‘We ‘ll revisit Rahama Sadau’s expulsion if…’

Abdullahi Maikano Usman is the recently elected National President of the Motion Pictures Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN). In this interview with ALIYU ASKIRA in Kano, the new president speaks on his plans to recall those on expulsion and how he intends to reach out to the disgruntled members in order to reposition the association.

Congratulations for your election as the new president of MOPPAN. Now, how do you intend take-off considering that the association does not even have a secretariat?
Honesty, you are correct. But luckily for us, the man who has been the Secretary General of MOPPAN for a long time, Muhammad Alkanawy decided to continue paying for our former secretariat which he converted now to his personal office. So we are going to negotiate with him and see if he would allow us to move into the complex and then start paying.

First, we need to immediately look for money so that we can take-off without hitches. Remember, we in Kaduna particularly have been trying to produce the national president of MOPPAN for the past 9 years, and now that I Abdullahi Maikano Usman from Kaduna Chapter of MOPPAN has finally emerged as the National President, I am going to seek the cooperation of those I contested with, like Yakubu Lere and Al-amin Ciroma to see how we can come together and revive MOPPAN.

That is why when I even won, I was happy on one hand but on the other side, I was also not happy because of challenges that are before me and my new Exco. Again, MOPPAN office has its headquarters in Kano and this is a fulltime Job that I will have to be in Kano most of the time – my family, businesses, and other contacts, my multi-media Film Production Company inclusive. So I need to mobilize resources to ensure that I make myself available always in Kano to function very well.

There was an allegation during your convention that Kaduna State government made available to you the sum of N10 Million while some are saying N3 Million. What is the truth about it?
Let me make this clear. Before I retired from Kaduna State Media Corporation, as principal news editor, my area of specialization was investigative journalism, as such, those who are making the allegation should be able to back it up with facts and figures so that even if it later become a legal issue, they can defend their allegation in Court.

With these allegations in place, how do you intend to forge peace among your colleagues?
If they clearly mention that the money being distributed which I, Abdullahi Maikano Usman, did not see came from Mallam Nasiru El-rufai of Kaduna State whom they allegedly wants to use us for his second term, then I advise you to contact the Governor through his media person Samuel Aruwan to verify these allegation. As for me, I was not given money by anybody and nobody will use me for his political ambition.

Could you tell us more about yourself and how you emerge from nowhere and clinched the Presidency of MOPPAN?
Well, if am not popular, maybe because I mind my business but to tell you a bit about me, I am not only an active member of the industry, am proud to say that my company produced more than 15 films. After my primary and teacher’s college education, I proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, and graduated before joining Kaduna State Media Corporation and rose to the position of Principal News Editor. I have been in many drama series before the birth of Kannywood. One thing I notice is that if one is not based in Kano, one is not likely to be unknown by the media.

Also on my election, nobody has so far gone to court to challenge my candidature on the ground that I am not known or that I am not a full member of MOPPAN. I had series of complains that myself I have no film production outfit. Muhammad Alkanawy has also never produced a film, our new National Treasurer Nura Hussain some said is a tailor, as such, I was told that Arewa Film Practitioners a body under MOPPAN will not corporate with us. But my first move will be reconciliation and re-integration. Take the case of Rahama Sadau for example, she is on expulsion before our election, these are cases that we know will be tabled very soon before us and we are going to give them fair hearing. Those having problems with Kano State Government, we are going to do our best to resolve our differences with them too.

You also asked me on the fact that when Salisu Officer lost the National Secretary ship most Kannywood members are not happy and are threatening to pull out of MOPPAN. To answer that question I would say that we are going to investigate that and if it is true, we are going to put machinery in motion to reconcile those who are aggrieved with the new leadership. We also are using this medium to announce that we may have our own in house journal, to be called MOPPAN Monthly that will be highlighting our achievements, and to clearly explain to the public most of the things they don’t know about our members.

We are also going to set up a welfare scheme to assist our members that are old. Or if we lose a member for example, we will use our welfare scheme to assist his family by sponsoring the education of their children, I know because of Yakubu Lere’s closeness to Ali Nuhu and the fact that I defeated him, some stakeholders in Kannywood may not easily accept our leadership but we are going to do our best to reorganize MOPPAN, and also approach Arewa Film Makers for working partnership because there is little difference between Kannywood, MOPPAN and Arewa film makers. All of us are doing virtually the same thing in the industry. My doors are open for all our members to come with complains for possible solution.

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