Kano Censorship - ANA National wades in

Here's a piece of curious news out of Kano. This Monday, August 25, the President of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Dr Wale Okediran, and National Publicity Secretary (South), Mr Hycinth Obunseh, were in Kano in order to dialogue with the Kano State Censorship Board on its plans to censor literary works in the state. The matter had caused quite a stir in the last few weeks.

I had spoken with Dr Okediran in the morning while he was already on the road to Kano (he had texted me when I was asleep, asking me to call). He wanted to know my views about the dialogue he was going to attend in Kano. And I told him.

The meeting was attended by the Kano censors and ANA members from Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and, of course, Kano. (They're all in the photograph above). The director-general of the censors board, Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim, headed his board's team. A few speeches were made, with speakers agreeing that there had been a misunderstanding or a break in communcation. At the end, a truce was arrived at, which appeared to have been deliberately designed to read like a no-winner-no-vanquished artwork. All to no avail, for you could easily sift out the winner and the vanquished from the proceedings. The whole thing was captured in a communique. Below is the text of the communique:

An interactive meeting between Kano State Censorship Board and Association of Nigerian Authors (National, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara branches) was held on 25th August 2008 at the Board and resolved as follows:

1. List of membership as well as books already in circulation should be forwarded to the Board through the literary associations (Authors, publishers, marketers) within 60 days from today 25/08/2008.

2. Subsequently, ANA and KSCB have agreed to look into other grey areas of the (KSCB) Law.

3. Kano State Censorship Board and Association of Nigerian Authors will henceforth collaborate on relevant workshop/symposia in the area of censorship.

4. The dialogue agrees that Publishers, Marketers and other Distributors of literary works should register their businesses with Kano State Censorship Board.

SIGNED

Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim
DIRECTOR GENERAL
Kano State Censorship Board

Dr Wale Okediran
ANA NATIONAL PRESIDENT

DEATH THREAT FROM KANO CENSORS

Religion aside, We respect ur person. We see u as patriotic Nigerian who also has d intrst of d North in his heart, hence ds call to put a stop to d activities of ur editor Sheme. His personal attack d censorship board in Kano is attack on Islamic moral values which d Board is protecting and it is doing a good job of it. We don't want to believe u hv a hand in ds, hence ds call to put a stop to it. We don't know what will happen if u do not, but we do know tht d u're putting d Leadership nwsppr on line as well as ur othr invstmnts. We don't know wht indvdl members of d Coalition will do, but I do know tht we've been restraining thm with effort. And these youth are very restive. A stitch in time...

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MY COMMENT: My boss, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah, the Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of Leadership newspaper, Abuja, which I edit, received this threat today. Later, I got a similar threat. Such threats were received by me since last Friday. One was also sent to Mr Nda-Isaiah before his present trip abroad. Apparently, someone is not happy with the paper's coverage of the activities of the Kano State Censorship Board, headed by Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim. Whoever it is thinks that the best way to stop or influence the coverage is to issue an anonymous death threat, waving the religion card. Honestly, I never realised that the coverage was having such a big impact on some fellow(s) as to attract such a commentary. I also do not believe that apart from keeping the issues of censorship in the news the coverage was unfair. For example, we always made efforts to get the two sides of the story at any time. Mal Rabo was interviewed, at my behest, by all the media in which I have interest. His actions and utterences were always reported very well. We may have disagreed with some aspects of his methods, but not the idea of sanitising society. So why all the fuss? A friend has asked me the question today: "Don't you think Rabo was the one behind the text message?" I do not know how to answer the question very well except to say: But who gives life? Allah. Who takes it? Allah.

AN SAKO IYAN-TAMA

Malamai,

Idan kun tuna, a ranar Litinin da ta wuce kotu ta sa aka kama furodusan nan Hamisu Iyan-Tama, a kan lafin wai ya k'i zuwa kotu a kan shari'ar da su ke tafkawa da Hukumar Tace Finafinai da Dab'i ta Jihar Kano. An sako shi a yau Laraba bayan lauyan sa ya rubuta takardar neman a ba da beli a karo na biyu. Wasu kuma sun ce manya ne su ka sa baki!

