Kwankwaso’s policy on movies

When I met Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso for the first time last month, I was eager to ask him a question on the policy of his government on movie production. During the final three years of the regime preceding his, there had been a cat-and-mouse contest between stakeholders in the Hausa movie industry and the Kano state government. Many actors, producers, musicians, marketers, etc., were arrested, heavily fined, jailed and or had their offices locked up and their property confiscated through dubious legal processes. Many were forced into exile in neighbouring states. One Abubakar Rabo, notorious for his near-crazy loathing for the movie trade, was heading the state Censorship Board in a Gestapo manner. He committed himself to the emasculation of the industry, using false propaganda and coercive instruments of the state. Consequently, Kano’s huge army of unemployed swelled. (The industry had employed thousands of school leavers and other layabouts for whom government could not provide jobs).

The reason adduced for this reign of terror by Governor Ibrahim Shekarau was that Hausa movies were corrupting morals and that movie industry stakeholders were not practising what they preached. He also claimed, during the last presidential debate, that he was responding to the demand of members of the society for the industry to be chained. Truly, there is a fringe view in Hausa land which holds that movies are sinful and should be banned – the kind of view imposed against women education in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

One of the comical regulations imposed by Rabo was that movies should not be shot at night so that men and women would not use the opportunity to commit fornication – as if those who engage in illicit sex (including top government officials) do so only at night!

The government’s stance wasn’t tenable because it was hypocritical. Many of its top guns were known to be living double lives, morally speaking. Nollywood flicks, which are more explicit, and even smuggled x-rated movies, were on sale in many parts of Kano. Moreover, during the run-up to the 2007 general election, Shekarau himself had exploited the film stars’ popularity to canvass votes. He held a lavish movie awards ceremony in government house where he extolled the virtues of film-making and distributed gifts. In the following months, he courted the industry through all manner of tricks, including donating a new bus to the film-makers’ association and, later, receiving an industry award at Arewa House, Kaduna. But when the Hiyana sex scandal broke out in 2007 and the anti-movie lobby found a louder voice, Shekarau launched his crackdown on the stars. After all, he had won his re-election and reckoned that he did not really need them. The latter view proved suicidal because the industry played a key role in defeating his party in the April 2011 polls when its crowd-pulling members like Sani Danja and Ibro joined the campaign train of his arch-rival, Kwankwaso.

Today, there is a sea change. Dr Kwankwaso is building a bridge of understanding between government and the industry. In response to my question during our interview with him, published in Blueprint on September 26, he said: “The film industry in Kano is very important for obvious reasons. For one, it is capital-intensive and has the capacity to boost the state’s economy. Secondly, and this is very crucial, it has the potential to create mass employment opportunity to the youths - both male and female - and this is one of our objectives: to provide job opportunity to as many people as possible. So, I have made it clear that our administration would give all the needed support to make sure the film industry thrives like any other industry in the real sector.”

In spite of his positive outlook, however, the governor is not blind to the need for the regulation of the business. He explained, “But be that as it may, we also have our religious and cultural values to protect against adulteration in any way by the filmmakers or any group of people.” He is setting up a Kano Film Institute in Tiga “so that the industry will be sanitised.” This is clearly a purposive and focused leadership. There are no frenzied, false claims or pretences. There is simply a clear urge to reduce unemployment while firmly minding cultural preservation.

The movie practitioners should repay this gesture by producing qualitative movies that are also sensitive to culture and religion. They should do away with their Indian copycat impulses and be professional. Hausa movies should be made to appeal to a universal audience through originality even if they have to be modern in outlook. It doesn’t have to take a Malam Rabo to remind the practitioners about this.

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Published in BLUEPRINT yesterday

Censorship: Kano's smouldering cauldron (2)

The abject failure of the censorship regime in Kano State under Governor Ibrahim Shekarau was due to the lack of sincerity that dogged the whole project, as well as a deliberate policy of subjugation which aimed at throwing away the baby with the bathwater. The notion that the people appointed to administer the Kano State Censorship Board were on a pedestal where they could not be faulted was erroneous; just because the they were brandishing religious cards did not mean that they were unassailable. They were promoted as saints because doing so fitted snugly with the simple mentality of the common man, who is thought to be manipulatable by the false prophets in that government.

Had the censorship board wanted to promote Hausa film-making and make it amenable to the cultural and religious heritage of the people of northern Nigeria, it could have done any of the few of ways to go about it. It board would have formed a partnership with the right stakeholders in the industry in order to, first, put a stop to all the “undesirable elements” of movie content and, second, replace them with more wholesome productions. Instead, the chief censor, Rabo, adopted divide and rule tactics, selecting only yes-men though they could not help spearhead genuine changes. At the same time, he waged a brutal campaign against those he regarded as rebels, arresting and jailing them at will, as well as tarnishing the image of the industry in general. What followed was counter-attacks between him and his opponents; the war of attrition led to nowhere but the eventual failure of the board to sanitise the industry. At the end, Rabo himself was demystified, his holier-than-thou mien discredited.

Now, a new era appears to be on the horizon. Engineer Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso was the one who created the censorship board in 2001, during his first tenure as governor. Under him, the board was said to be lax, thus giving way to all sorts of misdemeanours which critics linked to the deterioration of both the quality of Hausa movies and the moral rectitude of movie practitoners. Shekarau tolerated much of the lapses, probably because he needed a re-election in 2007. It took the Hiyana sex scandal of 2007 to startle him into action, with the view to pleasing the mullahs.

Now that Kwankwaso is back, expectations in the industry are high. Stakeholders see him as their won. Some of them want him to appoint one of them as DG of the censorship board. They are almost doubly sure he will not “betray” them. But will he? Or won’t he?

However, it would be foolhardy of anyone in the industry to suppose that the carefree days of the past will return in this dispensation. The films will be censored because they are a veritable weapon of commiunicating ideas that impact on the society, with overarching consequences. Kwankwaso is expected should a technocrat who knows the movie business and the relevant matters of censorship. It should be somebody who can midwife the industry towards a level of professionalism not usually seen in these parts. It should be someone who will make our films competitive not only on the national scene but also continentally, from where they will be uniquely attractive universally.

This task should have no name-calling, campaign of calumny and policies that could weaken the business. Remember that one of the serious challenges facing the new government in Kano, and by extension all governments in the North, is reducing the huge army of unemployed youths roaming the streets. Kano has the largest population of unemployed youth, many of whom are not indigenes of the state – or even Nigerians. The movie-making industry has sucked in thousands of such men and women, thus contributing to the economy of the state and to its wellbeing. Governor Kwankwaso should create ways of encouraging this entrepreneurship while ensuring that it conforms to the norms of the society. There are many competent hands in Kano who can do it. Any attempt to kill the film-making business would be counterproductive and futile, just as we saw during the last censorship regime in the state.

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Published in my column in the current issue of BLUEPRINT, the weekly newspaper

My Fear For Shekarau

Usually, a Malam does not engage in a gamble. But Malam Ibrahim Shekarau is now in the game. His, however, is not commercial gambling, the one we call caca in Hausa (pronounced chacha). His is political gamble. In contrast to the sinful Vegas-type gambling, the politics game is for all comers, including malams. On Thursday, Malam Shekarau threw his hat into the ring of those wishing to become president. At the crowded event in Abuja, the Kano State governor told Nigerians that he wanted to become president in order to save our country from its sorry situation. "Let us make our country great so that it takes its rightful place as a leader in the African continent," he intoned. To Candidate Shekarau, PDP was fair game, naturally. His assertions were full of truism. He said: "PDP has ruled this country for almost 12 years but they have nothing on ground to show apart from inconsistency." On this, one cannot fault him. The political party ruling Nigeria is responsible for our present condition of living as privileged slaves in our own country. Everything is in a shambles, caused by years of PDP misrule. Certainly, there is need for change. As Shekarau argued, we cannot go on like this.

Our dilemma, however, is how to do it. The main debate in the country today is about the zoning of the presidency between the North and the South or, better put, between somebody in PDP and President Jonathan. It is a big hoax that has been turned from a particular party's policy to a national issue. Unless we get out of the suffocating deceit of this debate and realise that there are options outside the PDP and its zoning logjam, we will never free ourselves from the clutches of a leadership that has failed the nation.

Shekarau is one of those options. He is one of the three state governors that have refused to abandon the ANPP when it was falling apart. All the others have turned coat and joined the PDP. But whether he is a credible option depends on the prism through which you view his politics. On this, the governor attracts different perceptions from different people. While many see him as a consistent, God-fearing and patriotic leader, others consider him an opportunist, one who betrayed his mentor Gen. Muhammadu Buhari after he had pocketed state power in Kano. Others insist that there is a lot of corruption in his government, perpetrated mainly by some officials whilst he looks the other way.

The truth may not be known for sure at this time. His falling out with Buhari, a very credible person whose own leadership credentials speak loud any day, was the classic stuff politics is made of universally. But on the issue of performance, I am a witness to what Malam did in Kano. Love him or hate him, one cannot dispute the fact that he has achieved a lot in the provision of roads, water, health, education, moral reawakening, etc. The Kano of the pre-Shekarau years is incomparable with the one of today. Of course, there are many lapses (even scandals) such as his brutal and directionless war against filmmakers and writers. But compared to the 11 locust years of the PDP at the national level and in some states, Shekarau's Kano would turn out to be a sterling example of how a nation should be governed. Many of the achievements of Malam would be appreciated only many years after he has gone.

Shekarau is one of the good options available to Nigerians when it comes to choosing between him and our PDP rulers. Others include Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and - if he eventually agrees to run for president - Nuhu Ribadu. I'd rather vote for a less-than-perfect Shekarau or any of these patriots than the pitiless behemoth calling itself the biggest party in Africa.

