Federal High Court strikes down Kano State Censorship Board’s objections; MOPPAN’s Lawsuit will go on

Posted on March 27, 2009 | 3 comments

Excuse me if I do not use the correct legal terminology in this post. I’m new to the court scene and slowly learning…

Yesterday, the Federal High Court struck down the objections filed by the defence in MOPPAN’s lawsuit against the Kano State Censorship Board, the Executive Director/Director General of the KSCB Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim, and the Kano State House of Assembly,  (I’m not sure if the National Film and Video Censors Board is still being included in the lawsuit, since there were attourneys representing only three of the bodies) meaning that the lawsuit will continue. The court will meet again regarding this on May 20.

This is the first court proceedings I have attended for this particular lawsuit, so I’m not as familiar with the case as I was the Iyan-Tama case. However, according to my January 27, 2009  interview with Dr. Ahmad Sarari , Vice President of MOPPAN,  the motivation for the lawsuit was as follows:

What principally we needed was an injunction restraining Kano State Censors Board from attacking, harassing, humiliating and imprisoning our members. We dragged four bodies to the court.  One is National Film and Video Censor’s Board for issuing a license to our members which gives them the right to exhibit, to sell, and show their films throughout Nigeria, yet a particular state attacks or arrests them for doing that, and they have not come out and said anything. Is the registration they issue our members fake or does it not have jurisdiction in Kano? So here I’m saying there’s a clash between the national and the state jurisdiction of two boards. What we understand in accordance with discussion with our lawyers is that when there is a clash between state and federal law, the federal law takes precedence, so does the interpretation of that in the court. We dragged the Kano State Censors Board to court for its action. We dragged the DG of the Kano State Censor’s Board for the guidelines he issued out which we believe are quite unconstitutional. They contradict some fundamental human rights because the guidelines are too stringent and are quite unbearable. And we dragged the speaker, Kano State House of Assembly for allowing the section of the law establishing the board which contradicts national law. We need them to review the law. We have to look at the laws establishing the board because most of them contradict national laws.  That’s why we dragged the four of them to the court.

 

The case was going fine in the court. We brought our evidence. They said we had to exclude the DG of the censor’s board out of the case. Our lawyer vehemently defended that he had to be in. They said we had to include the Kano State government. We said we sued Censor’s Board and the state house of assembly, because the state assembly are the lawmakers, so Kano State Government is automatically included in the case. He slated 26 of October for the final ruling of the case, and unfortunately [Sarari laughs]… there was this strike [of court workers]. They just resumed this month. So we are just urging our lawyer to find which date are they going to give, and we are very much hoping that the ruling is going to go in our favour.

 

Yesterday, 26 March 2009,I arrived in the court a bit later than noon, but there was another case in process: a series of rather pitiful looking men in frayed clothing accused of being “Indian hemp” dealers, including a very, very old man with a white beard and blind in one eye who was the only one among them who seemed to speak English. (There was a translator for the rest.) “I am guilty, your worship,” he said, after the charges were read. The judge spoke up, “This is an appeal case,” the judge says. “You can plead not guilty.” “I’m guilty” he maintained several times, until the judge told him he could sit down.  I probably looked quite sympathetic to them, so during a break in the proceedings, the old man who I was sitting quite close to asked me if I were from the BBC and asked me for money. I felt bad, but said sorry, and moved over to the side of the room where the Kannywood folk were seated.

 

The MOPPAN case started around 1:30pm. The judge read a summary of the previous accusations and appeals (sorry, I know I don’t have the legal terminology down). Apparently, the defense had objected to the individual inclusion of the director general/executive director of the Kano State censorship board in the lawsuit. Since I was at the back of the courtroom and there was no mic, I couldn’t quite follow everything the judge was saying, but it seems that there was some confusion over the terminology used for Rabo in the lawsuit/defense. Apparently, the censorship law makes provision for an “executive director,” while Rabo calls himself the “director general.”  The judge said that regardless of which terminology was used, it was clear that MOPPAN was intending to sue the author of the “guidelines.”