Shi dai Iyan-Tama, abin da mu ka ji na kusa da shi na fad'a shi ne, ko kadan bai k'i zuwa kotu ba. Hasali ma dai ya je kotun da ke Railway har karfe 12 ba su ga alkali ko lauyan gwamnati ba; sai ya wuce kotun Normansland, a can ne ya samu labarin cewa alkalin ya na kotun hanyar Airport. Sai ya tafi can. To amma kafin ya je, ashe har an kira k'arar sa, ba ya nan, sai kawai aka ba da odar a kamo shi a kan laifin wai ya karya belin da aka ba shi tun da farko.

Yanzu dai ya na nan a gidan sa. Za a koma shari'ar a ranar 20 ga Agusta.

Allah Ya kai mu, amin.

KOTU TA SOKE BELIN IYAN-TAMA

A yau ne kotun majistare da ke hanyar zuwa filin jirgin sama na Malam Aminu Kano, karkashin mai shari'a Muktari Ahmed, ta bayar da dokar a kama shahararren mai kamfanin shirya finafinai, wato Alhaji Hamisu Lamido Iyan-Tama, bisa laifin rashin zuwa kotu a yau, laifin da kotun ta kira tsallake beli.

Alkalin ya ba da oda an kamo Iyan-Tama, aka mayar da shi gidan kaso, har zuwa ranar da kotun za ta kara sauraron karar, wato ran 20 ga Agusta, 2008, kamar yadda lauya mai gabatar da kara, Barista Sanusi Ma'aji, ya bukata a gaban kotun.

Har ila yau, kotun ta ba da dokar cewa a rubuta wa mutanen da su ka sa hannu wajen belin Iyan-Tama a karon farko, takardar sammaci, domin su zo kotun su bayyana dalilin day a hana shi zuwa kotu, kuma ba tare da wani bayani ba. Wadannan mutane su ne Auwalu Yusuf na unguwar Gadanga da kuma Muhammed da ke zaune a unguwar Sarari a birnin Kano.

An gurfanar da Iyan-Tama a gaban kotun ne cikin Mayu bisa tuhumar da Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta ke yi masa na sakin wani fim mai suna 'Tsintsiya' wanda kamfanin sa na Iyan-Tama Multimedia ya shirya, wanda kuma ake tuhumar cewa ya sake shi ne ba tare da hukumar ta tace shi ba.

Haka kuma kotun ta tuhumi Iyan-Tama da laifin mallaka tare da tafiyar da kamfanin shirya finafinai wanda ba shi da rajista da hukumar.

A halin yanzu, Alhaji Hamisu Lamido Iyan-Tama na tsare a gidan kaso har zuwa lokacin da kotun za ta kara zama a ranar 20 ga Agusta 2008.

Hiyana: An Yi Suna, An Samu 'Daddy'!

A yau Lahadi aka yi sunan d'an da Maryam Hiyana ta haifa. Majiya mai tushe ta sanar da ni cewa Usman aka rad'a wa yaron, wato sunan mahaifin maijegon. Kun ga kenan labarin da na bayar a makon jiya (cewa an ce Usman za a rad'a masa) ya zama gaskiya.

To, Allah Ya raya, Ya kuma ba uwa lafiyar mama. Shi kuma angon k'arni, Ado Ahmad D'angulla, Allah Ya ba shi ikon rike iyalin sa a mutunce, amin.

Hausa Actress, Maryam Hiyana, Puts To Bed

Maryam Usman (Hiyana), the Hausa actress at the centre of the controversy that engulfed the Hausa movie industry last year, has given birth to a baby boy on Sunday, a source told LEADERSHIP last night.

