Helon Habila on "Art and Censorship in Kano"

One of my favourite authors on one of my favourite causes....

Iyan-Tama's case "not listed."

Today I arrived for Iyan-Tama's rescheduled appeal (readers will remember that it had been scheduled for Thursday but the chief justice suddenly had to travel--see two posts back) at 9:51am. The appeal was scheduled for 9:30am, so I was afraid I was late. I waited until 10:43am in the back of the court room with a few other journalists (lawyers at the front), for the chief justice to arrive.

He said that the case was "not listed."

This is the third appeal case I've been to that has been delayed. The first one was dismissed because the court was not satisfied with the way the appeal was prepared. The second one was postponed because the chief justice travelled, and now this third one was "not listed." I do not have a lot of experience in courts of law, but it makes me wonder if all cases have this problem or if it is just Iyan-Tama's....

2:15am raid on Iyan-Tama's family

UPDATE 27 January 2008
See the details of the attack on Iyan-Tama's family at Leadership and BBC.


Sitting in an internet cafe, enjoying the non-stop Hausa musical selection coming from the administrator’s computer (including such banned hits as Maryam A. Baba’s “Rabo Rabo” and Nazifi Asenik’s “Dawo Dawo”) and listening to people snigger about them, I was writing my advisor an email, when I recieved the following text:

"Iyantama’s house was stormed by unknown people who claimed to be sent by some people to terrorise his family. The incidence took place on thursday around 2:15am. The terrorists did not take anything out of the house.

"The hearing of the second appeal of Iyantama’s case is scheduled to take place on monday 26/1/09 at court one Audu Bako secretariat kano by 9:30am.”

(from a member of the MOPPAN Exco. [not sure if i should put the name])

Photo credit: Iyan-Tama with his family. Courtesy of freeiyantama's flickr photostream

High Court Justice Postpones Iyan-Tama's appeal

Just a quick post for "breaking news." I went at 9:30 am to High Court 1 at Audu Bako secretariate for Iyan-Tama's appeal case. I arrive and sit with Ahmad Alkanaway of the Centre for Hausa Cultural Studies, Sani Maikatanga of Fim Magazine, other reporters from Trust, Leadership, BBC, and elsewhere. After some time, we hear that apparently the Chief Justice, a politically appointed judge who was to hear the case and apparently set the time, travelled and the case will be postponed until tomorrow or Monday.

I catch a ride with National President of MOPPAN, Sani Mu'azu and Ahmad Alkanawy, and on the way to BUK New Site, we branch by the Goron Dutse Prison to see Iyan-Tama again. He joked with the friendly "keeper" and other guards and said (in Hausa--my translation from my memory of what he said) that he was fine. He didn't have a problem in the prison; he just wanted to get out and continue with his life. He also explained that if someone was trying to find the registration for his company "Iyan-Tama Multimedia" and neglected to put in the hyphen, it would not show up in the search. That would explain the "mysterious" (see discussion on the Finafinan Hausa listserve from people who had never heard of her in the film industry or in related publications) Asabe Muktar's claim in the Daily Trust of 8 January that "Hamisu Iyan Tama did not register with the Corporate Affairs Commission" because she supposedly,

" applied for registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission with the names of the two companies, i.e. IYAN TAMA MULTI MEDIA LTD and LENSCOPE MEDIA SERVICES LTD. As it is normally done the names would go for "Availability check and Reservation of Name" at the CAC office. The following information followed my applications: [.... Lenscope Media was found to be registered, while]

2. IYAN TAMA MULTI MEDIA LTD, a letter/notice form from the CAC was sent with the following as content: "The CAC is pleased to inform you that one of your requested names has been approved and will be reserved for 60 days. Approved Name: IYAN TAMA MULTI MEDIA LTD. Serial Number: 1394473 Reserved Until: 25/7/2008. Approved By: Oyindamola Daramola. Submitted By: Ibrahim Adamu. "So Hamisu Iyan Tama did not register with the Corporate Affairs Commission."

Of course, since she did not put "Iyan-Tama" with a hyphen the search would not have come up with "Iyan-Tama Multimedia." It struck me as quite funny that she would "trust" a beaurocratic search over a hard copy of a reciept from CAC that Iyan Tama presented before the court. I had also been surprised to see it in the Trust, because I had seen a slightly different version in the Daily Triumph, a state government-owned publication, which is boringly predictable in their consistent condemnation of the film industry. (See also this recent article by Muhammad Mahmud in The Daily Triumph, a very adamnant supporter of the mysterious "Asabe" on the Finafinan Hausa listserve.)

Following our visit, I also did a brief interview with Sani Mu'azu, excerpts of which I will try to post here later.

Now to post this before the internet cuts out....

At the Goron Dutse Prison--Visiting Iyan-Tama

So, in the latest Iyan-Tama news: yesterday, the high court struck out the appeal to bail Iyan-Tama because they were dissatisfied with the way it was prepared... I went to the case, but unfortunately went to the wrong location first and arrived 30 minutes late, just in time for the mass exodus of those there for the Iyan-Tama case from the court.