 

Another objection was apparently that MOPPAN had not obtained leave to sue one of the bodies. The judge said he cannot strike it out just because they did not obtain leave.

 

Another objection was that they should include the Kano State government in the lawsuit. The judge said that no one can be forced to sue a body they do not wish to sue.  

 

My description is quite sketchy since this is my first time attending one of the proceedings; however, the basic gist is that the judge struck down the objections of the defendants and said that the lawsuit would continue. The mood after dismissal was bouyant. Among the surprisingly large number Kannywood stakeholders who had come to court in support of MOPPAN, there were grins, handshakes, and congratulations all around.

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Posted in Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim, Hausa film, Kannywood, Kano State Censorship Board, Law in Northern Nigeria, Nigerian film

Raids on a film set last weekend and other developments in “Kano State Censor’s Board vs. Kannywood”

Posted on March 24, 2009 | 4 comments

[NOTE: 25 March 2009: This is a corrected version of an earlier post.]

Kannywood filmmakers have only recently begun shooting their films in Kano again. For the past several months, more and more stakeholders have gone ahead and registered individually with the Kano State Censorship Board, so that they will be able to work in Kano State instead of travelling outside to surrounding northern states. (Such travel is not ideal for filmmakers who live in Kano: several stakeholders have been killed in road accidents going to and from location, and the cost of production goes up when everyone is staying in hotels.) However, the registration process involves both the payment of a registration fee and an interview with the censorship board before an id card will be issued that gives the holder permission to work in Kano. Those I talked to about registering a month ago had a resigned air. “We have to work,” I was told over and over again. Baba Karami, producer, actor, and marketer, told me he had a family he was trying to support and he would follow the law. Another director and actor told me that although he was not going to register as a director in the state (he would keep shooting his own films outside of Kano), it would not be fair to the producers of other films he appeared in as an actor if he did not register as an actor. Apparently the Kano State Censorship Board will not allow any film in which an actor who is not registered individually with the censorship board appears to be released in Kano State. Among those I ‘ve spoken to over the last few months, there has been the feeling that registering with the Censorship Board–“following the law”–would provide them with some modicum of security from being included in the sweeping arrests of Kano film industry stake holders. A few even told me they thought the Kano State Censorship Board was trying to improve filmmaking in Kano.  However, the stakeholders I talked to yesterday–the same ones who had been resigned to registration–were angry.

According to several crew members I spoke to yesterday, last Saturday, 21 March, a film set on the outskirts of Kano State was raided by police. According to my sources, every one on the location was registered with the Kano State Censorship Board and the necessary paperwork to shoot the film in Kano had been completed. Two police vehicles showed up and police asked the director to show proof that he had registered the production with the censorship board. The director produced it. Then they began to call out crew members randomly to check if they had their Kano State censorship board identification with them. About three actors had forgotten their id cards at home. The police served them with a “court summons,” but the summons said that rather than going to the mobile court they should go to the censorship board to present their identification.(Readers, please correct me if I’ve made errors on this.) 

The feeling among those I spoke to was that with such raids on film locations the Kano State Censorship Board was not merely trying to “sanitize” the industry but “destroy” it. One  actor told me that he paid the fee to register with the censorship board three months ago, but he is yet to be called in for the interview that is necessary before he is given his registration. As seen in the Iyan-Tama case (for more explanation in the words of the director general of the censor’s board, see this interview), the magistrate court attached to the censorship board does not find proof of payment for registration acceptable proof for registration. In the case of this actor, he has tried his best to complete the paperwork and the delay in completing it is from the board. If this actor works in state, he is at risk being arrested and fined by the censorship board. There are directors who have asked him to appear in their Kano productions but he has had to turn down the work because he does not want to be arrested for not having completed his registration.

