Sola Sobowale, Once Again, Carries the Weight in “Her Excellency”

After years of playing characters who command fear and respect in equal measure, Sola Sobowale slips back into that skin in “Her Excellency,” a political drama directed by Tope Adebayo Salami and Adebayo Tijani. She plays Moyeni, the First Lady of a fictional Nigerian state, whose obsession with control drives a wedge through her home, her marriage, and her position.

This isn’t a stretch for Sobowale. If anything, it’s a role Nollywood seems to reserve just for her. From “King of Boys” to “Aníkúlápó” and more recently “Ori: The Rebirth,” she’s become the go-to face for power-hardened women with a loud voice and a sharp edge. 

The film opens with Moyeni deeply suspicious of her husband, the state governor (played by Yemi Solade). She believes he’s having an affair  and even without any proof, she acts on that belief. One confrontation leaves him physically injured. Her distrust, fuelled by years of surveillance and emotional isolation, builds into a character study that’s less about politics and more about what it means to live in constant fear of betrayal.

The irony, of course, is that the governor eventually does cheat. Whether it’s retaliation or justification is left murky, but the damage has long been done. Their marriage — full of distance, resentment, and unspoken wounds — becomes the centre of the film.

Sobowale plays Moyeni with an intensity that doesn’t rely solely on volume. Yes, there are the trademark shouting scenes  and by now, it’s almost unfair how well she does them. But it’s in her quieter moments that the performance expands. In two scenes where she speaks to no one in particular, pacing the room like she’s haunted by her own thoughts, you see flashes of pain that go deeper than her usual rage. For a woman used to barking orders, she looks surprisingly fragile when alone.

And that’s what keeps the character from being one-note. Moyeni is overbearing, but she’s not without reason. Her need for control comes from a place of fear — fear of being humiliated, fear of being used, fear of losing everything she thinks she’s built. Even when the story pushes her to extremes, it never lets us forget the emotional root of her actions.

Her scenes with Solade are some of the film’s best. There’s tension, but it’s not just shouting matches. They play a couple that knows each other well enough to hurt each other without saying much. Their silences are as sharp as their insults. The film avoids easy melodrama by letting their bitterness simmer, not explode all at once.

The supporting cast includes veterans like Adebayo Salami, alongside newer faces like Bimbo Ademoye, Aisha Lawal, and Kiekie. Some minor roles — especially the governor’s children and a few background characters — feel thinly written, but the core performances do enough heavy lifting to keep things on track.

Visually, “Her Excellency” is solid. The governor’s office scenes are particularly well-composed, with set design and lighting that feel deliberate. A scene near the end, where Moyeni walks into her fate surrounded by smoke and low lighting, is one of the film’s best shots. The cinematography occasionally elevates moments that the script itself plays too safely.

But the film stumbles in areas where many Nigerian dramas still do , the  action sequences and crime scenes. They’re flat, overly reliant on loud sound effects, and shot without much imagination. Instead of building tension through performance or camera work, the film often reaches for noise. The staging is stiff, and the editing in these parts lacks the rhythm found in the domestic scenes.

Despite that, the story doesn’t collapse. It wraps up its key scenes neatly, with small details — like a scar, a bracelet, or a scene within a scene — used effectively to tie things together. 

It’s easy to say Sobowale is playing another version of herself here, loud, commanding, dramatic. But the truth is, no one else in Nollywood is doing it quite like her. That’s not just a casting pattern; it’s a vacuum. If anyone else can carry a film like this, they’re either not being cast or not given the material. For now, the industry keeps coming back to her  and she keeps showing up like she owns the room.

At this point, it’s almost a running joke how often Sola Sobowale ends up shouting in films  but somehow, it still works. And it doesn’t just come off as her just raising her voice for effect; there’s always something sitting underneath — anger, fear, heartbreak. In “Her Excellency,” it’s all there again. You start to wonder how long one person can keep carrying so much. And yes, someone might need to check on her vocal cords  but until Nollywood starts casting other women in roles like this, she’s clearly not done.

Release Date: July 4, 2025

Runtime:  Approximately 2 hours 

Streaming Service: None, Cinema Release 

Directors: Tope Adebayo Salami and Adebayo Tijani.

Cast: Sola Sobowale, Yemi Solade, Bimbo Ademoye, Femi Adebayo, Aisha Lawal, Adebayo Salami, Muyiwa Ademola, and Odunlade Adekola