Aminu Umar Mukhtar, a Kannywood movie director, has been declared wanted by the Kano State Film Censorship Board for allegedly promoting immorality in his recent movie, ‘Makaranta.’

During an interview with BBC Pidgin, the Executive Director of the censorship board, Na Abba Afakallah, revealed this.

The board declared Mukhtar wanted after sending a series of invitations to the filmmaker that were not responded to, according to Afakallah.

Mukhtar had promised to appear at the board’s office after the New Year’s celebrations in December but had yet to do so, according to him.

According to Afakallah, the board invited the filmmaker due to the film’s immoral content and the fact that the project was not approved by the body before going public.

He said, “The truth is that the whole process of that film did not get the backing of the board. Even the promotion video currently circulating ought to have been vetted by us. That way, we can say remove this part or that, but the filmmaker did neither of that.

“Since he did not answer our invitation, we’ll take the next step because our board is about preserving the religion and culture of Kano and we won’t allow anyone to destroy that for us.”

Mukhtar responded to the allegations by saying he is unconcerned about the board’s invitation and that he did nothing wrong.

He claimed that his film was not only about the Hausa people and that it was not shot in Kano.

He said, “When I heard that the board was looking for me, I was not disturbed at all because I did nothing wrong.

“My film is not about Kano or Hausa people alone, about 17 languages featured in the project. Moreover, I did not shoot the movie in Kano state. So, I don’t understand why their blood is hot over the issue.

“My film is not only about sex education, it captures other things such as female genital mutilation.

“With the project, we aim to create awareness about things that are happening not only in Hausa societies but others as well.”

Students were seen in a school setting in the film’s trailer, which was two minutes and eleven seconds long, with one scene showing a female student telling another about ‘Jima’i,’ which means sex in Hausa.

Another female student was seen in another scene announcing that she was pregnant, with her colleague promising to assist her with the situation.

The trailer’s final scene depicted the students in a typical party setting, with male and female classmates dancing together to hip-hop music.