In other news, there has been a radio announcement on the government radio station, Radio Kano, that actor/director Adam Zango (who currently resides in Kaduna and was among the first to be jailed by the mobile court attached to the censorship board after the Hiyana scandel) is “wanted” by the magistrate court in Kano and that he should be brought from anywhere in the country back to Kano to pay a fine of N100,000 and continue the prison sentence he had not completed in Kano. I spoke with Zango’s manager Falalu Dorayi yesterday, who told me that an appeal has been made to the high court and Adam Zango had been given bail. He also told me that their lawyer had said they have no business with the magistrate court in Kano, since they are on appeal at the high court. According to Dorayi, the magistrate court has no authority to make such an announcement, but the announcement has succeeded in causing extra worry/danger to the “wanted” actor/director/musician and his colleagues.

I am trying to transcribe and translate the interviews I did with Dorayi and with the crew member of the film whose registered colleagues were arrested. If I complete them, I will post them on this blog.

Today I also went to the latest court case in MOPPAN’s (Motion Picture Practitioner’s Association of Nigeria) lawsuit against the Kano State Censor’s Board. I arrived late because I went with my neighbor to pay a “get well” visit to a friend, and discovered via the lawyers who were chatting outside that it has been adjourned until Thursday at noon, at the federal high court, Court Road.

For more information about the ongoing censorship crisis in Kano, see other posts:

From/On Censor’s/Critic’s perspective:

My interview with the Director General of the Censorship Board, Alhaji Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim

Kano State Censorship Board Opens a Website

The Mysterious Asabe Murtala/Muktar Writes Again

Triumph/Trust Editorial Convergences

On/From Filmmakers:

My interview with arrested editor Sulaiman Abubakar in NEXT

My Interview with Vice President of MOPPAN Dr. Ahmad Sarari

My interview with Sani Mu’azu, President of MOPPAN

On the current censorship crisis in Kano

Outside links:

Hard Times in Kannywood from NEXT

Award-winning film Lands Director in Jail from IPS

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Posted in Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim, Hausa film, Kannywood, Kano State Censorship Board, Law in Northern Nigeria, Nigerian film

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5th Jos Festival of Theatre 2009

Posted on March 20, 2009 | Leave a comment

(just recieved the following announcement via the Jos-ANA listserve. Wish I were in Jos…. Anyone in Kano want to take a trip?) 

JOS REPERTORY THEATRE

                                             presents

                       5TH JOS FESTIVAL OF THEATRE 2009

10 DAYS OF EXCITING OPPORTUNITIES TO WATCH LIVE ON STAGE

ATHOL FUGARDS WOZA ALBERT directed by Tunde Awosanmi, 20 / 21st March,

BOSE AYENI-TSEVENDE’S MORNING YET AGAIN, a musical based on the book U ARE A
POET, written and choreographed by Bose Ayeni-Tsevende, 22nd March

SPENCER OKOROAFOR’S VISA TO NOWHERE directed by Eucharia Egah, 23rd March

PHILLIP BEGHO’S SMALLIE directed by Wapi Barau, 24th March

JEAN PAUL SARTRE’S NO
EXIT directed by Patrick-Jude Oteh and supported by the
French Cultural Centre, Abuja , 25th March

ADINOYI OJO ONUKABA’S A RESTING PLACE directed by Emmanuel Degri, 26th / 27th
March

WOLE SOYINKA’S THE TRIALS OF BROTHER JERO, directed by Austin Efe Okonkwo,
28th / 29th March

……………..all plays are suitable for all ages………………….

ALL PLAYS END AT 7..15 P.M.

DATES: FRIDAY 20TH – SUNDAY 29TH MARCH, 2009

VENUE: ALLIANCE FRANCAISE, OPPOSITE STANDARD BUILDING , JOS

TIME: 5.00 P.M. DAILY

GATE: N500, STUDENTS   N 200.

PLEASE CALL 0803 700 0496, 0805 953 5215, 0803 701 8172 further enquiries

Or e.mail: josreperthea@yahoo.com for tickets.

TICKETS WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE AT THE GATE!