And before I launch into my meditation on my visit to Iyan-Tama in prison last week, here are some links from yesterday and today's articles. Apparently a film on the recent Jos crisis I had not yet heard about has already been banned by the Censorship Board, and in the meantime more download and viewing centre businessmen have been arrested. Read about it in Leadership and Triumph. There is also an article featuring my good friend Nazir Hausawa and other hip hop artists by AFP at Theage.com.au.

Last Friday, I and a carload of other film industry folk went to visit Iyan-Tama in the Goron Dutse Prison. I am going to necessarily make the description a bit vague, although there are some details that I would LOVE to put in. Maybe 50 years down the road in my memoirs....

After the necessary preliminaries, we go through a heavy iron door that clanks shut behind us. In front of us is a long dusty field/courtyard with long narrow buildings. It looks like a school, only there are only a few people sitting outside. The long dusty courtyards look deserted. We enter a building to the left and the men behind the desks indicate for us to sit.

Almost immediately Iyan Tama comes in. He is a tall regal prescence even in prison, exuding grace and good spirits. The only sign that he is in prison are the rubber slippers he is wearing. He greets me “Ah, is this Talatu?” and then the others, joking with them, seemingly happy to see us. After the jokes and greetings, he talks about the case, telling us: "I had the receipt for 2008, but I go to court and they say 'Do you have a certificate like this one of 2005, like this one, this one?' They demanded yes or no. I tried to explain that I had registration from CACE, that I had a receipt of payment for the certificate, not a certificate exactly like that of 2005 because they had not yet begun issuing the certicates by the time I was arrested in May 2008." They held up Tsintsiya and asked if this was my film. I said, “Yes, but it's not for sell in Kano.” Although they would not allow him to defend himself, he assured us that the reciepts are on http://www.freeiyantama.blogspot.com/ for anyone who cares to see them.

Iyan Tama has always been kind to me when we have met, but I have never interacted very extensively with him. Although I have always thought he had a commanding presence , this time round I was particularly struck by his height, his charm, the aura of power and grace about him--that he greeted us each by name and asked us about details of our work. Although he entered the room as a prisoner, it was as if we were in his waiting room and he came out of his office to greet us. When he plays the governor of Kano in his film Tsintsiya, he is very believable. As he was actually a gubanatorial candidate in Kano state in 2007, I often wonder if that was one of the unspoken reasons that the censorship board reacted so strongly to an otherwise (to me)unoffensive drama that encourages peace and goodwill between city-dwellers of different ethnicities and religious persuasions. Seeing him there in prison, I was struck by his graciousness, his good spirits, his conviction that justice will, in the end, be done.

I hope it is.

Image Credit: Freeiyantama's Flickr Photostream

This is back when Iyan-Tama was first arrested and released on bail.

Fim Magazine's Hit-list and other Kannywood stuff

This is sort of old news by now, but i thought i should post the links anyway.

At the end of October, Kaduna-based human rights organization Civics Rights Congress got involved in the Ibro case.

And the November issue of Fim magazine publishes a hit list of film people most likely to be arrested in the upcoming months.... (Slightly ironic taken in context of other entertainment magazines, like People where "most likely to wear bad fasion" lists are the order of the day. Here, in Kano, we have "most likely to be arrested." This Leadership article by Abdulaziz Ahmad Abdulaziz goes into more detail.

Prison Controller assures readers that any time Dan Ibro is certified okay, he will be taken back to prison.

The latest on Ibro from state-owned Triumph:

Phew....I feel reassured that this dangerous criminal will not be on the streets after he is released from the hospital!!!!

(and if this is not obvious to anyone who might want to use this, as another ironic piece I have seen recently, for pro-govt propaganda, the above sentence is called IRONY or more strongly SARCASM....)


http://www.triumphnewspapers.com/prion16102008.html
Thursday, October 16Prison controller refutes Ibro's release rumour By NASIRU MUHD.CONTRARY to rumours circulating that a popular Hausa film artiste in Kano, Rabilu Musa Dan Ibro who was recently jailed has been ordered to be released by Governor Ibrahim Shekarau and the Emir of Kano, Alhaji (Dr) Ado Bayero, the state Controller of Prisons, Alhaji Lawal Abubakar has confirmed that the actor is still in prison and described the rumour as baseless.The controller who spoke with the newsmen over the issue yesterday in his office, said the rumour may have arisen because the comedian was seen in hospital and some thought he was released.According to him, the prison authorities are responsible for ensuring that any inmate is in their custody and receiving adequate care, adding that Dan Ibro has been admitted at Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital which is owned by the state government, after it was confirmed by the Chief Medical Officer of the prison that the prisoner needed medical attention.He further stated that based on information he received from his officers, the medical doctor on call at the hospital had then ordered that the actor needed urgent medial attention.``We are not medical personnel, and by the action we took of admitting him at the hospital, we were following the ethics of our profession.``That is what is applicable to every inmate, regardless of his status. We will not allow him to die while in our custody, eventhough we know everyone can die at any moment,'' he said.Alhaji Abubakar assured that any time Dan Ibro is certified okay, he will be taken back to prison.He, however, lauded Kano state government for its assistance to the prison authorities and prayed to God to continue to guide it.Efforts to confirm the story by our correspondent, from the medical doctor of the hospital, Dr. Dahiru Shehu failed because he refused to open up on the issue.It could be recalled that the artiste was recently sentenced to four months in prison, by the state mobile court on film activities, headed by Senior Magistrate Mukhtar Ahmad.The sentence was in two categories, with the first category, making him to remain behind bars for two months without an option of fine for operating a film industry without a license.On the other sentence, he was sentenced to two months or pay a fine of N20,000 and N10,000 each to the state government and the State Film Censorship Board for partaking in an indecent Hausa song called Mamar, in a CD called ``Aloko''.