Nevertheless, I have an apprehension for Shekarau. It is couched in the knowledge of what happens to people like him in Nigerian politics: a man with good intentions failing to secure power, thereby coming to ruin and degradation. One good example is Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa, who ran for president in the 2007 polls under his new party, the DPP. Bafarawa - credible, patriotic and eager - made his bid for the top post from his comfortable lair as governor of Sokoto State. When he left Sokoto to carry his campaign to all parts of Nigeria, pity, the homefront became wide open for exploitation by the opposition PDP, made up of some of his former lieutenants such as Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako. Worse, the PDP at the national level had vowed to take Sokoto at all cost. With its octopus-like spread nationwide, it was unthinkable that Bafarawa would defeat it and set up government in Abuja. When the elections took place, he lost both at the top and at home. Although he scarcely questioned his Abuja loss, the home loss - which was more painful - has been a subject of litigation ever since. And, due to the cloak-and-dagger nature of the contest, Bafarawa soon found himself being harried by the Wammako administration, which indicted him for corruption charges and set the EFCC after him. The bile left from that experience is a life-long one, indeed.

Bafarawa's Sokoto has a striking semblance to Shekarau's Kano. It made me ask: why didn't Shekarau just play safe and run for the Senate? Has he become over-optimistic? Shekarau, a former school teacher, gambled his fate on the political field in 2003 and was voted as governor against the expectations of pundits. The PDP-led government in the state had an iron grip, with a seemingly impregnable Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso seeking a much-coveted second tenure. He was unquestionably in control of everything - money, security outfits, government apparatuses, etc. But the people of Kano - who he cannot control that much - wanted change. That - together with the critical Buhari pedestal - helped Shekarau, who lacked money and materiel, to ride to power easily. Kwankwaso was dramatically replaced the way Caucasian America elected Barack Obama on the wing of the desire for change from a hawkish, suffocating establishment.

Shekarau's present gamble appears to have been inspired by that surprising upset. I am not sure whether he has money and materiel now. Yes, Nigerians want change, but will the hawks allow them to have it? The PDP hawks in Abuja (under the discredited former chairman Vincent Ogbulafor) have vowed to re-take Kano next year. The mood has not changed in Wadata Plaza. Second, the ANPP in Kano is in disarray over Malam's choice of his successor. Third, the Buhari factor, now represented in the opposition CPC, is gaining ground in Kano. My fear is: if by any chance, due to these factors and others yet unseen, Malam loses both Abuja and Kano, wouldn't he find himself in a hole similar to the one in which Bafarawa fell? This is not a prayer, but a pragmatic reading of the crystal ball of Nigerian politics, using events that happened before our very eyes. But as malams are wont to say, all power belongs to God; He gives it to him whom He wants. So be it.


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Published in LEADERSHIP, on Saturday, August 7, 2010

Police Arrest Kano Censors Board DG

By Nasir Gwangwazo, Kano

Director-General of the Kano State Censorship Board, Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkareem, was yesterday arrested by the police over a complaint filed against him by the Kano State Filmmakers Association.

A reliable source told LEADERSHIP last night that Rabo had been dragged to a Sharia Court in Sabon Gari, Kano, by members of the association over an allegation credited to him, in which he was said to have described movie makers as a bunch of homosexuals and lesbians during an interview he granted Radio Kano recently.

In the interview, a copy of which was made available to LEADERSHIP, Rabo stated that he had proof that many of the filmmakers were gay, saying his intervention in the industry had helped sanitise the situation.

The statement incensed the filmmakers, and they wrote him a letter demanding a retraction and an apology within 48 hours.

But at a follow-up press conference recently in Kano, the director-general repeated his claim, warning that he would publish more damning reports about the alleged immorality in the industry if pressed further.

The association went ahead with its threat, suing him before the Sharia court, which was said to have advised the association to report the matter to the police first.
According to a member of the association and the immediate former chairman of the state chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Malam Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino, Rabo was picked up yesterday by two plain-clothes policemen at about 4pm and taken to the Metro police station located on Bank Road in the city, following a complaint by the filmmakers.

At the police station, three leaders of the moviemaking association - Nura Hussain, Ahmad Alkanawy and Isma’ila Afakalla - endorsed the association's formal complaint, which Rabo reportedly denied.

According to Gidan Dabino, the case is due for hearing at the Sharia Court, Fagge, today.

When our correspondent contacted Rabo on phone last night, however, he denied knowledge of the issue, saying he was in a meeting and promptly switched off.

Published in LEADERSHIP today

Kano Censorship: Aminu Ala Arrested, Jailed

It has been two days now since a popular Hausa novelist and singer, Aminuddeen Ladan Abubakar (ALA), was sent to prison by a mobile court which works for the Kano State Censorship Board, in Kano. The writer/singer best known simply as Ala (after his initials) was arrested by the police on Saturday night in Kano after he had closed from work at Hikima Multimedia. He was, however, released on bail at the police station, on the pldege that he would attend court on Monday. He was not told what his offence was, but not everybody was left guessing.

Ala had composed a song, "Hasbunallah," with four other singers, in which they lampoon the regime of censorship in Kano. Moviemakers, singers and writers must submit their works to the censorship board for vetting. Though Ala had not released the "offensive" song, it had found its way into people's GSM handsets and computers, from where it was replicated into other forms of media.

Recently, the police and opratives of the censors board had swooped on Hikima Multimedia, looking for evidence that would link Ala to the release of the song. Consequently, Ala went into hiding; he was said to have gone to the neighbouring states. Two weeks ago, he returned home. And the censors attacked.

During the sitting in court, Ala pleaded not guilty. He was promptly sent to jail by a magistrate, Mukhtar Ahmed, notorious for jailing and or fining anyone that was brought before him under any kind of charge.

Writers and moviemakers, as well as millions of their admirers are livid with rage. Many view the arrest and detention of Ala as an attack against freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution. It is felt by a wide spectrum of the populace that Ala is innocent. Like Hamisu Iyan-Tama, an actor/producer jailed for months by the same court, he did not release the song. Even if he did, it does not contain anything negative as to warrant an arrest. The case is gaining a lot of attention in the media, in internet chatgroups, and other fora.

Ala is due to be returned to court today to hear his application for bail. But I was told by a close associate of his that the prison authorities in Kano have revealed that a separate order from the court had said that the accused would be held till Tuesday next week. That would be against the pronouncement of the judge in the open court on Tuesday.

Yesterday, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Kano State branch, issued a statement on the matter. It goes like this:


Press Release

At an emergency meeting held at the Bayero University Kano, today, July 8, 2009, the Association of Nigerian Authors Kano State Branch frowns at the arrest of one of its members Alhaji Aminuddeen Ladan Abubakar (ALA) over the alleged release of a song that has not been censored by the Kano State Censorship Board.

The Association is seriously looking at the implication of the arrest which is seen as an attack on liberty and freedom of expression. The Association has observed that the authorities in Kano are hostile to art and literature. This action and other past actions of the authorities are seriously undermining the position of Kano State as the leading centre of learning, art and literature.

The Association wishes to advise the authority to be cautious on the way it handles the matters of authors and other producers of art. Art and literature are part and parcel of every society and no society can do without it.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Yusuf M Adamu
Branch Chairman

Alh. Balarabe Sango II
Public Relations Officer

July 8, 2009

Interview: Rabo, Hausa Movie Chief Censor

The following interesting write-up/interview was posted by Salisu Ahmed Koki on the listserves "writersforumkano@yahoogroups.com" and "nurul-islam@yahoogroups.com" today.

Much can be gleaned from the interview about the director-general of the Kano State Censorship Board, Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim. The title given to the piece by Koki is "Hausa Home Video Industry AND the Rabo Abdulkareem Phenomenon (The Exclusive Interview with Rabo Abdulkareem)". The piece contains some grammatical and typographical errors, which I have not corrected. Enjoy



Hausa Home Video Industry AND the Rabo Abdulkareem Phenomenon (The Exclusive Interview with Rabo Abdulkareem)

By Salisu Ahmed Koki, Kano
sakoki@gmail. com


It is an industry that churns out roughly over 2000 sellable movies to the world annually; employing over 20, 000 hitherto unemployed youths and sometimes exports to the world the once ruined face of Nigeria. But turn the clock back to the years between 1975 and 1995 and the picture would have been different, very different, for that was the long, trying period when Hausa movie industry was struggling to establish itself as a viable showbiz hub equal in prestige and whim only to Bollywood that overshadowed the northern axis, then.

And just like the tiny and equally soullessly-wrapped up pupae growing into a beautifully designed and flip-flying butterfly that can fly to various destinations at will, the Hausa popular drama has transmogrified into Home Videos that evenly instigates cultural fusion and diffusion whose implications and impact on the Hausa culture critics posits is an area yet to be fully appreciated by researchers.

Indeed, the Hausa Home Video industry is now an unstoppable phenomenon that serves as a medium exploited by NGOs and various governments to relay informatic messages to children and adults. To say the least about the interest shown by most NGOs and even Diplomatic missions within and around Nigeria on Hausa Movies, it pays to say here and now that it was alleged that the arrest and detention of one of the popular Hausa movie Producer going by the name Hamisu Lamido Iyantama couldn't be unconnected to his allegedly unauthorized release of a NGO-sponsored Hausa film.

The fact that almost 40 million people around the world use the Hausa language medium to communicate and transact gave these movie makers an unprecedented opportunity to reach out to the world.

But of recent there has been a widespread complains about the modus operandi of the Hausa Movie makers most of which are accused of indulging in entertaining misplaced priorities, movie-making wise. They are said to be employing unorthodox, unprofessional and fluke-characterized techniques and methodologies in writing, acting and shooting their now widely condemned movies. The pomp and pageantry of films produced in the Lagos axis are more pronounced on Pay TV Channels like Africa Magic than that of their counterparts in northern Nigeria obviously because of the absence of quality and catchy storylines in them, although some of the Hausa movies are beginning to find their ways into the sister Magic Channel, the Africa Magic Plus.

Most of the Hausa film makers are accused of distorting the closely guarded Hausa culture which by all indications served as the sole excuse ceased by the present administration in Kano State to take stringent majors in curbing the excesses of this so-called rogue Hausa film makers. There has been an almost general consensus that Hausa movies shot some 20 years ago and far aback are far better in substance and content than the present day Hausa movies which explain why many are of the opinion that there has to be some check and balances as far as Hausa movie making is concerned.