The delivery was said to have taken place in a private hospital in Kano, home of the popular Hausa movie industry.

Maryam, the star of the movie 'Hiyana,' after which she was nicknamed, was engulfed in controversy in early August 2007 after she and her boyfriend had appeared in a sex clip recorded with a cellphone.

Hiyana went into hiding as a result of the indecent exposure. She eventually got married to her heart-throb, Alhaji Ado Ahmed Dangulla, a Kano-based businessman, as his second wife last November.

But the controversy led to drastic measures taken by the Kano State government in order to "sanitise" the movie industry. These included a six-month ban on all movie activities and subsequent jailing of actors, producers and distributors.

Ado and Hiyana's marriage life has been quiet and, some say, full of love.

According to our source, both Hiyana and her baby are in good condition, adding that the naming ceremony will be performed on Sunday.

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Story in LEADERSHIP of Tuesday, Aug. 5

Maryam Usman Hiyana ta haihu

Mata ku zo ku yi gud'a: "Ayyiririii!!"

Shahararriyar jarumar nan ta finafinan Hausa, Maryam Usman (Hiyana), ta haihu. Wata majiya ta sanar da ni cewa a ranar Lahadi da ta wuce ne Maryam din ta haihu. An samu d'a namiji.

A cewar majiyar, Maryam ta haihu ne a birnin Kano, a wani asibiti mai zaman kan sa.

Idan kun tuna, Maryam ta shiga tsaka-mai-wuya sakamakon bullar majigin batsa da su ka dauka ita da wani saurayin ta mai suna Bobo. Majigin, wanda aka dauka da wayar hannu, ya bulla ne a farkon watan Agusta 2007. Nan da nan ya fantsama a cikin al'umma kamar wutar bazara.

Bullar majigin ya sa jarumar ta shiga buya, ta bar industiri ana ta cece-ku-ce; kai, ba ma industiri ba, har da dukkan kasar Hausa da sauran sassa na duniya.

Bayan watanni uku ana cacar baki, a cikin Nuwamba 2007 sai wani namijin duniya, wanda ya dade ya na soyayya da Maryam, ya aure ta. Wannan ba wani ba ne illa Alhaji Ado Ahmed Dangulla, wani dan kasuwa a Kano. Auren da su ka yi ya burge mutane da dama, musamman masoyan Hiyana. An yi masu fatan alheri.

To amma hayaniyar Hiyana-Bobo din nan ta yi wa sana'ar fim babbar illa. Gwamnatin Jihar Kano ta jefo da wani mutum mai suna Malam Rabo cikin lamarin, a matsayin shugaban Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta Jihar Kano. Ba tare da bata lokaci ba, malamin ya k'ara ingiza harkar fim cikin mawuyacin hali: ya dakatar da sana'ar fim har wata shida, daga bisani kuma ya kulle manyan 'yan wasa, da furodusoshi da 'yan kasuwar finafinai, ban da kamfen din batanci kan 'yan fim da ya shiga yi a kafafen watsa labarai. A yanzu haka akwai shari'u da ake tafkawa da shi a kotu.

Ko ma dai yaya ta je ta dawo, ita Hiyana ta yi zaman ta lafiya lau da mijin ta. Na ji an ce rayuwar auren su abar burgewa ce. To amma tuni ta yi bankwana da shirin fim. Hasali ma dai, ba ta yarda ta yi mu'amala da 'yan fim, sai 'yan kalilan (irin su Maryam Oloni).

A cewar majiya ta, Hiyana da d'an da ta haifa su na nan cikin k'oshin lafiya. Ranar Lahadi za a yi suna. (Wasu sun ce sunan mahaifin ta, wato Usman, za a rad'a wa yaron).

To ko ma dai me aka rada masa, mu tamu ita ce addu'ar Alah Ya raya shi cikin k'oshin lafiya. Kuma Allah Ya ba uwa lafiyar mama, amin.