Making A Scapegoat of...

An excerpt from an editorial which talks about the arrest of 'dan Ibro in today's Leadership:

Making A Scapegoat Of...

Sa’idu Mohammed Sanusi

[....]
One doubts whether political abracadabra, bureaucratic gibberish, blabber of amateurish politicians, political mercenaries and hirelings could exonerate apparently brazen partisan actions from their basic nature, mere political brigandage or grandstanding. One also wonders why most politicians spotting whichever toga increasingly and desperately attempt to cloak/ conceal unjustified political decisions, actions/inactions through indiscretion. Is it a virtue glorifying or celebrating cowardice? One should not be under illusion that dominant public disposition in Nigeria and its constituent parts, Kano State inclusive, are political. Is it not foolhardy to attempt drawing a demarcation line between politics and recent official actions of the state government?
Of recent, several political events have happened in Kano state, most of which bordered on presumed unpopularity of the state government's decisions that culminated in reported pelting of governor Shekarau in the Emir's palace on the last day of the just-concluded Ramadan fast Tafsir. The unfortunate event elicited comments from government and the opposition, and engendered placement of concentric security measures around the personality of the governor to enhance his personal security and that of his household. This is, indeed, commendable for security of life and property is so sacred in a civilized society. This is more pertinent considering that life of the state chief executive is involved. Nonetheless, security should be pursued without putting lives and properties of the ordinary citizens in jeopardy. The security arrangement is legally instructive, morally imperative and politically pre-emptive.
Moreover, the state government and its agents should not be seen to, in the process, engage in trampling on fundamental freedom and liberty of ordinary citizens, even of those considered as underdogs. There is no democracy without guaranteeing basic human liberty. This is a fundamental preachment of liberal democracy that Nigeria purports to operate. Could democracy be sustained when citizens' freedom is grossly endangered under whatever pretext? Hardly!
The popular Hausa Film comedian, Rabilu Musa Danlasan, alias Dan Ibro and co-artist Lawan Kunawa were, reportedly arrested by the Kano State Censorship Board, allegedly on a trumped up charge of contravening aspects of Censorship laws operating in the state. They were expeditiously arraigned and convicted by the Censorship Mobile Court presided over by the Senior Magistrate, Mukhtari Ahmed. It was not the arrest and arraignment of the victims that mattered but the circumstance and the speed with which the case was heard and disposed of. Even the penalty meted out to the offenders calls to question the process. Another question is why were the two artists the main target? Were they the only indecent dancers in the film?
The actual offense of the accused had to do with a role he allegedly played in comedy films entitled Ibro Aloko and Ibro Kauranmata which the Censorship Board took exception to. According to the report Dan Ibro and Lawan Kunawa were said to have indecently danced in the film, contrary to the provisions of Kano state Censorship Law. In addition the films were allegedly released without proper screening and authorization by the Censorship Board, another offense. The presiding Magistrate Judge found the accused guilty as charged and sentenced them to two months imprisonment without option of fine. The producer of the film was equally found guilty of the same offense and fined N40, 000, which he instantly paid. When Dan Ibro was asked for his comment after conviction, he was reported to have alleged he was only a target of political persecution, which could be an apt assessment of the situation.
Concerned Kano-based Hausa filmmakers have indicated interest in appealing the judgment and pursuing it to logical conclusion. Generally, observers feel that Ibro and Kunawa's arrest, arraignment, trial, conviction and imprisonment were politically motivated and maliciously pursued. This seems to be the broad-based belief of Kano citizens, especially those sympathetic to the victims. According to some respondents interviewed by this writer, Ibro Aloko was released about two years ago, and Ibro Kauranmata was released before the advent of Censorship law in the state. Legal luminaries were called upon to explain whether a law could have retrospective effect. Some wondered why the Censorship Board suddenly developed interest in the film, Ibro Aloko after some negative political happenings in the state. The political insinuations sound plausible if only to explain reason for the technicality and lacuna in the arrest and subsequent trial of the accused. Unconfirmed reports also have it that it was in the said film that Dan Ibro and his group sang "Mamar" Song, the song alleged to have been sung by hooligans that pelted Shekarau in the Emir's Palace. Mamar is popularly sung to make a jest of people that wear a peculiarly striped textile material in Kano during the last Eid- el-Fitr Sallah. The term, Mamar is also alleged to have originated from some Borno dialects, meaning of which could no be ascertained at the time of this piece. Governor Shekarau was allegedly fond of the material, which he was wearing when he was pelted in the Emir's Palace. Political observers believe that Dan Ibro and Lawan Kunawa were targeted as scapegoats to face punishment for governor Shekarau's pelting and embarrassment.
In addition, some Kano-based textile material merchants were alleged to have stock-piled the material in question, and have reportedly made representation to the state government and security agencies in the state over the issue. The traders allegedly in possession of unsold striped material were very angry. What made them jittery was possibility of incurring losses, because prospective buyers have shunned the material in the market. The merchants have attributed this to Dan Ibro's Mamar song in Ibro Aloko film that has been used to make a jest of anybody wearing the material in Kano State. Some of the traders were allegedly boastful that somebody somewhere must pay for their impending loss.
Contacted for his reaction over alleged political undertone in Ibro and Kunawa's trial, Mallam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkareem, Director-General, Kano State Censorship Board, out rightly refuted the allegation. He claimed he was away In Saudi-Arabia when governor Shekarau was pelted. He however, agreed that the film, Ibro Aloko could have been shot about two years ago, but it was not released till recently. He added, "We can only take an action when it is released to the public." Mallam Rabo has vehemently denied that their action on the film was dictated by political considerations, stating, "Kano Censorship Board is a statutory body set by the state government law aimed at sanitizing filmmaking and marketing industry in Kano state." But he conceded that the Board acted under mounting pressure from stakeholders, though he denied that was dictated by political motive/ consideration.
On the other hand, watchers of political events and Kano state Censorship Board activities have posited that Dan Ibro/ Kunawa's arrest and conviction was in tandem with seemingly systematic harassment of artists, especially filmmakers. They also asserted that it could be recalled that Alhaji Hamisu Iyan Tama, Hausa film producer/ artist was also targeted and humiliated, though his trial was not as speedy and controversial. It is not unlikely that high profile arrests, arraignments and convictions of particularly Hausa filmmakers and book writers would be witnessed in the state more often than not.