In ripping apart the genesis of the Hausa Home Video Industry popularly tagged ‘Kanywood’ one can hardly do away with two factors; one is the Colonial Film Unit factor that gave birth to some of the first produced feature films on celluloid made in Hausa and the other factor been that of the Hausa society which is theatre personified like any other society. As put forward by Haruna Aminu of the Institute of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the Hausa society is so theatre personified so much that “in every aspect of the Hausa living tradition, one finds various manifestation of the dramatic indices, and this come in different forms due to the nature of the occasion that produces it. When one takes into consideration the idea of celebrating birth and death one can appreciate the impact of entertainment and imitation of life”.

Through the introduction of cinema or ‘Majigi’ as it is called in Hausa into the north via the Colonial Film Unit, the Nigerian colonial masters were given a sure medium for using the concept of ‘Massive Media Campaign’ to further their varying propaganda interests. Though a downside in some respect, it served as an upside for the Hausa movie industry as it served as a transiting medium from where traditional Hausa drama or ‘Wasan Kwaikwayo’ (‘wasa’ for ‘play’ and ‘kwaikwayo’ for ‘imitation’) have developed today into a full blown Hausa Movies/Films.

The first indigenous play ‘Wasan Marafa’ (the Marafa’s Play) by A.T Marafa made its appearance in 1949. Soon others followed, with the likes of ‘Malam Inkuntum’ (1954) and ‘Bora da Mowa’ (1972) as been the first to be staged before been reduced into writing. The first commercially successful Hausa movie was ‘Turmin Danya’ produced in 1990 in Kano selling about 100, 000 copies then and it was not until between 1997 and 2003 only that there was a massive surge in the production of these home videos. According to Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, a very popular and widely respected Change Analysts, so far about 800 Hausa Language Video- about 80% produced in Kano have been registered with the National Film and Video Censors Board in 2003 only. “Such high volume in a relatively short period of time indicates an underlying cultural change and transformation that requires a systematized study” Professor Abdalla hypothesized.

Interestingly enough for the reader to know is the fact that Sir. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the slayed pioneer Prime Minister of Nigeria was among the opportune-few to first wrote a book in 1933 which was later translated into film. Again, one of Nigeria’s most renowned sociologist and the person adjudged by many to be Africa’s best in that field, Dr. Ibrahim Tahir (Talban Bauchi) of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria was the principal character in one of the pioneer Hausa films ‘Dan Arewa a London’ which if translated into English means ‘A Northerner in London’, a film that propagated the use of agriculture to propel growth. And with Adamu Halilu at the helm of affairs at the Colonial Film Unit in the early years of Nigeria’s life, some more Hausa feature films were produced among which are Baban Larai (1968), Shehu Umar (1976), and Kanta of Kebbi (1978) to mention but a few.

With most of the nations’ film regulatory agencies and some of the best public-owned film training institutions concentrated in the north, Hausa films and their makers were presented with a golden opportunity to propel themselves and attain success. Imagine, the National Film Corporation (NFC), National Film Institute (NFI), National Video Archives, National Film and Videos Censors Board (NFVCB), NTA TV College amongst others all are situated in and around Jos, the Plateau State capital. Also, with about 40 million Hausa speaking audiences spread across the entire African continent and beyond, filmmakers in the north have a great market potential; little wonder the rise among the Hausa filmmaking folks of some of Nigeria’s best in showbiz, the likes of Sadik Tafawa Balewa who Directed the winning feature ‘Kasar Mu Ce’, Sani Mu’azu who feature in many award winning films and TV series including Mr. Johnson (that featured the popular Hollywood actor, Pierce Brosnan) and NASCO-sponsored Riddles and Hope, Malam Abdulkareem Mohammed who Directed the film ‘Dan Adam Butulu I’, Dr. Sule Umar who directed the duos of ‘Maitatsine’ and yet-to-be released ‘General Murtala’, Ibrahim Buba who is the CEO of Newage Networks Kaduna and film stars Ali Nuhu the principal character in Amstel’s revered ‘Sitanda’ who won the coveted ‘Best Up Coming Actor Award’ at the AMAA Awards 2007, Sani Musa Danja, Ruqayya Dawayya, Safiya Musa, Ummi Zizi to mention but a few.

Considering the rising popularity and growth of Hausa films and its industry despite its prevailing complexities, controversies and allegedly unprofessional conjunction, a team of concerned practitioners and renowned academicians got together in the month of August 2003 to discuss the state of research on Hausa popular culture and media technologies, with particular reference to the Hausa home videos. It was an event chaired by the renowned Change Analyst, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu of Bayero University Kano and was tagged ‘International Conference on Hausa Films’. The event was meant to be a brainstorming session with various inputs from members overshadowed then by the then current crisis in the non-marketability, and non-exportability of Hausa Home Videos beyond Hausa communities either in Nigeria or abroad. The event attracted scholars from close and afar including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany whom many considered an indication of the success recorded by the event.

Not long ago after sponsoring the International Conference cited earlier, the British Council Nigeria through its ‘Connecting Futures’ project gave 5 budding filmmakers first class training in filmmaking for two years, which culminated in the youth producing five winning short films. Also, the French Embassy in Nigeria in collaboration with Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN) it is that wholly sponsored a 4 day workshop on filmmaking in 2005, adding to the support the industry is now gaining from the international community.

The recent crackdown of filmmakers in the north particularly in Kano State by the authorities signaled a very interesting epoch in the history and relevance of this important industry in the north, and by extension in Nigeria.

Part of the symptoms of the alleged excesses of the present crop of Hausa filmmakers is said to be the almost uncontrollable pollution of the closely guarded and respected Hausa culture that leads to some female admirers of Hausa Filmmakers to publicly showcase their sexual orientation, meaning that some women did publicly declare that they are going to emulate Californians by getting married to each other publicly and fearlessly, an action viewed by many as a taboo. It is a story of awe and confusion and it is what can rightly be described as the most demeaning abuse of fame ever to bear its ugly head out of the now allegedly promiscuous Hausa film industry; a rare show of feminine crudity and a terrifying tale of rumpus manifestation of prevalent lesbianism that is eating deep into the fabrics of Kanywood. On 22nd April 2007 the most talk about religiously- tense Kano state witnessed yet another attempt by some group of people at tying the hands of people of the same sex into the bonds of marriage, only that in this case it wasn’t masculine gays but a fair-looking and pleasurably hot lady going by the name ‘Aunty Maiduguri’ getting married to four sanguine girls- a sure feminine polygamy you can call it!

The contentious act swiftly invited the wrath of Kano state government whom since expressed bitterly its skepticism over the activities of those operating in the film industry. For a start, the venue slated to host the four modish brides alongside their groom for a party which also happened to be an open theatre where plays were staged was demolished beyond recognition alongside two adjacent theatres on the instructions of the state governor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau with their Certificate of Occupancies and Operating Licenses all revoked. Soon followed an announcement that the government has sternly banned all forms of Gala and stage plays to be performed by men and women of the Hausa film industry, indefinitely! Then came the last, but expected one- order from the state government to the security agencies in the state to fish out and arrest ‘Aunty Maiduguri’ and her accomplices whom are already on the run.

Also, not long after the infamous Aunti Maiduguri Affair a video sex scandal involving one of the most popular Hausa actresses compelled the authorities to have a second thought on Hausa filmmaking and Hausa filmmakers not to mention a promiscuous music video released by one Adam Zango a background singer which leads to his detention for a prescribed period of time. What follows was a complete shutdown of filmmaking activities in Kano State for about a year now and the detention of the Hamisu Lamido Iyantama (a producer), Adam Zango (background singer), Rabilu Musa IBRO (a popular comedian) among others by Kano State Films and Videos Censors Board.

The leak of a sex video involving popular celebrities may prove a good omen to celebrities in the Western world, but from the harsh treatment received by the leak of the Hausa celebrity's sex video; it is obvious that the reverse is very true for celebrities in northern Nigeria.

Most of the stakeholders, especially the filmmakers, actors and actresses condemned the actions of the Kano State government alleging that it was the wrong decision for the government to take considering that most of the people, young and old that are having a means of livelihood via Hausa filmmaking process are rendered jobless and penniless by the government's action, worst they claimed, the government has failed to provide jobs for these people and has shown little interest in the Hausa filmmaking business which leads to its lackluster attitude towards Hausa filmmaking and Hausa Filmmakers.

In the midst of all these controversies this writer deemed it fit to get to the source of the matter and to achieve that he went all the way to interview the Director General of the Kano State Films and Videos Censors Board. The following is the outcome of our interview with Malam Rabo Abdulkareem which was initially meant for a national daily that requested for it but after reviewing the content and weighting the importance of the information embedded in it, I deemed it wise to distribute it via a medium that can allow for wider readership which is why the online platform is chosen.

A Brief on the Director General, Kano State Film and Video Censors Board.

Rabo Abdulkareem: Abubakar Rabo Abdulkareem are my names, I am the Director General Kano State Censorship Board, I am 35 years old and hail from Chiromawa of Garun Malam Local Government of Kano State. Earlier before my appointment here, I was the Deputy Commander of the Kano State Hisbah Board, much earlier I was a school teacher but of course I have my first and second degree in humanities.

What Specialization or area of study to be a little specific?

R. A: My first degree has been in Mass Communications- Special Honors (Broadcast) and my second degree is in Developmental Studies all from Bayero University, here in Kano.

What little can you say authoritatively about the history of and rationale behind the setting up of Kano State Censorship Board?