Jos Festival of Theatre is made possible by the FORD FOUNDATION and the French
Cultural
Centre, Abuja

PLEASE BRING A FRIEND TO THE THEATRE

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The Kano State Censorship Board opens a website

Posted on March 20, 2009 | 2 comments

[UPDATE 19 October 2013. Doing a little blog maintenance here. Unfortunately the KSCB website was taken down shortly after the Shekarau government left power in 2010. I saved the pages to my computer before it was taken down, but it is no longer available online.]

On the 18th of March I attended the Mambayya House premier of the film Yancina made under the auspices of “Promoting Women’s Rights through Shari’ah.” While chatting with Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu at the event, he informed me that the Kano State Censorship Board website, which was under construction last time I checked has finally opened.

The site is a really fantastic resource for researchers and filmmakers alike. The homepage includes an essay, which appears to be written by the director general of the board Alhaji Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim (whom I interviewed at the end of January), laying out the purposes and philosophy of the censorship board.

Also on the blog are links to the state censorship board publications including the law of 2001 and subsequent guidelines, press releases, lists of registered stakeholders, a list of registered production companies, a list of registered cinemas,  a list of registered soccer viewing centres, a list of censored books, and a list of films censored in 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008. (Noticeably absent is 2006). Another link on the website is to “articles on the Censorship board.” So far there is one article with no byline, titled “Kano Censorship and the Burden of Moral Defense.” Here are some exerpts from the article:

But when the charismatic Mal. Rabo Abdulkareem was wisely appointed as the executive secretary (110w Director General) by Mallam as a result of the infamous Hiyana saga, the name of the Kano state censorship Board became a household name.

[…]

Tasked with the burden of control and supervision of the information and ideas that are circulated in the society, the activities of the Kano state Censorship Board have already started impacting favorably and this is appreciated by the public All of a sudden tile public happily realized that the previously otiose board can now really defend their helplessly invaded morality.

The hitherto unprecedented expansion and circulation of immorality via the activities of the so called Kannywood or Hausa filmmakers was perfectly checked and stopped by the Rabo led censorship to the admiration and pleasure of the public.

The shameless and destructive activities of the filmmakers were thriving to the chagrin of’ the society to the extent that some pessimists have given up. All the pleas, calls and sermons by different groups of people to the filmmakers to effect corrections in their activities as well as their films were sternly’ rebuffed by the filmmakers. This is the reason for the euphoria that trailed Rabo’s bold move to tackle the disturbing activities of the filmmakers which was timely successful.

[…]

It is quite surprising the way some of the writers chose to confront the board in a Kannywood like manner. Even the hitherto respected among them inanely wrote many things that put their integrity to question. They sound and behave as worst as any lawless uneducated could. While the board is saying that all forms of obscenity should be stopped and that the books should conform with the culture and religion of the targeted audience in addition to the registration of the writers with the board among other things, these people are busy writing different sorts of bunkum in order to blackmail the board. All their arguments were based on subauditions, or more correctly, assumptions, and nothing more. Some of them were even proposing to take the matter up to their masters i.e. the international community in order to come to their aid, just as the Kannywood cohorts tried, as if the so called international community is that rotten.

I will likely do more analysis of the site later on this blog or in my own academic work, but I note a few interesting things:

1) On the homepage of the Censorship Board are a list of “useful links”. They include A Daidaita Sahu (the government agency for “societal reorientation”), the Sharia Commission, Gamji (a news website that focuses on northern Nigerian news), the National Film and Video Censors Board, and two newspapers, the Kano-state government owned Triumph Newspaper,  which regularly publishes pro-censorship and anti-Hausa film opinion pieces, and the Abuja-based Daily Trust, which has several times re-printed the said opinion pieces from the Triumph [as I have noted elsewhere]. Noticeably absent is the newspaper, Leadership, which most often publishes news about Kannywood and opinion pieces critical of the censorship board.  Of course, this isn’t surprising, but I do find it interesting that Triumph and Trust were the two papers chosen to be included on the list.