Breaking News: Hausa Comedian dan Ibro arrested and imprisoned for 2 months without bail by Kano State Censors Board

Breaking News.

Dazu, I recieved the following text:

"Kano state censorship board arrest rabilu musa dan ibro and 3 other members of his group."

Ibro is a Hausa comedian, and one of the biggest stars in the industry. People I know in Jos who don't watch Hausa films DO watch Ibro.

So, I called the friend who sent me the text and this is the story I heard. Again, this is breaking news, so I might have some of the details wrong. Supposedly, the group was arrested today over the film Aloko which was shot (and censored?) before the ban on Hausa films last year. The producer is being required to pay a N40,000 fine and Ibro a N20,000 fine. Furthermore, Ibro will be imprisoned for 2 months without bail.

Supposedly, the censorship board has accused Ibro of not registering his company with the censorship board. Ibro had registered individually, as an actor, with the censorship board and had the receipt and the certificate to prove it. But apparently the censorship board is saying that he has a company he hadn't registered. Ibro says he does not have a company--that if he has a company, what is the name of the company they are accusing him of not registering. Apparently, they said they didn't know the name of the company but that they knew he had one and that is why they were arresting him.

So, I suppose it is his claim against theirs.

I will post more news as I hear it.

UPDATE: 9:06am, 7 October 2008

I just pulled this off of Nigeria News (Ngex):

Hausa Actor Sentenced To Two Months Imprisonment
x October 07, 2008A popular Hausa comedian, Mr. Rabiu Musa (Ibro) and his associate, Mr. Lawan Kunawa, were sentenced to two-months imprisonement without any option of fine for operating a film industry without approval by the State Censorship Registration Board and acting in a film entitled, "Ibro A-LOCO."He was arrested by officials of the Kano State Censorhip Board and arraigned before a Censorship Mobile Court in Kano presided over by Senior Magistrate Mukhtar Ahmed.The comedian denied owning the film company or producing any film and said he only acted in the film. The magistrate refused his defence and sentenced him to two months without an option of fine.

UPDATE, 10:33pm, 7 October 2008

Nudity - Kannywood Star Ibro Sentenced
Daily Trust (Abuja)NEWS7 October 2008 Posted to the web 7 October 2008

By Hassan a Karofi Kano

Kannywood star and popular comedian Rabilu Musa alias Dan Ibro has been sentenced to four months imprisonment for allegedly operating an illegal film production company and shooting a film that exposes nudity and immoral acts in contravention of the Kano State censorship laws.
Dan Ibro was sentenced along with his friend and co-actor Lawal Kaura by Chief Magistrate Muktar Ahmed. According to the Police First Information report read at the chief magistrate's court 14, the duo were accused and arraigned on a two count charge before the court for operating an unregistered film production company known as Ibro Film Production without registration and exposing nudity and immoral scenes in a film called Ibro Aluko. The film, according to the censorship lawyers, has contravened section 97 of the state censorship laws. The censorship board argued that the film released without authorisation depicts corrupt acts especially during a singing scene in which a song called Mar-Mar was organised with half naked women dancing in mesmerising steps and movements that attack the sensibilities of the people of Kano State. Additionally, Lawal Kaura, who appeared in the said dancing with some women was also accused for the same offences. Reading his judgement, the Chief Magistrate, therefore, said the two actors were sentenced to two months imprisonment on the first charge of producing a film with immoral scene without option, and another two months imprisonment for operating a film production firm without registration, the second carries an option of N10000.

