Majority of Kannywood actresses are sexually abused – Naziru Waka
Story from Saleh INUWA , Kano
Kannywood, the Kano based Hausa film industry, is engulfed in a serious crisis, with actors and actresses accusing producers and directors of sexual abuse.
According to Naziru Ahmad Sarkin Waka, the majority of actresses in Kannywood are either sexually abused or paid their own money to be featured in films.
The crisis erupted yesterday when 70-year-old Ladi Cima in a BBC Hausa interview said she cannot afford her own house, a car or even a plot of land because in most cases, after finishing a particular film, she use to be paid 2, 3, 4 or 5,000 as an artist fee.
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“You cannot compare me with most of the ladies in Kannywood. One, I am old, and two, I have children and grandchildren to protect their image, the only person that I remain grateful to is Senator Kabiru Gaya who gave me a job in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital when he was the governor of Kano State. So if you see a lady in Kannywood today, within six months, you see her building a house, riding an expensive car, or wearing pieces of jewellery worth millions of naira, don’t ask Ladi Cima, you of course know very well where they get their money from”.
In a swift response, to her accusation, Ali Nuhu, Falalu Dorayi and Abubakar Bashir Maishadda described Ladi’s statement as cheap blackmail, adding that the last job she did for FKD owned by Ali Nuhu, she was paid N40,000 naira. Falalu Dorayi in his own submission said when Ladi Cima was featured in Gidan Badamasi, he paid her N20,000 naira same with Abubakar Bashir Maishadda.
But Naziru Ahmad (Sarkin Waka) exposed all of them and said those saying they use to pay Ladi more than N20,000 and N30,000 are either lying or they don’t fear God. I invited one old female artist after we finished our programme and I gave her N10,000, she almost kneeled down in thanking me. When I asked, somebody told me that they use to pay artists in her class less than N5,000. I can swear that majority of the ladies you will see in films, are either sexually harassed or paid the producers and directors to feature them so that they can be shown on television by advertising their bodies.
Don’t ask me whether the industry is morally corrupt or not, of course, it is more than corrupt because most of the actresses are subjected to sex before roles by producers or directors. If these producers and directors did not shut up, I will mention names for everybody to know what we are facing in Kannywood. The industry is dirty and morally corrupt, we are turning into something else in Kannywood.
Nuhu Abdullahi who was dropped recently from Labarina, wants Naziru Ahmad to shut up, because his half-brother, Aminu Saira one of the biggest directors in Kannywood, has the record of not paying his artist after they finished working for him.
