Tope Adebayo speaks on his ‘best director’ win at BON Awards

Tope Adebayo, the Nigerian filmmaker and actor, has expressed excitement about winning the ‘best director’ category at the 2024 Best of Nollywood (BON) Awards.

The annual award ceremony was held on Sunday, November 24, at the Sugar Factory Film Studios in Ilorin, Kwara.

Tope was awarded for his outstanding work on Femi Adebayo’s epic film, ‘Jagun Jagun: The Warrior’.

His win was part of a successful night for ‘Jagun Jagun: The Warrior’ which clinched six categories.

Speaking with Salient Times at the event, Tope, Femi’s younger brother, described the win as a “big surprise”.

The movie director revealed he was not too hopeful about receiving the award. He said despite having high expectations for a long time, he was thrilled that his hard work finally paid off.

“I feel so excited because I’ve been expecting this for a very long time. I do not know why it was this delayed but thank God finally that I did it,” he said.

“Not really because you know I was hoping I could not get it. So today I was just in between, I was not really sure of it. When my name was called, I did not even know what to say. It came as a surprise, big surprise.”

‘Jagun Jagun: The Warrior’ won awards for ‘Best Actor’, ‘Best Costume’, ‘Best Indigenous Film’, ‘Best Production Design’, ‘Best Director’, and ‘Best Special Effect