Dan Ibro is the second Hausa film star that was sentenced to imprisonment since the introduction of stiff regulations governing film production in Kano State after the Maryam Hiyana's nudity video. [TC COMMENT: Make that THIRD Hausa film star. 1) Adam Zango, 2) Iyan Tama, 3) Ibro]

Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

Hausa Actor, Ibro Sentenced to Two Month Imprisonment
Leadership (Abuja)
NEWS7 October 2008 Posted to the web 7 October 2008
By Mansur Sani Malam
A popular and controversial lead comedian, Mr. Rabiu Musa (Ibro) and his associate, Mr. Lawan Kunawa, were yesterday sentenced to two-months imprisonement without any option of fine. Ibro was arrested by officials of the Kano State Censorhip Board and arraigned before a Censorship Mobile Court in Kano presided over by Senior Magistrate Mukhtar Ahmed.
He was charged with operating a film industry without approval by the State Censorship Registration Board and acting in a film entitled, "Ibro A-LOCO." But, in his defence, Ibro denied ownership of any film company or producing any film, saying that he only acted in the film like many others in which he appeared in the past. However, the magistrate refused his defence and consequently sentenced him to two months without an option of fine. Ibro who was arraigned with his producer, Malam Hassan was also charged with releasing a film without the approval of the censhorship board. But in his defence, the producer tendered a certificate issued him by the board. However, his defence did not convince the magistrate who convicted him. Hassan was lucky and paid his N40,000 fine.

Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

(Note the tone in the following article from the Daily Triumph, a government owned paper)

Dan Ibro goes to prison for 2 month

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

By NASIRU MUHAMMADKANO

state tribunal on films activities has sentence a renown Housa film artist in Kano, Rabilu Musa alias Dan Ibro, to two monthsi in prison for partaking in an indecent play in a Hausa video CD name Aloko.Delivering judgment on the second count charges the tribunal chairman, Senior Magistrate Muktari Ahmad, ordered the artist to cool his feet behind bars for two months or pay a fine of N10, 000 each to both the state government and the state Film Censorship Board, for operating a film company by the name Ibro Film Production Company.Also sentenced alongside Ibro was another Hausa film artist, Lawan Kaura, who was adminstered the same sentence in the second count charge.On the first count charge, he was ordered to pay a fine of N10, 000 to both the state government and the state Film Censorship Board for releasing the video.Before the sentences were announced to the convicts, the state prosecutor, Barr. Sunusi Ado Ma’aji applied that the court gives them summary trial since they have admitted committing the offences.Barr. Ma’aji, also applied for the banning of the said CD which include its sales and its viewing.The CD contained a lied song called “Mamar,” a slogan now being used to tease anyone who wears clothes that were carrying lines in Kano and other neighbouring states.Speaking to newsmen after the verdict, the Director General, Kano state Film Censorship Board, Alhaji Rabo Abdul-Karim, assured that his board will not relent in its effort to see that the state is rid of all illicit films and other vices.“We will continue to see that all those who break our laws are charged to court,” he said.The convicts have one month to appeal the sentenced passed on them.

Mutum Duka Mod’a Ne: HIV as Transformative agent in Hausa Novels and films

I have just posted on my other "academic"/"literary" blog a paper and the handout (with pictures) that I presented at the African Studies Association in 2006, looking at representations of HIV/AIDS in Hausa novels and films. The film Hafsah directed and produced by Sani Mu'azu had not yet been released at that time, but I hope to add a section to the paper dealing with Hafsah.

Ali Nuhu Official Website

Grateful to Ibrahim Sheme's blog for pointing out that Hausa film superstar Ali Nuhu has a new official website. Very impressive.

Here's a good interview the Daily Trust did with Nuhu back in March, in which he talks about the censorship crisis.

Photo Credit: Hausamovies.com (Much better pics on Ali Nuhu's site, but I couldn't link to them)

Recent articles on the Censorship crisis and an interview with Sa'adatu Baba

My friend, the Hausa novelist Sa'adatu Baba was recently interviewed on IPS news about the censorship crisis in Kano. See the interview here. A related article gives an overview of the crisis here. Here is a link to an article by Maryam Ali about the writing side of the censorship crisis, and a priceless piece by Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim himself.... There are more that I will try to add soon...