2) A related observation: in the “Censorship Board in the News” link, the only two articles posted (as of today) were the Open Letter to the American Embassy in Nigeria, by Asabe Murtala (later published in Trust under the name Asabe Muktar, as I point out in an earlier post), and the director general’s response to a critique of the board published in This Day.

3) I love it that the Censorship Board is making all of this information available to the public. Open access to the 2001 censorship law and related publications is especially encouraging. However, I wonder how frequently the website will be updated and how that might impact arguments the board makes in individual cases with “erring” stakeholders. For example, will the list of registered stakeholder, production companies, and censored books be updated every time a new stakeholder or production company registers and a new book is censored?  Will each company and stakeholder be removed from the list at the beginning of each year and be added back when they have paid their renewal fee for each new year?

On the whole, I find this an extremely positive development. I am encouraged by the open access to information, but also cautious about the “spin” placed on that information by the board. Of course, as I note of my own blog, it is their website, so “spin”  that presents “their” side of the story is certainly their prerogative. It’s certainly a rich resource for my own research.

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Posted in Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim, Hausa film, Kannywood, Kano State Censorship Board, Law in Northern Nigeria, Nigerian film

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Iyan-Tama granted bail, The judge calls for a new trial

Posted on March 17, 2009 | 3 comments

Yesterday, Iyan-Tama was finally granted bail after almost two and a half months in prison.

According to Abdulaziz A. Abdulaziz, in Leadership newspaper,

Delivering the judgment, Justice Umar said the court has nullified Iyan-Tama’s earlier trial, saying the trial, which was carried out by chief Magistrate Ahmad, contravened due process of litigation and was not properly conducted.

She, therefore, ordered for a retrial of the case.

The court has, however, granted the appellant bail on self-cognisance with a bond of N500, 000 pending the trial by another magistrate.

Iyan-Tama apparently is to be given no compensation for the two and a half months in prison (from the end of December until mid-March) he has  already served for the conviction after a trial, which was  “improperly conducted”  in the mobile court attached to the censorship board.

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Posted in Hausa film, Iyan-Tama, Kannywood, Kano State Censorship Board, Law in Northern Nigeria, Nigerian film

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Updates on the Iyan-Tama case and other articles on the crisis in Kannywood

Posted on March 14, 2009 | 6 comments

I’m sorry I have been scarce on this blog lately. I’ve been working at home, where I do not have internet, and then travelling (BOB TV in Abuja) so have had scanty internet access. The best place to find an overview of the latest events in the Iyan-Tama case are on the blog of my friend Abdulaziz A. Abdulaziz, where he posts the articles he writes for Leadership.

Leading up to the hearing that took place on Wednesday, March 11, (later than initially planned), one of the houses associated with Iyan-Tama was attacked. According to Abdulaziz, at the state high court hearing, the attorney general of Kano State challenged the  original ruling in the Iyan-Tama case given by magistrate Mukhtar Ahmad, the judge at the mobile court attached to the Censorship Board.

He said the trial was “improper”, “incomplete”, a “mistake” and requires retrial before a more “competent magistrate”.

“I am not in support of the conviction in this trial”, said the attorney-general, “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”, he added.

On March 16, the high court will rule on the appeal.

In other news, here is an article on the Kannywood crisis  and featuring my friend Sulaiman Abubakar published by last Sunday’s NEXT, and interviews I carried out with Sulaiman Abubakar and an edited down version of the interview I carried out with the Director General of the Censorship Board, the entire transcript of which can be found on this blog.