R. A: Historically and globally censorship is not a new thing, and of course it is because of the need in every responsible society or community to have moral values been upheld and things done the right way to the taste of the uniqueness of the individual community or society that censorship is accorded a unique priority in the history of mankind, this is why you see Censorship Board in the history of the Greeks, you see it in the history of the Persian Empire, in that of Europe, and in that of the United States America in particular which emanates from the need to build a 'hays code'. Coming back to Africa, I believe as Africans revered as the custodians of some of the worlds' most treasured and respected cultures we cannot be an exception, most particularly in Nigeria going by our populous nature and standing in the world. Here in Kano, particularly in the year 2001, there was this law established by the State Assembly and accented to and endorsed by the then executive arm of the government of Kano State and of course what informed the decision of the then government to come up with the law was a confusion, or rather mix-up of cultural values which was largely attributed to foreign influence and the weird culture of blind copy-cating of foreign cultures by most of the Hausa filmmakers which results to public outcry in the 1999-2000 of then Kano, and of course that was how the then administration sanctioned activities of filmmakers in the state. In fact, most of the filmmakers were suspended and entire cinematographic activities were suspended, of course after that very suspension there was the idea of coming up with a regulatory body and that was how the Kano State government then came up with the present Kano State Censorship Board Law 2001. And the interesting thing was the power giving to the state governments in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria whereby state governments are regarded or rather are given the leverage to go ahead and establish their respective state Censorship Bodies on film making and other thearitical activities and section 16 of the 1999 constitution of the concurrent legislative list is the main bedrock which result to this very kind of state Censorship Board Law, meaning that what we are doing is in consonant with the constitution of the federal republic and of course in it we can see some virtues, we can also see some positive results out of what we have so far established, because at least, the social responsibility expected of a government in ensuring and above all the outcome and output of the film project is becoming this time around very professional in nature, ethical and of course there is quality, quality in the content and quality in the critique of what is churn out for the viewership of the general public. Being a federating unit here, we are empowered and we have every right to have a very unique mechanism of governance, to have our uniqueness and peculiarity very well accommodated and reflected in the way we do our things in the state. We are trying to conform with the arrangement of the federation, been a federating unit, we want to have our own unique good governance, our unique security and of course, not undermining the constitution, not undermining national interest, but above all, we want to contribute to the growth of our GDP, this time around economically to tally with the vision 2020 of the present administration.

Can you please shed more light on your board's modus operandi?

R. A: The modus operandi or rather the goal is to ensure that things are done the right way. Considering film making as a profession just like journalism and accountancy, we don’t want to believe that illiteracy can bring the needed security into the filmmaking fold, rather the skill, and the knowledge. We are emphasizing on skill acquisition, this is our primary responsibility, and this is why all professional crew are mandated to have the basic training, to have the basic knowledge of filmmaking before they are certified to either direct, to produce, or act a professional role in a film. Of course there are artists that have abundant talent, and some can be special artistes, but notwithstanding how talented somebody is or gifted by the Almighty if he is taken to a film school where he will be groomed, if he is well shaped by the professionales that knows the film business bette, he will fare better in the film making business compared to when he or she is on her own. Be it may, what we are now saying is professionalism is emphasized in our modus operandi. The context, essence and the fundamental aspects of censorship, are to ensure that the younger ones, the future generation are not misguided or rather are not feed-up with destructive items (values).

What can you say about the success your board recorded so far?

R. A: What we’ve achieved by our own majors so far is a very good way forward because we are now censoring films and we are now correcting things not ours. Notwithstanding, other cultures must be seen in own films, because we are not living in isolation, but they are to be portrayed the way they are, we wouldn’t allow other cultures to be belittled in any way in the process of censoring, we also wouldn’t allow other ethnics or religions to be belittled because it is duty bound on government, especially the Nigerian government which has a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society to rationally and wisely manage. This is why I say by God’s grace, sooner or later, we would have what is called maximum output.

The recent visit of the duos of the Managing Director, Nigeria Film Corporations Jos and the Director General National Film and Videos Censors Board marked the beginning of the spread of the prevailing rumor that your board is gradually attracting national attention. What can you say about these visits?

R. A: Much earlier before the visit of the DG NFVCB, there was that of the MD Nigeria Film Corporation, Mr. Afolabi Adesanya. When he was here, he pleaded with the board on a lot of things, and of course, out of our stakeholders meetings, we resolved to went back and start censoring films, while been very considerate of our contemporary regulations and guidance or rather guidelines, because we will not undermine what we believe is the best solution to that public outcry that I stated to you earlier. When the DG NFVCB was here, we came up with a very good and formidable position; in fact, he is a very good representation of the nation because he was emphasizing on locality and the positive side of local content generation and integration while also insisting on originality in film projects. Above all, he was saying that every public servant must be like what we are in the state, acting as a guardian, or rather custodians of national legislations and state legislations. So, he was trying to make a point to the filmmakers, that if they find ease in belittling the law, if they see no harm in belittling the state legislations, that means they are not helping matters, above all, they will continue to be at logger leads with authorities and of course by so doing, they are but becoming deviant elements of the Nigerian society. So, I respected his submission or rather proposition, not withstanding his appeal that we should be very considerate of the baby industry, a.k.a Kanywood in trying to relax some measures that might be employed in the next ten years not now, for instance, on the issue of digitization, he is not saying we should relax our stance on digitization, but that we should try to revisit our measures so that we will not make filmmakers close shops needlessly and prematurely. We are emphasizing on erecting and maintenance of excellent and equally professional facilities; what we are saying now is that all production companies must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission like any other business entity or rather body, but to ask them to do this, they say is a stringent measure. But the reality is, you ought to be registered, because you are in a business, and film making is an investment with its attendant risks and prospects. Also, the issue of a production firm to have the basic office accommodation where at least a computer system is there with a Secretary ought to be considered and checkmated. Most of the companies before we are here are nominal, nominal in the sense that they are nowhere to be found. Most of the so-called production companies believe you me, are mobile and they are not there. Believe you me, we would by God’s grace try to standardize things, and we can only do that with the cooperation and understanding of the stakeholders, that we are out for their betterment, and if they cannot appreciate that, then that’s their problem. Most of them exist without the knowledge of their local authorities; their respective local government authorities don’t even know them, because they don’t have office accommodation. What we are now insisting on is that, you must go back to the local government where you are located, be registered, and be introduced to us by your local government authority before we register you, that’s the best way for us to help the government fetch the required tax from the companies and that’s why we are saying that a tax clearance certificate must accompany your application, and the most astonishing thing to us is that all these to them are stringents, they consider every measure to sanitize and breed order to the system, a stringent measure. That’s why they complain and I don’t think we will compromise on this.

Is it true that your board is given the opportunity to censor films that are not made in Kano?

R. A: You see, we have a very good point here and I want them to stick to their promise. I told you much earlier that in Nigeria we are a federating unit; there are customary laws in the west and in the south; there is the Shari’a penal code in the north and above all there is the constitution. The issue is this, if national agencies or organizations will accord recognition, respect and certain privileges to specific agencies like ours on the area that we are more primaric, then this we can say is a very positive development. Let's assume, in the NFVCB's Preview/Screening Committee there is no, single typical Hausa-Fulani there representing the people? But if we do it here, I mean if we censor Hausa films here, and at the end our certificates are presented to NFVCB during a submission of a Hausa films projects for their own preview, it will be easy for them to censor and nationalize the film project.

What can you say about the controversies surrounding the recent court cases between your board and the film makers in Kano?

R. A: I hope our stakeholders are not mistaking by seeing the KFCB as a home of punitive measures, as if we are the only one. Punitive measures taken by a censorship board globally is the tradition, even NFCVB use to take defaulters before a court of law, High Court of justice for that matter; our is ordinary Magistrate Courts where the provision of the law is very light and mild. Now what I will like people to appreciate our own measures as excellent nd is better than that which is obtainable in the US for instance; the logic is this, employment preventive measures is far better than curative, because it is our tradition, it's our religion to guide stakeholders, preventing him/her from defaulting or erring. Now, what we are doing is before you are allowed to go ahead and kick start the shooting you are required to first of all submit to consultants the proposed script for the film for their vetting, so after been vetted by the consultant, tell me who will complain on it on merit? Unlike allowing somebody accomplished the project, and allowing him to release it into the market and then when some foul are found in it, you then effect an arrest or ban order, is this wise? And believe me that’s what is obtainable in the US, that’s their version of censoring. Our preventive measures can be regarded as Shari’ah and also the tradition of the Hausa Fulani. In our tradition, you don’t allow somebody to breach a law, rather guide him, educate him and saying this thing you are trying to do is consequential, illegally, anti-religious, economically and culturally implicative. By so doing, you are making it less damaging; you are making it less difficult for someone. If you are told on how 3-5 minutes clips are made in a film, you won't be happy asking someone to remove it after he or she is done with the project and we don’t want our stakeholders to be in this big loss, that’s why we are preaching the preventive approach to censorship. What I am now saying in that, these known of controversies has maliciously emanated from people that feel they are above the law, and we believe that nobody is above the law (a principle of democracy 'rule of law'). So our so-called punitive measures, is meant for NFVCB. So what we are saying in essence here is that we will make sure that anybody who feel like he or she is arrogant, or he or she is above the law, face the wrath of the law.

Irrespective of your caliber and status in Kanywood, I am sorry for you, if you breach the law. As per as my own style leadership is concerned, I believe nobody is above the law and above all the most respected element among the stakeholders in our eyes is he who obey the law religiously; somebody who will respect the law however minimal, however insignificant, and however basic he is in the industry, believe you me he is a very big person, but he who sees little harm in breaching the law, however well placed, however influential he is, be he a marketer, be he or she a producer, I am sorry for that person, because, he will find us very uncompromising.

We are on a professional and legal mission, not on political or related issues; I can assure you here and now that there is no any sentiment attached to our activities.

What can you say about support or otherwise that your board is receiving from international bodies?

R. A: Immaterially, we do have support from NGOs and foreign bodies because we use to have intellectual fora, sometimes organized here locally and sometimes we are invited outside the country and sometimes we invite resources persons who are not Nigerians to give transfer skills and modern discoveries to production, just like what happened in the SHOOT 2008 (Jos), which we are there in numbers that not a single state of the federation can match. What I am trying to say is this, as par basic working tools, we are very grateful to this administration of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. We also have a very good pledge, in fact we make the government to believe that it is high time for the government to invest money in filmmaking and to impact knowledge through seminars, workshops, training, and to sponsor various stakeholders to courses in Nigeria and abroad; all this things we are doing is to complement government accomplish its social responsibilities to the industry.