Review/Gender Analysis of Hausa Film Inda Ranka

This is a summary/analysis I wrote up as a sample for a class I'm teaching. I'm a little uncomfortable with the 'judgmental' end, as I tend to like to just analyze and not 'review,' but I figured a practical componant might be good for the students, since many of them are hoping to become practitioners.

Inda Ranka
Produced by Nura Hussani; Directed by Sulaiman Alubankudi
(no date, purchased in 2008 from Almah Video, Jos)

Summary: The film Inda Ranka engages with recent criticisms of the Hausa film industry by following the rise and fall of a poor girl Safiya (Kubura Dackho), who enters the Hausa film industry and is able to transform her economic situation for the better while transforming the lives of those around her for the worse. While initially discouraged in her dreams of becoming an actress by director (Ishaq Sidi Ishaq) and the producer Mahmoud (Nura Hussein), Mahmoud’s wife Samira (Jamila Nagudu) urges him to give the girl a chance. Upon being accepted as an actress under Mahmoud’s protection, Safiya goes to a boka who gives her “control” over Mahmoud’s mind. The rest of the film shows how Safiya destroys lives around her: Mahmoud leaves his patient and kind wife Samira at home while chasing Safiya and quarrelling with her over her supposed affairs. Safiya is shown with a series of lovers: the producer Mahmoud, her elder sister Binta’s (Maryam Usman) fiancé, a wealthy alhaji (Mustapha Musty) who provides her with a house, a car, and trips abroad, another wealthy man (Baballe Hayatu) who wishes to marry her, and an elderly ‘Commissioner’ (Aminu Hudu) who promises to help her take revenge on Mahmoud for shouting at her. Safiya kicks her sister out of the house, ignores the advice of her mother who wants her to leave her profession and get married, and calls Mahmoud’s father a “useless old fool.” When her duplicitous nature becomes obvious to her various suitors, Baballe, on the advice of Alhaji Mustapha who says she is “not marriage material,” rescinds his marriage proposal and instead marries her virtuous elder sister Binta. The bewitched Mahmoud is reconciled with his long-suffering wife Samira, whose sad song has stitched together the episodes of the film. The final (and only) song and dance number comes at the end of the film, in which Safiya and Binta are shown dancing with their various suitors.

Analysis: Inda Ranka reproduces many stereotypes of women in its reflection of the controversies currently surrounding the Hausa film industry. While the film industry is shown as a professional public realm operating according to established procedures (particularly one in which young girls who want to enter the industry are advised to return to school and get the permission of their parents, while no similar injunction appears for young men), Safiya (and by implication, other ‘greedy’ and ‘ungrateful’ young actresses) introduces chaos into these smooth operations. It is arguably not the film industry that spoils her but she who spoils the film industry. Mahmoud is shown as being a respected and professional film producer in a loving relationship with his wife, but Safiya destroys his life by “controlling him” through the powers of a ‘pagan’ boka. Safiya also disrespects her chosen profession by coming late to the location and using it as a way to attract wealthy lovers. In addition Safiya is shown as being contemptuous of her elders and Hausa traditions in the way she responds to criticism from her mother, sister, and Mahmoud’s father. She refuses to marry, preferring to have the independence of a profession and the attentions of many suitors. Cinematography, editing, and mis-en-scene emphasize Samira’s shrewish nature—she is shown in close-up shaking her finger at those who offend her. She is often portrayed as sitting in shadows. For example, when Mahmoud’s father confronts her, his virtuous nature is highlighted by the light yellow background, which casts light on his face. On the other hand, the shadowy corner in which Safiya sits casts a sinister green pallor over her face, a colour motif that is repeated when she tells Alhaji Mustapha she would rather lose him than her career.

Several ‘virtuous’ women appear as foils to Safiya. Samira is portrayed as the opposite of Safiya. She is a kind, loving, and faithful wife, and her mournful song provides the bridge to many scene transitions. While Safiya responds with a shrill and angry voice to ‘just’ criticism, Samira is never shown as raising her voice even when her husband abandons and abuses her. Instead, she is shown as constantly weeping. Closeups on her tearful face reinforce portrayals of the ‘good wife’ as helpless victim. Similarly, Safiya’s kind sister Binta, who cared for their ailing mother while Binta chased career ambitions, is shown several times weeping—the ‘good’ to Safiya’s ‘bad.’ (The choice of actress for this role becomes ironic in light of later ‘sex scandal’ involving Maryam Usman. The marketing possibilities of Maryam ‘Hiyana’ Usman’s participation of the film are highlighted in the choice to have her face prominantely displayed on the cover of the video, rather than that of the main character Kubura Dackho. The cover becomes more of a commentary on 'real life' than on the 'fiction' of the film--illustrating the name of the film "Inda Ranka" the beginning of a proverb "Inda ranka kasha kallo" meaning "In life you will see many things...." In this case, life is stranger than fiction...)