And finally here is an interview Abdulaziz A. Abdulaziz carried out with chairman of the actor’s guild of Nigeria, Kano chapter (this group being separate from MOPPAN) for Leadership

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Posted in Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim, Hausa film, Iyan-Tama, Kannywood, Kano State Censorship Board, Law in Northern Nigeria, Nigerian film

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Sharia Implementation in Northern Nigeria 1999-2006: A Sourcebook

Posted on February 23, 2009 | 1 comment

This weekend I met up with law scholar, Philip Ostien, who walked me through the 5 volume set (a 6th coming soon) he has edited, and which is published by Spectrum Books: Sharia Implementation in Northern Nigeria: 1999-2006: A Sourcebook. This is an amazing resource that has been made available on the  internet free of charge (in the form of pdfs) by Bayreuth University. The set includes a history of sharia implementation and reproduces important primary documents such as the Sharia Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes and other committee reports and white papers. Volume 6 focuses specifically on the legal cases of Safiyatu Hussaini and Amina Lawal, giving the details of the case that are often lost in the media hype. 

What is specifically useful for me is Volume III, which reproduces much of the censorship law, and Volume IV which reproduces the “Harmonised Sharia Criminal Procedure Code Based on the Harmonised Sharia Penal Code” put together by the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies, at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in October 2005. There are extensive footnotes which note wherever sharia law has been modified from the Penal Code of 1960, which was the magistrate law code put into place after independence in Northern Nigeria. So, although most useful for scholars of shari’a, it is also a handy reference for anyone who wants to know what a magistrate law is. Deviations from sharia should be noted in the footnotes and can be followed up by research on Kano State magistrate law.

The Volumes are as follows:

Volume 1: Historical Background

Volume II: Sharia Implementation Committee Reports and Related White Papers

Volume III: Sanitizing Society (This is the volume in which the Kano State censorship laws can be found.)

Volume IV: The Sharia Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes

Volume V: Two Famous Cases (namely those of Safiyatu Hussaini and Amina Lawal)

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Posted in Law in Northern Nigeria

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Update on the Iyan-Tama Case: Bail Hearing set for 5 March

Posted on February 19, 2009 | 3 comments

I received an email today updating me on the Iyan Tama case.

An application was made for bail pending appeal, and the hearing has been set for 5 March, about two weeks from now. Also, according to the person who wrote me:

The magistrate judge is still hindering the speed of the process as the record collected by high court is half typed and nobody could read or understand his handwriting. Therefore, the record is taken back to him for type setting. Note, the special panel cannot do anything without the record.

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Posted in Hausa film, Iyan-Tama, Kano State Censorship Board, Nigerian film

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Temporarily removing interviews with Kano Censor’s Board DG Alhaji Rabo and MOPPAN VP Dr. Sarari

Posted on February 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

I am temporarily removing portions of the interview with the Kano State Censor’s Board Director General Alhaji Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim and the Vice President of MOPPAN Ahmad Sarari, because I’m writing an article for a publication that will not pay me if the quotes are published elsewhere. Check back next week. I will restore  parts of the interview I haven’t quoted in the publication, and will provide a link to the article.

I would also take down the interview with Sani Mu’azu, but (alas) NigerianFilms.com reprinted it without my permission, so it is out of my control….

(UPDATE 14 March 2009: The entire transcript of the interview  with the director general of the censorship board is back up. A very edited version of the interview can be found at Next. The entire transcript of the interview with Dr. Sarari, VP of MOPPAN, is also back up.

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More arrests along Zoo Road yesterday, and my article on Iyan Tama makes IPS front page

Posted on February 17, 2009 | 2 comments

Yesterday evening, I went to Zoo Road to carry out an interview with Hausa producer and actor Nura Husseini and heard that there had been more raids on Zoo Road yesterday afternoon. A couple of editors were arrested. When a singer in one of the music studios asked the police why they came into the studio “ba sallama” (with no greeting), they arrested her too. I’m not sure whether they were held in jail overnight like Sulaiman or whether they were taken straight to the mobile court. Apparently, this time they were looking for individuals who had not individually registered with the censorship board.

In other news, today my article on Iyan-Tama apparently made IPS headlines.

(For a background on the censorship crisis in Kano see this post)

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Posted in Hausa film, Iyan-Tama, Kannywood, Kano State Censorship Board, Nigerian film

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