What about problems?

We don’t have any believe you me. I am not saying we don’t have any in the context that really there are not problems but what I am saying in essence is that the problems we are facing are tolerable. The problem of non-confidence by the general public in the products churned out by our crops of filmmakers is a central problem, and if confidence is lost, everything is lost, and that confidence is what we are assiduously working towards restoring. The crux of the matter is and will be the pursuit of excellence and professionalism in film making and that’s why we are all out to see to it that we will not leave stakeholders that are fond of dishing out all rubbish for the viewership of the teeming public unturned or alone, we will touch you, the way you molest the law; we will deal with you, the way you negatively dealt with the law; in a nutshell this is my prayer, this is my call and in as much you will do it, the way we are urging you to do it, you will have our support.

Indeed, Hausa Movie Industry has its own teething problems- but as Professor Abdalla put it; “that is natural, because it is (still) in its infancy. However, it has the potential of a giant buried in a tiny acorn.”

Iyan-Tama: Matters Arising

Hamisu Lamido Iyan-Tama, the famous Hausa actor and producer jailed for three months by a magistrate court in Kano, was released from prison on Monday. He had been jailed for allegedly releasing a feature film without government approval and running a filmmaking company without registration. In an open letter to the Governor of Kano State, published in this column two days after Iyan-Tama was sent to prison, I pointed out that the two charges were false and a concoction of the Kano State Censorship Board which has been waging a war of attrition against Hausa filmmakers and authors, based on a dubious claim of cleansing them of all immoralities. In that piece, I called on His Excellency, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, to, as a matter of utmost urgency, investigate that act of gargantuan injustice and enter a no-case submission in the appeal Iyan-Tama filed at a Kano High Court, paving the way to the freeing of the actor.

A government functionary told me a day later that Malam (as the governor is widely known) had read my letter. But Iyan-Tama was left to languish in prison for almost three months until Wednesday last week when the government did exactly what I and many other folk beseeched it to do: file a no-case submission. Obviously, the governor has shown a soft heart here, but the wheel of justice in Kano, as it is everywhere else in Nigeria, is very slow. And that’s sad, considering what the actor suffered during this period. For during his incarceration, Iyan-Tama was made to suffer a lot of indignity, including a psychological warfare waged against him by the Kano State Censorship Board headed by Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim. The Director-General of the board, Rabo, whose stock in trade is a blitzkrieg of propaganda against movie practitioners, embarked on media interviews in which he justified what he clearly knew to be a travesty of justice against Iyan-Tama; he knew quite well that the plot to deal with Iyan-Tama was conceived, hatched and executed by him and a few of his cohorts, and his wish was granted by the magistrate who had proved in more ways than one that he was a willing tool to be used against anyone connected to the movie industry.

Iyan-Tama’s family was attacked at midnight by a colony of thugs, who held his wife and children hostage, threatening to kill them. The family had to flee the house in the morning. About a month later, another house connected to Iyan-Tama’s family was attacked by a group of thugs (widely thought to be the same as the first group). During this attack, the thugs even raped a female house-help, thinking she was a member of the actor’s immediate family.

Be that as it may, Iyan-Tama is now half-free. He was let out of prison this week, following a prayer to the High Court by the Kano State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice that the court should grant him bail and order for a retrial of the case. According to the Attorney-General, Barrister Aliyu Umar, the first trial was besmirched by irregularities. Due process was not followed in the trial that led to the conviction, he said. He used very uncomplimentary terms to describe the trial conducted by a senior magistrate, Alhaji Mukhtari Ahmed, such as “improper,” “incomplete,” “a mistake,” summing up by insisting that a “more competent magistrate” should be given the case to try again. Umar told the court presided over by Justice Tani Umar: “I am not in support of the conviction in this trial. It is obvious that the trial was not completed before judgement was delivered but there and then the presiding magistrate went ahead and delivered a judgement.”

Now, these words are proof that my argument that Iyan-Tama was punished by some conspirators because of his political views (he contested the state gubernatorial seat for the 2007 election), not because he had broken any law, have been vindicated. The learned commissioner would not have made this submission flippantly, without carefully examining the facts of the case that played itself out in the magistrate court. And as a government official charged with superintending the legal field in Kano State, he must have endeavoured to discharge his duties with utmost responsibility.

Governor Shekarau deserves commendation for the confession by his government that Iyan-Tama was unjustly imprisoned. But then, there are questions that the day’s hearing brought up. One, was Barrister Umar’s submission not a clear indictment of the magistrate who jailed Iyan-Tama? By questioning the competence of Ahmed, going to the extent of asking the high court to reassign the case to another magistrate, he has clearly shown that the judge was not qualified to sit over all such cases. In this situation, does Ahmed merit serving as a judge in the service of the Kano State Government, having committed an injustice that can be successfully argued even by a baby lawyer to be a travesty of justice? Is it not more honourable to the magistrate to resign immediately or be sacked by the government? And how many more such magistrates are working in the Kano State courtrooms, handing down selfish judgements?

And what of Rabo’s war? Is it justified anymore? Is it truly meant to sanitise the filmmaking business or kill it, using weapons of emasculation at the disposal of a punitive, merciless government agency? For me, Rabo has been discredited as much as Ahmed was, and should, therefore, embrace the same fate: resign or be sacked. In more civilised climes, Rabo and Ahmed would have simply thrown in the towel, having been proved to be fraudulent.

What of the proposed retrial? Is it normal to try an accused person twice for the same charge? I am not learned, therefore, I will not question her lordship’s discretion in this. But suppose after going through the whole hog of a retrial in another court, Iyan-Tama is adjudged guilty again, would he be sentenced again (maybe for ten years!) in prison? Would that be justice?

Will Iyan-Tama be compensated for his recent illegal imprisonment? Or did he suffer for nothing? Iyan-Tama’s lawyer, Suleiman Abdulkadir, SAN, had stated that if at all a retrial was to be ordered, the government should pay N100 million as compensation to his client. I hear that the Shekarau government had feared that Iyan-Tama would demand a compensation for his unjust arraignment, hence the decision to jail him. Now the word going round is that they have dangled the sword of Damocles of the retrial option over his neck for the same purpose. If these claims are true, I doubt if that’s the best way to institute Shari’ah law in our society.

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Published in LEADERSHIP today

Tsare Iyan-Tama: Sabon Zubin Zalunci

BUD'AD'D'IYAR WASIK'A ZUWA GA MALAM IBRAHIM SHEKARAU

Daga IBRAHIM SHEME


Mai Girma Gwamna,
NA rubuto maka wannan bud'ad'd'iyar wasik'a ne saboda na yi amanna da cewa za ta fi saurin isa gare ka maimakon in bi hanyar da ku ka tsara, saboda ina da magana mai buk'atar sauri. Idan na mik'a wasik'ar a ofishin ka, za ta iya d'aukar kwanaki da yawa ko ma watanni kafin ta isa gare ka, kuma kafin lokacin ba za ka iya samun bayani na hak'ik'a ta kafa mai zaman kan ta ba kan tantagaryar zaluncin da wasu jami’an ka su ke aikatawa da sunan ka. Na biyu, tun tuni ma ake ta zancen a majalisun hira a tsawon watanni da su ka gabata. Yanzu akwai alamun an jingine maganar ta hanyar wata shari’a wadda ko kad'an ba ta da kan-gado, inda wasu masu fushi da fushin wani su ka yi amfani da ak'idar ka ta aiki bisa doka da oda, da tausayin talakawa, da rashin yaudara da kuma tanadodin Musulunci. Bugu da k'ari, buga wannan wasik'ar a bainar jama’a zai ba wa duk wani mai sha’awar sanin abin da ake ciki damar samun k'arin haske kan d'aya daga cikin muhimman al’amuran da ke gudana a gwamnatin ka.

Ran ka ya dad'e, ina da cikakkar masaniya kan wannan lamari, ba kawai don ina biye da maganar a kotun majistare ta Kano inda aka kai ta ba, a’a har ma saboda ni d'an cikin gida ne a al’amuran sana’ar finafinan Hausa. Ba sai na nanata maka ba cewa Kano ce cibiyar finafinan Hausa a sama da shekara goma da aka yi ana yin sana’ar.

Na tabbatar da cewa ba za ka rasa masaniya ba kan shari’ar da ake tafkawa tsakanin Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta Jihar Kano (KSCB) da wani furodusan fim ba mai suna Alhaji Hamisu Lamid'o Iyan-Tama. Ran ka ya dad'e, Iyan-Tama d'an asalin Kano ne wanda ya taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen ciyar da harkar finafinan Hausa gaba, sannan kuma d'an wasa ne d'an sahun gaba. Hasali ma dai shi ne shugaban farko da aka zab'a na K'ungiyar Masu Shirya Finafinai ta Arewa (AFPAN). Kowa ya san cewa bai tab'a shirya fim ko kuma ya fito a fim d'in da za a yi Allah-wadai da shi ba, wato wanda ya sab'a wa kyawawan al’adun jama’ar Kano ko addinin Musulunci. Duk rol d'in da zai yi a fim, za ka taras na manyantaka ne; ya kan nace kan lallai a yi fim da ya dace da al’adun mu, sannan shi mutum ne mai bin doka. Finafinan sa sun ci manyan kyaututtukan girmamawa.

Ran ka ya dad'e, idan har ka samu damar karanta wannan wasik'ar a yau, to Iyan-Tama ya kwana biyu a gidan yarin Kano, domin a ran Talata wata kotun majistare ta yanke masa hukunci kan abin da ta kira laifuffuka guda biyu, bayan an shafe watanni ana yawo da hankali a kes d'in. A hukuncin da kotun ta zartas, Iyan-Tama zai shafe wata uku a tsare ba tare da zab'in biyan tara ba. Haka kuma zai biya mak'udan kud'i na tara ko kuma ya yi zaman kaso na tsawon shekara d'aya.

