Following the recent arrest and arraignment of famous Hausa singer, Sarkin Wakar Sarkin Kano Naziru M Ahmad, before a courtin Kano State and his later release on bail, Kannywood fans have expressed concern over the new trends the Kano State Censorship Board, towards practitioners, with they ought bepartners in progress.
The arrest of Naziru came shortly after that of another practitioner Sunusi Oscar who was also later released on bail. Weekend Magzine gathered that, many members of Kannywood have gone into hiding for fear of being arrested or prosecuted.
It is speculated that this is the reason, the famous Hausa singer, Aminu Ladan (ALA) and many others, have gone underground for their safety to avoid the wrath of the Board.
It would be recalled that, the feud between the two bodies, began when the Board’s Executive Secretary, IsmaílaNaábba Afakallah was appointed for the second time as its helmsman. He resumed with new directive requiring all practitioners to bring forward for censoring, any work meant for public consumption including those to be posted on You Tube and other social media platforms.
These new directives sparked reactions from the practitioners, many of whom claimed that the new directives contradicted the Board’s 2001 law. However, the Board has maintained that, its 2001 laws, has empowered the Board in section 100 (2). It is states there that, ‘A person shall not be allowed to exhibit a film, video-work or audio-visual cassette or publications without censorship certificate.’ “What we are doing is simply following the provision of the law,” Afakallah, stated.
It later became a social media battle with many taking to either their Instagram pages to support or go against the new directives. Weekend Magazine learned that, it was during this social media battle that the news of Oscar’s arrest broke in and that of Naziru followed. The ‘battle’ took a new dimension at this point. It was however gathered that most of the practitioners believed that what was going on in the industry was nothing but a political vendetta. All of the arrested members are of a particular political inclination different from that of the ruling government, and that the leadership of the Board is playing a script written by the [Kano] State governor.
A source who spoke anonymously said, “Naziru was arrested for the release of an album three years ago and for another one from four years ago. The albums ‘GidanSarauta’ and ‘Sai Hakuri’ were released some years back but the Board said it was not censored. “Was the board sleeping all these years only to wake up and realize the albums were not censored? This is just too childish and unfortunate,” queried the source. However, actor, singer and producer, Musbahu M Ahmed, took to his Instagram page.
He wrote that, the arrest of his brother, was politically motivated and termed the whole process as being subjective. Similarly, a comedian, actor and producer, Naburuska had some time ago, resigned as a member of Kannywood saying, “The major reason why I decided to opt out of Kano Kannywood is the subjective way and manner the current leadership of film regulatory body has been conducting its activities lately. It is sad that the affairs of Kano State Censorship Board have been politicized in such a way that members of opposition party in the industry are being arrested without any justification.” An actor, Adam A.Zango also announced that he quit the industry, based on the way practitioners are being manhandled. It was also gathered that, ever since the feud began, the industry has recorded low production and for almost two or more months no new film was released into the market.
According to Abubakar Shua’aibu, a film marketer at the Kofar Wambai film market, Kano, him, the inflow of new movies has reduced drastically, as for months now, they have not received any new movie, “As you can see, the market is now a shadow of itself. We haven’t received delivery of new movies for about two months now. When we inquired, we were told that, the movies about to be released are not censored, hence the owners have halted its release,” said Shu’aibu. He further revealed that, they were told that, the fear of the unknown had made a lot practitioners to elude the industry by suspending either the release of their movies of its production.
A movie producer Mabruk Auta argued that the news of arrest of members has been the driving force behind the industry’s slow down in production, a situation he described as detriment to the industry’s development trend. Reacting to the allegation, Afakallah told Weekend Magazine that, none of the Kannywood personalities was being witch-hunted, because of political difference. He claimed that the movie stars violated some provisions of State Censorship Board laws by releasing uncensored albums that are capable of corrupting the morals of the people of the state.
“The 2001 censorship laws state that, ‘Exhibiting a film, video-work or audio-visual cassette without securing clearance and certification of the state censorship board laws attracts a penalty,’ as contained in section (112) of the censorship board laws. “The law stated that, “Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of these regulations, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment,” he stated.
“This issue does not have any political coloration of whatever kind. Nobody, I mean none of the music or movie personalities is involved in this legal battle because he or she belongs to any political party, either APC or PDP, or any political group be it Kwankwasiyya or Gandujiyya. We took all of them to court because we felt that they have violated the laws of Kano State Censorship Board which were established in 2001. “This is not the first time the Board is taking artistes to court. We have prosecuted many people since I assumed this office more than four years now. And all of them were prosecuted because we think what they do is capable of debasing the morals of the good people of Kano. “All we are doing is to protect the moral standard of the people including the children of those affected.So anybody is free to make his own allegation, but I am telling you our action is not being motivated by any political interest,” Afakallah said.
He confirmed that since his reappointment, many artistes have been arrested and charged to court over flagrant violation of state laws. He accused Ahmad and Oscar of releasing uncensored albums. He mentioned artistes who have been prosecuted over the same offences. They include: Salisu, Sani Rambo, Awalu Audio and Sadiq Zazzabi.
He advised the practitioners in both the music and movie industries, to always strive to be law abiding, by respecting the laws in all they do. He emphasized that the Board would no longer tolerate anything that would debase the morals and culture of the people of the State.
