I got wealthy by singing for prominent Nigerians – Hausa musician, Naziru Ahmad
Story from Saleh INUWA, Kano
Naziru Ahmad is one Hausa musician that was virtually unknown about 15 years ago, but today Naziru is one of the richest, if not the richest, Hausa musician in the North. When he emerged on the music scene with powerful songs for prominent personalities, he became extremely relevant than those that have been in the industry for long.
Some of his songs that became a big hit and made him rich includes 5 successful singles for Sardaunan Dutse Bello Maitama Sule, later he came up with another one for Sardaunan Goron Maye, then followed by another one for former governor of Kaduna State Ramalam Yero Dallatun Zazzau, but his breakthrough came when he became the official singer of former Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the song became an instant success that he was crowned the ‘Sarkin Waka’ of modern music in the North.
As a musician, Naziru is fearless and on so many occasions he clashed with agents of Kano State government because of his artistic work.
As a businessman, Naziru invested most of his money in properties and film production, today the investments have accrued chains of cars, with some of them that worth 10 million plus. The musician lives in his personal mansion, with his children and 4 wives though he refused to confirm the number of his wives.
Currently, he and his elder brother, the famous director Aminu Saira, are running one television programme, “Labarina”, with Nafisa Abdullahi, Isah Feroskhan, Nuhu Abdullahi, Maryam Waziri as the main characters, so far it is one of the best films series to come from Kannywood, and Naziru is the one bankrolling the project.
Two days ago, Neptune Prime entertainment correspondent was in Kano for an exclusive interview with Naziru, where he deeply conversed with the young millionaire musician about film production and other matters affecting Kannywood and the North.
Excerpts of the Interview
NP: It’s my pleasure to interview you today on several aspects of your life?
Naziru: You are welcome, even though you are part and parcel of the industry, because you have been in Kano since 1999, when I was nowhere to be found because by then there was no story of Naziru Sarkin Waka, I was born in Kano on 17th April, 1986 and I am now 35 years, if it is true that life begins at 40, that means my success is yet to come, I became successful ahead of time, but I am very creative and hardworking.
NP: Because you are successful, young and handsome, I noticed that chains of beautiful ladies are hanging around your office for attention?
Naziru: if you watch my song for the former Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, you will see that all A-grade actresses in Kano were in the song as my backup singers, I am into music, into film production and general entertainment, so what you see is purely professional, I have a good family that I love dearly, my beautiful wives and children are part of my life and successes, I don’t mix business with pleasure, this is Kano, my home state and I can hardly afford to misbehave, my parents are here and I also belong to qur’anic school so I am a highly disciplined person.
NP: Right now, you are into the production of Labarina, and we were told that you are the sponsor, is that true?
Naziru: Well, you know that Aminu Saira the director, is my elder brother, so whether I am sponsoring or we are sponsoring, it is a business that is already succeeding so fast, with versatile actors and actresses, it is a multimillion naira film series, so we don’t want the media to throw a spanner in the project, we have a very tall dream to engage into series of projects in the future, so let’s forget about where the sponsorship is coming from.
NP: On many occasions you ran into trouble with Kano State films and censorship board, what is causing all these fights with the government?
Naziru: You see, it is not easy for one to be successful and enemies will not try to run him down, even in politics most famous politicians went to prison, Naziru has never gone to prison, but on many occasions I was detained and later went home on bail, I am one person that believe in myself, I have no time to keep enemies, and my enemies also hardly succeed against me.
NP: Lets come to your songs, which one is the best among them, and which ones made you popular and rich?
Naziru: Honestly they are many, but I will never forget Bello Maitama Yusuf in my life, God made me he made me, my initial songs centered around him, and he gave me all the assistance I want, I did several songs for him, I did for Dallatun Zazzau, I did for Sardaunan Goron Namaye, and the one for former Emir of Kano Lamido Sanusi, so I cannot say which song made me, they came to me almost at the same time like a dream.
NP: Is it true that you have four wives and many children?
Naziru: If you say four wives, that means I did not go outside what the religion said, about children, God knows I love children, and I won’t mind having plenty of them, generally I am a hardworking person and I enjoy having a large family.
NP: Finally, we learnt that recently you did something that portray your lack of respect for the press?
Naziru: You see we are in film production to educate our people, I need the press and the press also need me to know what is happening from our end, the press is part of my success, the problem this days is that this era of social media has virtually polluted the work of the press, I don’t hate the press and I don’t think even in future I will have problem with the press.
