A Kannywood actor and singer, Abdallah Amdaz has been threatened with a lawsuit by a film director Mustapha Ahmad aka Alhaji Sheshe over his recent testimony at the Kano State Hisbah Command.
Daily News 24 reports that last week Mr Amdaz had stirred controversy during his testimony at the Kano Hisbah Command following the invitation of the Hausa film industry stakeholders by Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, the Hisbah Commander-General.
Sheikh Daurawa had invited the film makers as part of the command’s “Operation Kau da Badala”, an initiative introduced to fight prostitution, alcoholism, drug abuse and other criminal and illegal activities in the state.
Also read: Abdullahi Amdaz Biography: Age, Education, Songs, Net Worth
The Hisbah board had during the meeting sought the cooperation of the Hausa film makers in addressing the influx of mostly young women into the state under the guise of movie making but end up becoming prostitutes.
Sheikh Daurawa had pleaded with the Kannywood filmmakers to form a joint committee with the Hisbah board in order to work together to address the menace of prostitution in the state.
“We need to raise a committee comprising Hisbah officials and those of you from Kannywood so that we can communicate effectively and work together.
“This is necessary because there are a lot of young women that are flocking into Kano with the aim of joining your industry, but when they fail to get the opportunity they end up renting rooms and practicing prostitution,” he had said.
“We need your support to ensure that we stop this evil practice”.
Pandora’s Box
In order to to give them a fair hearing, Sheikh Daurawa had asked the Kannywood stakeholders to nominate two people, a male and a female to speak on behalf of the industry.
It was gathered that the filmmakers then nominated Abdallah Amdaz to speak the mind of the industry to the Hisbah board.
In his remarks, Mr Amdaz thanked the Hisbah board for giving them an opportunity and outlined the efforts of Kannywood in weeding out bad eggs from the filmmaking community.
However, at a point, Mr Amdaz had alleged that most of the big shots in the Kannywood industry were responsible for the moral decadence in the movies trade because of their connections to powerful politicians and influential government officials.
“The truth is that some of the movies we produce in Kannywood are so unacceptable to the extent that I have banned watching them in my house. If I know that what we are doing is right, why would I take such a decision.
“But what I know is that the most famous, prominent and wealth filmmakers in Kannywood are the most immoral people. This is what most people do not know. And the weakest of them are the ones at the forefront of pushing reforms,” Mr Amdaz had said.
The bombshell then came thus: “There those among us that promote prostitution, there those that promote homosexuality and there are those that promote all forms morally repugnant agenda and we all know this.
“I know this revelation will cause a lot of hate against me. In fact, my colleagues will now stop talking to me while directors would also cease working with me.
“But I have to say the truth because I fear the day Allah will query me about this meeting if I dare to tell lies”.
Threat of lawsuit
This newspaper learnt that since Mr Amdaz made the controversial remarks, anger has been brewing in the Hausa film industry as many felt that the actor had revealed closely guarded open secrets.
But the most visible expression of the anger came in the form of a legal threat issued by one of the producers, Alhaji Sheshe, who instructed his lawyers to demand a retraction from Mr Amdaz within two weeks or face lawsuit.
The legal letter served on Mr Amdaz by N & N Attorneys read: We are solicitors acting for and on behalf of Mustapha Ahmad aka Alhaji Sheshe hereinafter referred to as our ‘client’ and on his behalf and instructions and based on the information he availed us with, kindly write you this letter as follows:
“Note that our client is one of the most revered producers in Kannywood and he commands respect in the eyes of his families, friends and thousands of fans and he made a household name within and outside this country.
“That equally our client lives peacefully with his colleagues and had never been found of any immoral or unwanted behaviour throughout his stay as Kannywood producer.
“That to the utmost astonishment of our client, despite his immense positive contribution towards the Kannywood and Muslim/Hausa society, you made in the course of your presentation before Kano State Hisbah Board a seditious statements and unguarded utterances against the person of prominent Kannywood producers, directors and actors, which our client happens to be one.
“That this statement of yours grossly belittles and degrades our client in the eyes of the public, particularly his fans and the members of the society he lives in.
“It is in the light of the foregoing, we write for and on behalf of our client to formally demand from you to come publicly and retract the injurious statement you made or in the alternative, exclude our client from the bad names, you so referred within forty-eight (48) hours from the date of the receipt of this letter by you, failing which we will not hesitate to perfect our clients further instruction of taking drastic legal action against you.
“We hope you will heed and act wisely to avoid the consequences of our contemplated legal actions, both civil and criminal”.
However, quoting a copy of the letter posted on his Instagram page, Mr Amdaz dismissed the legal threat and vowed to stick to stand by his words.
“We have received a legal demand notice and we will follow it with ‘Hasbunallahu Wa ni’imal wakil (a supplication).
“But I wish to say that there till the Day of Judgement, no court or any human being being can force me to retract my words. Not 48 hours, but forever, nobody can force me to apologize and transgress the injunctions of my God,” the actor wrote.
“I can’t take back my words since you have failed to bring evidence to the contrary. What you need to do is to accept the truth and live according to dictates of righteousness,” he added.
It is understood that the legal ultimatum has since expired, but it remains to be seen what action the aggrieved Kannywood filmmakers would take as the issue continues to generate heat in the industry.