While the film challenges current interpretations of the inherent immorality of the film industry (since the problem is seen with the character of the actress rather than her work), the treatment of Safiya as ‘devil’ woman and Samira and Binta as ‘angel’ women perpetuates the social ideology of the status quo. Professional behavior in filmmaking is shown as the realm of men. Actresses, who use their fame as a platform for personal enrichment, become scapegoats for the misfortunes of the industry. Safiya lifts her sickly mother and unemployed sister out of poverty, but her ambitions to maintain an independent professional life and not immediately marry are shown in the context of a rebellious and ‘immoral’ lifestyle.’ Her ‘success’ is shown not in terms of her ability to perform well as an actress but in her ability to sexually attract wealthy men. On the other hand, the women praised as being virtuous are those who have no identifiable profession and who are defined by their relationships with their husbands or fiancés. Samira faithfully grieves her bewitched husband. Binta, whose first fiancé is stolen by Safiya, is rewarded with Safiya’s humiliation when the rich alhaji who had first proposed marriage to Safiya decides to take Binta as the ‘mother of his children.’ This seems to be the best reward a good woman can be offered.

However, even these virtuous women are portrayed as ‘weak’ in judgment. The film subtly places the entire debacle at the feet of Mahmoud’s wife Samira, who encourages him to employ Safiya as an actress, despite his better judgment. Men are seen as the victims of women. At the beginning of the film, the male production assistant tells Safiya that when they have helped other actresses enter the industry, young men have ended up as the errand boys to these ‘ingrates.’ The fall of the virtuous Mahmoud is seen as result of Safiya’s scheming. Her other suitors are shown mostly as innocent dupes, who eventually discover her with other lovers. Mahmoud’s father suffers humiliation at the hands of Safiya when he advises her to leave his son alone (initially at the request of his wife). This humiliation is shown visually in an extreme close up of his profile, which obscures his eyes, while he begs the woman who is sitting spider-like in the shadows behind him.

In a film that engages the current controversies surrounding the Hausa film industry, the producers of the film missed a chance to creatively respond to criticisms in a gender-balanced way. Portraying the achievements, as well as the challenges, women face in the film industry could have provided an enlightening defense of the role of the film industry in contemporary Hausa society. Instead, Inda Ranka risks perpetuating dangerous stereotypes that damage the reputation of the film industry and hurt the chances of women to choose the film industry as ‘respectable’ profession. .

These youth are very restive: Death Threats by Text Message...

The issue of censorship in Kano is becoming more and more worrisome. Last week Ibrahim Sheme, editor of Leadership and publisher of Fim Magazine, published on his blog a very menacing text message that his publisher recieved from an unknown sender.

I am very concerned. Also musing on how the language register of the text message, most often seen in playful abbreviated banter of friends can be used the menace of a death threat from an anonymous source.

So from the creative abbreviated language used in something like: "hope ur well. miss u. C u 2morro. :-)"

(to the language used here, and I quote--this is only part of the message Sheme recieved): "We don't want to believe u hv a hand in ds, hence ds call to put a stop to it. We don't know what will happen if u do not, but we do know tht d u're putting d Leadership nwsppr on line as well as ur othr invstmnts. We don't know wht indvdl members of d Coalition will do, but I do know tht we've been restraining thm with effort. And these youth are very restive."

The subversive power of new technologies....

(written Friday... now in an internet cafe singing along to Boyz 2 Men, "Now, we come to the end of theuh rooaad, still I caaaan't leet go-ooooo....")

I got back to Kano from Jos yesterday to the news that I had taken the light with me. No PHCN/NEPA for five days straight. In Jos, it was off for at least three of those days. My father visited the local PHCN office to have a long detailed conversation with the workers about a national power grid failure… ai me…

Here is a story I was told last night that excited me and made me think that my desire to write on the way technology is exploding existing power structures is on track. The family friend who told me this is a young Bakane man, let’s call him Bashir, who is waiting for NYSC, having completed his degree this past year. There was a lecturer at his polytechnic who was a known “tribalist” and chaser of female students. According to Bashir, this lecturer did not like him because Bashir is Hausa-Fulani, and although Bashir had made Bs on both of his exams, the man failed him. Bashir took his case to the HOD, upon which the lecturer claimed that he had seen Bashir cheating, and that is why he failed him. When asked to prepare another exam for Bashir to retake, since he had no evidence that Bashir was cheating, the man brought an exam in which he filled it with things that had not been taught in the class. When Bashir protested that this was testing things they had not been taught, another student from the class was brought in, who confirmed Bashir’s story that none of the things on the new exam had been taught in that course. Finally, the lecturer cornered Bashir and told him that unless he paid him N10,000, he would not pass him.

“I went back to the hostel and cried,” Bashir tells me. “What else could I do? Where could I come up with the money? If I told my father, he would not give me since he has always advised me that I will advance in life from my own hard work, not whether I am rich or poor.”