Yawancin mu da ke sa ido kan lamarin ba za mu damu ba ko kad'an da hukuncin in da a ce da gaske Hamisu ya aikata laifuffukan. Ni d'in nan na yarda da bin doka da oda, domin hakan shi ne ginshik'in d'orewar mulkin dimokirad'iyya. Ba wanda ya fi k'arfin doka. In an yi amfani da wannan tsarin ne dimokirad'iyya za ta iya d'orewa kuma k'asa za ta samu zaman lafiya. To amma gaskiyar magana ita ce, Hukumar Tace Finafinai ce ta k'irk'iri laifukan da aka ce Iyan-Tama ya aikata, sannan wani alk'ali mai goyon bayan hukumar, wanda kuma ya yi k'aurin suna wajen d'aure duk wani wanda aka gurfanar a gaban sa, ko da bai da laifi, shi ne ya yanke masa wannan d'anyen hukuncin. Wani abin ban-damuwa shi ne ana tafka wannan aika-aikar ne da sunan tanadojin nan masu tsarki na Shari’ar Musulunci. Daga fahimta ta da abubuwan da ke fitowa daga bakin ka da ganin wasu abubuwan da ka aikata, har yanzu ban amince ba da cewa kai d'in nan za ka goyi bayan zalunci ta kowace fuska ko kuma ka bar wani ya na saka siyasa cikin shari’ar Musulunci don ya ci mutuncin jama’a cikin son rai.

’Yallab'ai, bari in d'an fad'a maka abin da ya faru. Jami’an Hukumar Tace Finafinai sun kama Iyan-Tama a ofishin sa a Kano, su ka kai shi kotun tafi-da-gidan- ka wadda aka kafa don yi wa ’yan fim da marubuta shari’a (aka fad'ad'a zuwa duk wani nau’i na rubutu). Abin mamaki, babu wata kotu irin ta; babu kotun ’yan acab'a ko ta karuwai ko ta ’yan caca ko ta ’yan luwad'i, da sauran su. An tuhumi Iyan-Tama da "laifuffuka" guda biyu:

1. Sakin fim d'in sa na ‘Tsintsiya’ a Kano ba tare da Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta amince da shi ba kamar yadda doka ta tanada;

2. Gudanar da kamfanin shirya fim mai suna Iyan-Tama Multimedia, ba tare da yin rajista da gwamnati ba.

To amma duk wad'annan tuhumar, k'arya ne, kuma lauyan sa ya yi k'ok'arin nuna wa alk'ali Alhaji Mukhtar Ahmed hakan. An d'auki watanni kafin a yanke hukuncin, wanda ya yi matuk'ar girgiza yawancin mazaunan Kano da wajen ta.

Bari mu fara da tuhuma ta biyu. An yi wa kamfanin Iyan-Tama Multimedia rajista da gwamnati wato a Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), wadda ke da alhakin yi wa dukkan kamfanoni rajista a Nijeriya. Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta Kano ta ce wai Iyan-Tama bai sabunta rajistar sa ta shekara-shekara da ita ba. Wannan ma k'arya ce domin watanni kafin a kama shi, ya sayi fom d'in har an ba shi rasid'ai. To wanda ya yi wannan yunk'urin ai ya na kan hanyar yin rajistar ne kuma bai yi kama da wanda ke k'ok'arin karya dokar yin fim a Kano ba. Kuma ya na da amincewar gwamnatin tarayya.
Tuhuma ta farko ma ta fi ban-haushi. Ran ka ya dad'e, Iyan-Tama bai saki fim d'in ‘Tsintsiya’ a Kano ba. Hasali ma dai ya yi tallace-tallace da hirarraki a rediyo da jaridu kafin a k'addamar da fim d'in a Abuja, inda ya fito k'arara ya ce ba za a saki fim d'in a Jihar Kano ba.

A lokacin da Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta yanke shawarar "koya wa Iyan-Tama darasi," jami’an ta sun karya shagon saida finafinai na HRB da ke unguwar Tarauni a Kano, su ka samo faifan sidi na fim d'in, wanda wani d'an wasan fim ya b'oye cikin durowar teburi wanda ya ce a Kaduna ya sayo shi da nufin zai ba wa wata mai sha’awar finafinan sa. Ba wai an kasa sidi d'in don sayarwa ba. B'ullar sa a Kano bai da wata alak'a da Iyan-Tama. Idan ka karanta takardun kotu inda lauyoyi ke yi wa jami’an Hukumar Tace Finafinai su biyu tambayoyi a gaban alk'ali, za ka yarda d'ari bisa d'ari cewa ba a tabbatar da cewa Iyan-Tama ne ya kawo faifan sidi d'in wannan shagon ba.

A bayyane ya ke cewa shari’ar Iyan-Tama ramuwar gayya ce kurum. Wani b'angare ne na yunk'urin yak'i da wasu ’yan fim ko ta halin k'ak'a wanda Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta d'aura. A gajeren tunanin hukumar, ta hanyar yin haka ne za a iya share duk wani abu na sana’ar fim da harshen Hausa. Hukumar ta na amfani da bak'ar farfaganda, ta na ba da bayanan k'arya, tare da yin ragguwar fassarar Dokar Tace Finafinai ta 2001, sannan ta na amfani da sunan Musulunci ta hanyar da ba ta Musulunci ba wajen sauya alk'iblar hanyoyin nishad'i a Kano.

Mai Girma Gwamna, duk wannan ya sab'a wa furucin ka na tabbatar da adalci. Kuma hakan ya haifar da abubuwa marasa dad'i ga gwamnatin ka da kai kan ka, wad'anda zan fad'a maka su yanzu tare da duk girmamawa a gare ka.

Ya Girma Gwamna, yak'in da ake yi da sana’ar fim a Kano, ana yin sa ne da sunan Shari’ar Musulunci, to amma ko kad'an ba Musulunci ba ne. Wad'anda ke yin yak'in sun yi gangami ne su na furta kalaman Alk'ur’ani mai tsarki da Sunnar Manzo, to amma abubuwan da su ke aikatawa kai ka ce Hitla ne ya ce su aikata shi. Babu wani abu da su ka aikata kan ’yan fim da ya nuna cewa sun bi nasihohin Annabi Muhammadu (SAW). Kamar yadda na fad'a a sama, tsarin da su ke bi na halaka sana’ar fim ta na da illa matuk'a, ba wai kawai ga ’yan fim ba har ma ga gwamnatin Jihar Kano. Zan d'an bayyana wasu daga cikin illolin yanzu:

1. An jefa dubban matasa cikin rashin aikin yi bayan kuwa a da su ne su ke sama wa kan su hanyoyin abinci, wanda hakan ya shafe su tare da iyalan su. Ba a sama masu wasu hanyoyin na daban ba domin samun abinci. Mayak'an ka su kan ce, "Ina ruwan mu da su? Ai yawancin su ba ’yan Kano ba ne!" To amma hakan ya sab'a wa k'ok'arin gwamnatin ka na sama wa d'imbin matasan Kano da aikin yi.

2. Yak'in ya kawo koma-baya ga tattalin arzikin Kano wanda da ma ya na cikin garari. Da yake manyan kamfanonin Kano duk sun durk'ushe, kamata ya yi a gina harkar fim ta yadda za ta kasance mai dogaro da kan ta, kuma wadda ta dace da al’adun Kano da dokokin hukuma. Maimakon a yi hakan, sai aka koma ana kashe ta.

3. An haifar da fargaba da rashin sanin alk'iblar rayuwa a zukatan matasan, kuma da yawan su sun koma ’yan maula.

4. An haifar da k'in Shekarau a zukatan matasan. Hujja ita ce irin wak'ok'in b'atanci da ke ta bayyana daga situdiyoyin wak'ok'in finafinai a Kano, Zariya da Kaduna. Da fari, irin wad'annan wak'ok'in su na sukar Hukumar Tace Finafinai ne, to amma yanzu akalar su ta sauya har su na had'owa da gwamna da iyalin sa. Kai, wak'ar da ta fi yin fice a wannan fagen ma, an shirya ta ne a situdiyon da wani na hannun daman ka ya mallaka, to amma Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta kasa yin komai a kai saboda shi mai situdiyon ba ya tab'o a gare ta. Wannan tsanar da ake yi wa Shekarau ta na ta k'aruwa kuma za ta iya kasancewa bak'ar guguwa ga jam’iyyar ANPP a zab'en da za a yi a shekarar 2011 a Jihar Kano.

5. An fara yin shakku kan manufa da kuma alk'iblar yekuwar Shariar Musulunci, wadda miliyoyin jama’a su ka runguma. Duk shugaban da ke yin nasihar adalci da gyaran tarbiyya, bai kamata ya hana dubban matasa hanyoyin samun abincin su ba.

Ran ka ya dad'e, ina daga cikin masu goyon bayan shirin ka na gyaran zamantakewar jama’a ta yadda za su yi daidai da al’adu da tanadodin addinin da jama’ar mu ke bi. Shi ya sa na ke goyon bayan shirin gwamnatin ka na A Daidaita Sahu, wanda abokin mu Malam Bala Muhammad ke aiwatarwa cikin ban-sha’awa da kuma samun cikakkar nasara. To amma Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta na warware duk wata tufka da A Daidaita Sahu ta cimma nasarar yi. Gaba d'aya tsarin a baud'e ya ke, kuma ana aiwatar da shi a kan tafarkin mugunta da ramuwa da rashin jin k'ai. Ya kauce wa duk wani tsari na ya-kamata.

