual weight behind it. And Jemima, the woman at the center of it all, simply disappears from the story without resolution. She causes the chaos and vanishes, like the script forgot she existed.
Timini Egbuson’s Jide is actually the film’s most interesting character, even if the script doesn’t fully commit to exploring him. There’s a thread about children from broken homes, carrying behaviors and coping mechanisms shaped by the instability they grew up in. For Jide, that looks like working through everything alone and a tendency to people-please his way out of conflict. It’s relatable territory that the film hints at but doesn’t dig into the way it should.
There’s also the plot of Dapo (Mike Afolarin) erectile dysfunction, which the film raises and then leaves completely hanging. No context, no resolution, just a detail floating in the air while everything else moves on.
Bolaji Ogunmola’s Mary, on the other hand, barely gets to exist outside of reacting to what’s happening around her. She spends most of the film as a woman just trying to survive Jide’s family long enough to get married, which might be realistic given the circumstances, but it makes her feel more like a plot device than a person. Her backstory is almost nonexistent, and without it, you can’t fully invest in whether she and Jide make it through.
Several other subplots get raised and abandoned with similar carelessness. Mustapha takes advantage of a clearly impaired Dapo and walks off with 30 million naira, and that thread simply evaporates. These aren’t small gaps. They’re the kind of unresolved questions that sit with you after the credits roll and remind you how thin the storytelling stretched this time around.
Odunlade Adekola is a welcome addition regardless. His comedic timing is effortless, and he makes a character who is technically a victim of his own sweet tooth genuinely funny without tipping into cartoonish. Ronke Oshodi-Oke returns as the kind of Yoruba mother whose presence alone functions as a warning sign, and she carries that energy with the confidence of someone who has been perfecting this character her whole career.
Toyin Abraham’s addition lands somewhere between entertaining and convenient. She brings a version of the demanding, holier-than-thou mother figure she played in her December blockbuster; Oversabi Aunty into this world, and she generates laughs doing it. But you can feel the seams where her character was stitched into an already crowded ensemble. She’s fun to watch. She just doesn’t feel like she was written specifically for this story.
Several other characters exist purely to add to the noise. When you have this many people on screen, something has to give, and in The Gathering, what gives is depth.
Kasum directs with the same energy as the first film, keeping things moving and finding visual comedy in the chaos. The wedding setting gives the film color and life, and the production, shot at KAP Film Village in Oyo State, looks clean and well put together. The Yoruba and English code-switching that gave the first film its cultural texture is still here and still works. These characters feel like people you’ve met, or at least people you’ve spotted at a family function you were trying to leave early.
The film is fun. That part isn’t in question. If you watched the first Ajosepo and want more of the same family and more laughs, The Gathering delivers exactly that. But if you’re hoping it builds on what the original established, you might leave a little unsatisfied. The first film understood that comedy hits harder when it’s grounded in something real. This one seems to have decided the audience wouldn’t notice the difference.
The Gathering gathers everyone back together but doesn’t quite know what to do with them once they’re all in the room. There’s warmth here, and the franchise clearly loves these characters, which comes through even when the writing lets them down. You leave the cinema having had a good time, which counts for something. You just might spend the drive home wondering what happened to that 30 million.
Release Date: May 28, 2026
Runtime: Approximately 2 hours
Streaming Service: Theatrical release
Directed by: Kayode Kasum
Cast: Timini Egbuson, Bolaji Ogunmola, Toyin Abraham, Mike Afolarin, Tomike Adeoye, Odunlade Adekola, Mercy Aigbe, Yemi Solade, Ronke Oshodi-Oke, Kamo State
