Some days ago, LIB reported that actor Ali Nuhu granted an interview where he said that Kannywood, which is the umbrella body of actors and actresses from the North, were reconsidering lifting the expulsion of actress Rahama Sadau participating in a romantic music video (read here)
LIB reached out to the Secretary general of the Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria, (MOPPAN) Kano State chapter, Salisu Mohammad who denied this claim, saying that as a matter of fact, the association is not currently reconsidering taking her back into its fold as this was the third time she would go against their code of ethics. Read the interview after the cut...
LIB: Yesterday, it was reported that Ali Nuhu said he thinks that the association might reconsider lifting the expulsion given to Rahama Sadau, is this statement a fact or not?
Salisu: We are not in that position now. We are not considering taking her back into the industry because we expelled her. We have instituted a committee to receive feedback from her fans and the producers that have outstanding job with her. She called yesterday(Wednesday) that she wants to have a meeting with the committee, and the committee granted her audience for the scheduled meeting just to hear what she has to say. So we formed the committee to listen to such feedback. But we are not in any way considering her to the industry.
LIB: After the meeting with your committee members, would there be chances that they would lift this ban or absorb her back into the association?
Salisu: That is uncertain, as we do not know what she wants to discuss with the committee. The committee cannot deny her audience because Rahama Sadau was one time our full time member, so if she says she wants to meet with the committee, then definitely we must give her audience and we must listen to her. But considering her back to the industry, I am telling that we don’t have that in mind right now.
LIB: Some sources say that the main reason for Sadau’s expulsion from Kannywood was not exactly because she acted in the music video in question but majorly because the video truncated efforts by your association to secure the establishment of the Kano Film Village. The said video came out at a time when many of your fans and even clerics in the region were opposed to the film village, arguing that it will be a breeding ground for immorality amongst Hausa artists. What do you say to this?
Salisu: This particular offence is a different thing entirely. Recently we had a meeting with all the stakeholders in Kannywood, including the actors and actresses, that we are particular about the conducts of our actors and actresses. But we have been challenged by other misbehavior and misconduct exhibited by Miss Sadau in the past. So we are particular on the fact that we have drawn a line after having a meeting with all the stakeholders and all the performing actors noting that everyone should abide by the rules and regulations and the codes of conduct of the Hausa movie industry, so that we can have a good image and protect our name and so on. We have drawn these lines and she was there when these decisions were made, that after that meeting any reported misconduct, we would no longer tolerate and that we are going to punish an offender according to the level of offence he or she has committed. Miss Sadau had previously on two occasions offended the association and she was forgiven. We had one that we gave her warning and one that we suspended her, then this last one that we expelled her.
LIB: There was a time one of your actors, Ali Nuhu, hugged and kissed a lady in a movie and the association did not expel him. Why?
Salisu: Ali Nuhu did similar offence, two years back. Two years back, we had not updated our code of conduct or ethics and we hadn’t done the stakeholders’ meeting because it was from the stakeholders’ meeting that we have drafted a code of conduct. Rahama Sadau was there and Ali Nuhu is aware too. Definitely, if Ali Nuhu committed the same offence now, we would expel him from the industry the way we expelled Rahama Sadau.
LIB: When did the association come up with this new code of conduct?
Salisu: It was formed last month, 2nd of last month. We have updated this code of conduct and put it in practice for all the practitioners that exist in this industry.
LIB: But was she aware of this binding code at all?
Salisu: Rahama was aware because she was seated in the meeting for 3 hours and she gave her contributions at the meeting. Rahama cannot say that she is not aware.
LIB: In your code of ethics, what was the rule that she violated— hugging a man, kissing, which of them?
Salisu: The issue was not whether or not she performed in a musical dance; the problem was that she was hugging a man in such a romantic way which is against our code of our ethics, and this thing has brought a bad name to the industry because they uploaded it on social media and began to circulate it and you know how our industry is governed by the Hausa culture. So this is the major reason we took a decision to expel her from the industry; because she has committed an offence the first time, the second time and this last one was the final that resorted to her ban.
LIB: When did she commit the first offence?
Salisu: She has been in the industry for three years now. The first year she joined, she fought with her director and that caused her to appear before the disciplinary committee. She brought some people, intending to wreck the director and then said she wasn’t going to act in his movie again. and threw all sorts of abuses on the director. The said director brought her before the disciplinary committee of Kannywood and we issued her a warning. She promised she was not going to repeat the same mistake and backed it up with a letter of apology. Two years later, she went to another location and she virtually repeated the same thing she had done, immorality and other things and the producer again reported her for the second time. We showed her the letter that she had formerly written, promising that she won’t act in such manner again. She appeared before the disciplinary committee with same offence. We warned her again, suspended her for six months and met with the Kano leadership body who pleaded on he behalf and her suspension was lifted making it the second time and we gave the second warning.
LIB: So the true position of Rahama Sadau’s expulsion from Kannywood, is that she is not been considered for reabsorbing, her ban is indefinite?
Salisu: No, it is not decided. It is more or less a matter of discretion now.
LIB: Recently she was invited by Jeta Amata and US singer Akon to come over to Hollywood. What is your reaction to this development?
Salisu: We don’t have any problem with that, she can get invited anywhere. In fact she can act anywhere as well, but she cannot act Hausa movie or participate in any Kannywood activity . She can decide to act in Hollywood, Nollywood so long it is not Kannywood or any Hausa-related activity, we do not have any problem with that.
LIB has made concerted efforts to reach Rahama Sadau. We would be glad if she reaches out so we can hear her side of the matter.
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