Mun yarda da cewa sana’ar finafinai ta shiga rud'u wanda ya kamata a gyara ta a cikin shekarun baya. Hakan ya k'ara bayyana ne bayan b'ullar majigin batsa na Hiyana. To amma akwai buk'atar a jawo shugabanni na sosai na industiri d'in don a samu nasara. Maimakon haka, sai Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta ture su gefe d'aya, ta jawo wasu ’yan koren ta, sannan ta na shirya tarurruka na yaudara da rainin wayo, har ma da shirya dina don magoya bayan ta su zo su ci abinci. Ba shakka, wannan tsarin na raba kan jama’a da farfaganda irin ta ’yan Nazi da hukumar ke yi ba abin da ya haifar sai bala’o’i, sannan an samu gazawa a wajen gyaran tarbiyyar industirin finafinan Hausa.

Har yanzu ana sayar da finafinai da fosta-fosta na batsa a Kano. Haka kuma, ’yan k'alilan d'in finafinan Hausa da magoya bayan Hukumar Tace Finafinan su ka shirya (tare da amincewar hukumar don a b'oye k'aryar cewa ba kashe sana’ar fim ake yi ba) ba su da wani bambanci da irin finafinan da hukumar ta ke ik'irarin cewa marasa inganci ne. Don Allah, finafinai masu inganci kuma "wad'anda sun dace da tarbiyya", guda nawa ne aka shirya a k'ark'ashin jagorancin Hukumar Tace Finafinan tun daga lokacin da majigin Hiyana ya fito?

Ran ka ya dad'e, za ka yarda da ni idan na ce maka ainihin dabarar shirin fim ba aba ce mai illa ba, don haka bai kamata a kashe ta ba. Za a iya shirya finafinai kan jigogin rayuwa iri-iri wad'anda su ka dace da al’adun mu. Kamata ya yi a yi wa ’yan fim jagora, ba wai a rik'a yi masu b'atanci ba ko kuma a yi masu korar kare daga gari.

Ran ka ya dad'e, Hamisu Iyan-Tama dai fursunan siyasa ne: ya yi adawa da kai lokacin zab'en 2007 ta hanyar fitowa takarar gwamna shi ma. Ai bai ma yi maka wata barazana ba. Kai aka k'ara zab'a. To amma saboda tsaurin idon da su ke ganin ya yi na yin takara da kai, jami’an ka su na hukunta shi. Sun ce wai shi mutum ne mai cika baki, mai surutu kuma wai ya na sukar gwamnatin ka. To mun ji, shin su d'in ba masu cika baki ba ne, su na yin abu sai ka ce sun fi kowa iko a duniya? Shin ba sa kallon duk wani wanda bai yarda da ra’ayin su ba a matsayin abokin gaba ko su kafirta shi, ko maras bin biyayya gare su, ko su ce ai ba d'an Kano ba ne ko kuma bai san ainihin abin da ake ciki ba? Shin wannan ba babbar d'agawa ba ce?

Kuma ma ko da a ce Iyan-Tama na da cika baki ko kuma abokin adawar ka ne na siyasa, shin hakan hujja ce ta hukunta shi da zaman gidan yari duk da yake bai karya doka ba? Shin ya yi maka illa a siyasance irin illar da masu surutan nan ke yi maka a gidan Rediyon Freedom? Shin a ina dimokirad'iyyar da ake ta magana ta ke? Shin ko Manzon Allah (SAW) ko wani daga cikin halifofin sa ko d'imbin tabi’an da su ka biyo bayan su za su bi irin wannan hanyar don hukunta abokin adawa?

Mai Girma Gwamna, ya kamata ka binciki wannan al’amari na Iyan-Tama, don Allah, musamman rawar da alk'alin da ya d'aure shi ya taka a shari’ar da sauran shari’un zalunci da ya yi wa masu sana’ar fim. Kuma don me za a ce kotu ta na yi wa wata hukumar gwamnati aiki? Don me alk'ali d'aya ne kad'ai zai rik'a yin duk wata shari’a da ta had'o da Hukumar Tace Finafinai bayan an ga sau da yawa ya nuna inda bakin sa ya karkata? Shin wannan mutum ne mai tsoron Allah ko kuwa d'an siyasa mai k'ullatar jama’a?

Ka yi amfani da k'arfin mulkin ka ka fitar da Iyan-Tama daga k'angin da aka saka shi a ciki ta hanyar janye k'arar da ku ke yi da shi a kotu. Na san ka na da zuciyar yin hakan domin ai ka tab'a yin irin haka a wasu al’amura da su ka had'o da kai, ciki kuwa har da wanda ya had'o da b'atancin da aka yi wa maid'akin ka. Kada ka bari wasu mutane ’yan d'oki wad'anda ka ba muk'amai su rik'a yak'ar abokan adawar ka ta hanyar zalunci domin kuwa Gobe K'iyama za ka amsa tambayoyin ka ne yayin da za su amsa nasu daban da naka.

’Yallab'ai, zan tsaya nan sai nan gaba za mu k'ara yin wannan magana da sauran maganganu a nan gaba. Ni ne mai biyayya a gare ka, kuma mai ba ka shawara tagari. Wassalam.

(Wannan fassara ce na sharhin Turanci da na yi kwanan baya. An wallafa wannan na Hausan a jaridar LEADERSHIP HAUSA ta ranar Juma'a da ta wuce)

Iyan-Tama: Another Case Of Injustice

AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR IBRAHIM SHEKARAU

Your Excellency,
I am sending this letter to you through an open forum because I believe it will get to you faster than through the formal ones, given the urgency the matter requires. If I had to submit the letter at your office it could take days, or even months, before it could reach you, and by that time you might not have been fully briefed by an independent source on the gargantuan injustice some of your appointees are committing on your behalf.

Secondly, the matter has since been in the public domain, generating such a storm of negative publicity in the last few months. Now it appears to have been settled through a dubious process of adjudication, which some self-serving zealots have pinned on the canvass of your administration’ s well publicized mantra of humanism, non-deceit and Islamic values. Moreover, writing publically would give anyone interested in the issue an insight into what is happening in a key aspect of your government.

Sir, I am very conversant with this case, not only because I have been following it up in the magistrate’s court in Kano where it was exhausted but also because I am an insider in the Hausa filmmaking business. I do not have to stress here that Kano has been the hub of Hausa filmmaking for the over 10 years since the trade began.

I am very certain that you are not totally unaware of the court case between the Kano State Censorship Board (KSCB) and a movie producer, Alhaji Hamisu Lamido Iyan-Tama. The latter, Your Excellency, is an indigene of your state who played a key role in the development of Hausa filmmaking, doubling as an A-list actor. Indeed, he was the first elected national president of Arewa Film Producers Association. It is a well known fact that he has never produced or acted in a movie that ran counter to the cultural and religious beliefs of Kano people. His roles have consistently been mature; he insists on quality of production, sensitivity in the representation of culture in the movies, and he is always law-abiding. His movies have won top awards.

Your Excellency, if you are opportune to read this letter today, Iyan-Tama has spent two days in Kano Prison so far, having been indicted on Tuesday on two offences by a magistrate court that had played adabracadbra with his case for the past few months. By the court’s ruling, he is going to spend three months in jail without an option of fine. In addition, he is to pay a huge fine or spend an additional year in jail.

Many of us observers would not have batted an eyelid over this verdict if the offences had truly been committed. I for one believe in the rule of law, knowing that it is the cardinal principle of any workable democracy. Nobody should be above the law. Observing this rule is one of the requirements for the survival of democracy and a guarantee for the well-being of the nation. The truth, however, is that the offences for which Iyan-Tama was “found guilty” were cooked up by the Censorship Board and the guilty verdict passed by a compromised judge best known for jailing anyone dragged before him even if innocent. The not-so-funny thing is that this atrocity is perpetrated under your name and the hallowed provisions of the Islamic Shari’ah law. From my reading of your pronouncements and personal attitude, I am yet to be convinced that you would support injustice in whichever mode or allow anyone to play politics with the Islamic law in order to settle some personal score.

Let me summarise the case for you, Sir. Iyan-Tama was arrested in his office in Kano by members of a task force from the KSCB and taken to the mobile court established to adjudicate on matters of filmmaking and book writing (widened to include all forms of publications) . Curiously, the court is the only one of its kind; there are no special courts for achaba, prostitution, gambling, homosexuality, etc. Iyan-Tama was charged on two “offences”:

1. Releasing his movie, “Tsintsiya” (meaning Broom) in Kano without having it vetted by the KSCB as required by law;

2. Operating a production company, Iyan-Tama Multimedia, without government registration.

Now all these counts are false and his attorney did work hard to convince the senior magistrate, Alhaji Mukhtar Ahmed, to believe so. It took months before the verdict, which has shocked most residents of Kano State and beyond, was passed.

Let’s begin with the second charge. Iyan-Tama Multimedia was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which is vested with the responsibility of registering all companies in Nigeria. KSCB insists that Iyan-Tama did not renew his annual registration with the Board. Again, this was proved to be false as he had filed an application on that months before his arrest and obtained the relevant receipts. Having made that move while operating a federally approved business venture did not speak of a lawless business man eager to flout the provisions of running a filmmaking venture in Kano.

The first charge was even more absurd. Your Excellency, Iyan-Tama did not release the said movie in Kano State. He even ran advertorials and did radio and newspaper interviews prior to the movie’s premiere in Abuja, in which he stated unequivocally that “Tsintsiya” would not be distributed in Kano State.

When the KSCB decided to “deal with Iyan-Tama”, members of its task force broke a shop, HRB, in Tarauni quarters of Kano and obtained a CD of the movie, hidden inside a desk drawer by an actor who says he bought it in Kaduna and wanted to give it to a fan. The CD was not displayed for sale. Its presence in Kano was not linked to Hamisu Iyan-Tama. If you read the transcript of the cross-examination of the KSCB’s two witnesses (the task force members) in court, you will believe without any doubt that they could not link Hamisu to the presence of that CD in that shop.