Typical story, right? One played over and over again in Nigerian literature and popular culture. (See Buchi Emicheta’s Double Yoke, Eedris Abdulkareem’s “Mr. Lecturer,” Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino’s Hausa novel, Wani Hanin Ga Allah) Here is where it gets interesting. Bashir tells me that he remembered an episode of 24, he had seen in which a girl had alerted police to what was going on by dialing a number and keeping her cell phone open. Bashir realized he could use his cell phone in a similar way. So, he went to the lecturer and pressed “record” on his cell phone and proceeded to beg his lecturer. “I don’t have the money. I cannot come up with 10,000 naira,” he told the man. “If you don’t have 10,000 naira, bring N5,000, he told him.” Bashir begged him some more to reduce it to N2,500, and they finally settled on N3,500. Bashir told him he would bring it the next week, and the lecturer said that he must bring it by the next morning or he would fail him.

“I went straight to the HOD,” Bashir said. “I told him that the lecturer asked me for N10,000 to pass his class.” The HOD said, “No, not him. He wouldn’t do that. Where is your proof?” “I pulled out my phone and played him the recording. He sat with his head in his hands, saying ‘oh no, oh no.’ From there, there were some who wanted to sack him, but there was a powerful professor, who is of his same tribe and also a cultist, who fought for him. (Because he is involved with the cults everyone fears him, even the other lecturers.) So, he was suspended for 6 months. Shege wawa….”

This powerful professor succeeded in (according to Bashir) reducing his 2.1 degree to a 2.2 (even so, he graduated first in his class), trying even to give him a 3^rd class until one of the other lecturer’s argued that there would be trouble from the external examiners if they saw that he had graduated at the top of his class but had gotten a 3^rd class.

What excited me about this story, whether or not it is embroidered in Bashir’s favour, is recognizing the ways in which new technologies are exploding hypocrisies. The power of the cell phone in exploding secrets is clear enough in the Hiyana scandal, in which the adultery that would normally have stayed the secret of the businessman and the actress became public knowledge. (Of course a professor here tells me that similar sex phone videos created by students had been seized at the university even before the Hiyana scandal, but the fact that an actress was involved in the phone video gave the critics the ammunition they had been looking for to confirm the “iskanci” of the film industry.)

What interests me, however, is how these new technologies are challenging entrenched power structures of society, in which filmmakers (and musicians with music videos) tell stories that expose (or at least make accusations about) the secret lives of the rich and powerful. These stories, which the critics try to pass off as mere “entertainment”/ “spoiling society with the corruption of the West” /“what sales,” are actually often profoundly political statements by disenfranchised youth against the excesses of their elders. Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino’s novel In da So da Kauna first published in 1991 (or 2) anticipated this: The heroine Sumayya suffers through many trials (most prominently including her grandmother taking bribes from a wealthy suitor) to finally marry her poor but virtuous lover, Muhammad. After the marriage, her grandmother comes to the house and tries to break up the marriage. Unknown to her, Sumayya records their conversation and then plays it back to her father, thus discrediting her grandmother.

Such examples turn value systems which value elders, wealth, and “minding one’s own business” or “keeping secrets” on their head. The argument from the youth seems to be that the elderly and the powerful have forfeited their right to respect by abusing their privileges. New technologies (cell phones, digital video recorders, internet, etc) now give youth a power to challenge the entrenched power structures.

Now if there were some viable cheap technology to challenged the entrenched power (or non-power) structure of PHCN (other than generators....)

to my erstwhile readers....

To my erstwhile readers who I'm sure have stopped checking this blog after my long absence,

This is what has been going on in my life since I last posted:

1) I defended my proposal and became a dissertator.
2) I left the university town to stay with my grandmother, while I applied for my visa, bought my ticket, etc.
3) I recieved the news that I did not recieve the big grant I had applied for last year, meaning that I will be a very poor researcher this year.... but I'm still going...
4) I finally recieved my visa from the NY Nigerian consulate--a very nice 12 month student visa. I hereby applaud, praise, and give hearty thanks to the NY consulate immigration section.
5) I bought my ticket and will be leaving the U.S. next week.
6) Somewhere along there, I managed to quite unexpectedly to "meet someone" who was not one of the players in the narrative of my life for the next couple of years that I had thus far written in my head... and have for the past month or so been in the process of negotiating, every night for several hours on the phone, what one negotiates when one meets someone right before leaving the country for a year (and previously secretly hoping that one would be gone much longer than a year), and in the meantime scandelously neglecting all sorts of things I should have been doing. In short, I have absolutely no flipping clue what I am doing.
7) And in the meantime I have becoming more and more concerned about the atmosphere surrounding the film industry in Kano. Hamisu Lamido Iyan Tama, one of the pioneers of the Hausa film industry, has recently been arrested for releasing his film Tsintsiya in Kano without first allowing it to be censored by the Kano State censorship board. Here is a short article from BBC, and a longer more detailed one from Leadership on Ibrahim Sheme's blog. It is a very disturbing situation, and I hope to hear more first hand in a few weeks.

So that's it for now. I'm sorry for the dogon shiru (long silence). I will probably post a little less frequently than I had in the past, especially once I arrive back in Nigeria, but hope to keep the blog fire burning, at least every two weeks or so.

-T-C