Clearly, the case against Iyan-Tama was a vendetta. It was a part of the “get him at all cost” campaign which the KSCB seems to be running against some selected film industry operators. KSCB’s warped thinking is that through this campaign it could help wipe out the whole idea of movie -making in the Hausa language. It uses crude propaganda, trades in misinformation, unleashes a deliberate misinterpretation of the 2002 Censorship Law, and brandishes the name of Islam in its entirely unIslamic approach to reforming the entertainment arena in Kano. Your Excellency, all this is against your avowed commitment to social justice. And it comes with a high price, which I will, with all due respect, Sir, tell you.

Your Excellency,

The war against filmmaking in Kano is wearing the toga of Shariah, however it is anything but Islamic. Those waging it are fellow conspirators mouthing the words of the holy Qur’an and the Sunnah but acting the script of Hitler. There is nothing in their actions that proves a commitment to the hallowed blandishments of the holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW). As I said last week, the systematic, violent strangulation of the movie industry is coming at great cost, not only to the industry’s operators but also to the Kano State government. I shall enumerate some of the high prices being paid:

1. Thousands of self-employed youths have been thrown out of work, with all the attendant difficulties faced by them and their families. They have not been provided with alternative means of earning a livelihood. “To hell with them,” your warriors would say, “half of them are not Kano indigenes!” But it goes against the grain of your administration’s stated commitment to providing jobs to the multitude of Kano youths.

2. The war is a drag on Kano’s already dismal economy. With the collapse of most of the manufacturing industries in the state, the movie industry should have been harnessed towards a viable, self-sustaining enterprise within acceptable moral and legal bounds. Instead, the strangled baby is being thrown out with the bath water.
3. A dark cloud of fear and uncertainty has enveloped the youths, with stakeholders turned into virtual beggars (’yan maula).

4. A rash of anti-Shekarau sentiment has been unleashed among the youths. This is visible in folk songs being produced in movie studios in Kano, Zaria and Kaduna. Initially the songs were targeted at the Kano State Censorship Board (KSCB) but they are now including the governor in their attacks. The most popular of such songs was written, composed to music and published in a studio owned by a very close political confidante of yours, yet the KSCB did not find it necessary to act on this because the sponsor of the studio is an ‘untouchable’.

This anti-Shekarau sentiment is gaining momentum and could well translate into a liability for ANPP in the 2011 general elections in the state.

5. Questions are being asked on the purpose and direction of your Shariah campaign, which millions embraced. A leader preaching equity and moral rebirth should not deny thousands of the young ones their means of earning a meal.

Your Excellency, I am a believer in sanitisation of society and inculcation of moral values in tandem with the beliefs and customs of the people. Hence my full support of your government’s Societal Reorientation Programme (A Daidaita Sahu), which our good friend Malam Bala Muhammad has been heading most admirably and with tremendous success. But the censorship regime in Kano is undoing what A Daidaita Sahu has accomplished. Reeling precariously on a wrong track, its approach is malicious and personalised. It has derailed from any moral, practical yardstick.

Granted that the Hausa movie industry has had some disturbing excesses that needed to be checked. This was even more expedient after the Hiyana Affair. But the involvement of the genuine leaders of the industry was a necessity if any success was to be achieved. Instead, they were excommunicated by the KSCB, which went ahead to create enclaves of fake loyalists, host diversionary dinners and organise purposeless talk-shows. No wonder the divide and rule tactics, the bitter carrots and stick method and the Nazi-style propaganda executed by the board have only created cataclysms and woeful failures in the task of sanitising the industry.

Pornographic movies and posters are still on sale in Kano. Also, most of the trickle Hausa movies produced by the so-called loyalists of KSCB and approved by the board (to hide the lie that filmmaking isn’t being killed) cannot pass an independent assessment, using the board’s own yardstick. Pray, how many qualitative, morally “acceptable” movies were produced under KSCB’s watch since the Hiyana Affair?
Sir, you will agree with me that the idea of filmmaking itself is not an anathema and should, therefore, not be killed. Movies can be made on all sorts of themes in line with cultural norms. Moviemakers should be guided, not denigrated or hounded out of town.

Sir, Hamisu Iyan-Tama is a political prisoner: he opposed you in the 2007 polls by contesting your gubernatorial seat. He didn’t pose any significant threat to you. You were re-elected. Yet for his effrontery, your appointees are punishing him. They say he is a braggart, pompous, talks too much and criticizes your administration. Fine and good, are they not bigger braggarts and even more pompous, acting as if they are almighty? Don’t they consider anyone who questions their decisions as an enemy or even an unbeliever, disloyal, or a non-indigene ignorant of all the issues involved? How more supercilious could one be?

And even if Iyan-Tama was a braggart or was your political opponent, was that enough basis to punish him with a jail term when he did not break any law? Is he as damaging to you as those angry talking heads on Freedom Radio? Where is the democracy we are talking about? Would the Prophet (SAW) or any of his rightly guided caliphs or the sundry righteous men that trod on their path treat an opponent that way?

Your Excellency, you should probe the Iyan-Tama case, please, especially the role of the magistrate that handled it and other cases of injustice. Why should a court be working for a prosecuting government agency? Why should a single magistrate who has shown his bias more times than can be counted remain the only judge on each and every case the KSCB is prosecuting? Is the man a God-fearing adjudicator or a mere grumpy politician?

You should also use your good offices to free Iyan-Tama by entering a nolle prosequi in the appeal case he filed before a higher court. I know you have such a big heart because you acted that way in similar cases, including the one in which your wife was maligned. You should not allow your zesty hirelings to fight your opponents unjustly because on the Day of Reckoning they will answer their own cases separately from yours.

Sir, till we talk on this and some other cases again, I remain your most humble observer and adviser.

ABOVE IS THE TEXT OF MY WEEKLY COLUMN PUBLISHED IN LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER, ABUJA, YESTERDAY (AND CONCLUDED THE FOLLOWING THURSDAY)

Censorship in Kano

Some Preliminary Thoughts





I have restrained myself from commenting on the new regime of censorship in Kano (the latest I mean, which affects writers) because I had wanted to study the trend of opinion among the writers themselves. Being an author, my first reaction was one of anger, anger against those that work to emasculate intellectualism in Hausa land.

Kano is too important to ignore when it comes to intellectualism and creativity. It is the hub of intellectualism in Hausa land - an enviable position it seized from my native Katsina State. It is as the saying goes - when Kano sneezes, other Hausa cities catch cold immediately. Little surprise, then, that when movie making was banned for six months last year, the ripples were felt all over Northern Nigeria.

I have found myself caught between the extremes of the two stages of censorship unfurled by the Kano State Censorship Board. As a filmmaker myself, and publisher of the leading Hausa movie magazine, I was directly affected by the ban on moviemaking and the subsequent measures that were announced with the clear (though hidden) motive of emasculating the young, albeit vibrant film industry. Many of my close friends were affected; they were thrown out of work. I knew that most of them depended on the movie market to fend for themselves and even feed their kith and kin. They thus added to the army of the unemployed in Kano State. The government of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau (pictured above) has done little to reduce poverty through job-creation for the youths. I was told it employed many driving the A Daidaita Sahu motor-scooters and others in serving the quasi-police agency Hisba. But by banning filmmaking, it created a big market of unemployed youths, this time with young girls as half of the number of victims.

The level of discontent among the populace is unquantifiable.

Now that the censors are preparing to punish unregistered authors, I am caught in the centre again. Being a Hausa author myself (NB: I won the biggest Hausa writers' award with my novel "'Yartsana'), I felt doubly certain that part of the new legislation was directed at me! Of course, I am not the sole target. Everyone else is a target. In fact, I could even be considered a distant target, having not depend on book writing for a living. But the truth is that any writer worth his salt on the globe is a victim of the attack on creativity by a regime anywhere on earth.

The censors have no moral standing to prescribe a moral yardstick for authors because if they were to be judged using the same yardstick, many of them would be sent to jail first. The kind of stories one gets to hear about government officials in Kano, many of them verifiable, you would be at your wit's end trying to decipher the purpose of the current onslaught. Here are people who have failed to provide basic amenities for the common people, but they are using religion to attack others.

Can't those victimised use religion to fight back? This question is important in settling scores in the matter. No government official should consider himself holier than the next person just because he has money to employ hungry malams as radio propagandists. For, religious sentiments were used copiously to overcome filmmakers. The same sentiments have begun to be used by Malam Abubakar Rabo, the Director-General of the Censorship Board, against the authors. In the coming weeks and months, be sure to hear him on radio and TV using moral dogma to belittle and tar the authors.

The Hausa writers should not fear to fight this war. They should assemble their own Qur'anic surahs and the Prophetic hadiths against the unjust rulers and pretenders in order to defend themselves. They should visit radio and TV stations to speak out. They may be gagged there because government happens to be the biggest advertiser, but then they should use the independent media all over the world to expose the hypocrisy embedded in the ongoing war against intellectualism. Their war should be waged against the avalanche of intolerance and insensitivity which seems to be increasingly cultivated by some minority elements within the Kano State government.

They may not be rich enough in material resources to fight, but their ideas and their tenacity of purpose will be of great benefit to them. They are going to be supported by all persons of conscience. They should watch out against fifth columnists among themselves who shall be easily bought with cheap porridge by the censors.

Above all, they should be consoled by the knowledge that power is transient. Shekarau and all those book burners will not be in power forever. By 2011 there shall be a general election and Shekarau will not only go away but also fade away like an old tale. Even if he manages to plant a lackey/stooge as the next state governor, he would not have the guarantee that his interests would be safeguarded perpetually. It happened in Zamfara and many other states of the federation. And even if his stooge remains loyal to him, that stooge would one day leave. Remember that Dr Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, whom he defeated in 2003, was the most powerful governor Kano ever had, but where is he now? Is he not in the Siberia of political power even though he had been rewarded with a ministerial post by Obasanjo?

How I wish I could join this war. But I will not. I have only expressed my mind - for the records. My weapons shall remain in their armoury because I have friends in the Kano government. My heart will, however, remain with my friends the authors and the filmmakers. If the war degenerates, I shall fight. But on a different pitch from where both the dog the monkey shall be bloodied.

I have spoken. Ma'assalam.