When a Kano mobile court found the Hausa film producer and actor, Hamisu Iyan Tama guilty of all the charges made against him and subsequently incarcerated him, the good people of Kano heaved a sigh of relief that the war against immorality, which fully enjoys their support, is being successful.

Disturbingly bedeviled by different types of social problems, the people of Kano are always trying to find ways by which the multi-headed monster could be tackled. This is evident in the way people in the state are always lamenting the unwanted situation during their day to day interactions. Radio and TV discussions, day to day conversations, food centre chats, taxi/bus talks etc are mostly centered on the steady deterioration of our most cherished values and their replacement with rogue ones. The older among us recall, with nostalgia, how the good and enviable the society was during their early days, while the younger ones wish they have had the chance to live such a life.

This informs the people's huge support to the state censorship board on its war against the treacherous merchants of immorality hiding under different guises. The society understands that the board is helping it to curb the ills of the fiends.

But, not unexpectedly, some people, who are direct or indirect beneficiaries of the undesirable situation, are trying everything to see to it that we remain in this mess. Various elements have been trying to use any available means to upset the relatively saner society. Different kinds of fabrications aimed at blackmailing and/or coercing the board to stop its much applauded war against immorality are being employed by these elements.

This is evident in the various kinds of mischief we are seeing in newspapers and internet concerning the activities of the board. The latest of such action trailed the incarceration of Iyan Tama. The incidence paved way for those sympathizing with the filmmakers or who are exploiting their activities to write many things that inadvertently expose the level of disdain they have for this society.

Though not a protagonist of the primordial concept of indigene/settler, one cannot help but wonder the ominously clear fact that almost all the backers of these filmmakers and their cohorts are non indigenes of the state.

Many shaky and outrageous arguments are often proffered by the immorality protagonists, in their already lost battle against our society, to convince the government to let them have a field day.

The shakiest among these arguments is, the debatable notion, that the filmmakers provides job to "thousands" of youths. These youths will or have become unemployed by the measures taken to ensure that only films that reflect our mores are produced.

This argument is shaky, because, as I pointed elsewhere, the provision of employment will never be an alibi for spreading evil in the society. All other vices could be established in our midst in the guise of providing employment if we fall for this bait. Brothels, drug traffickers, armed robbers, fraudsters, riggers, corrupt officials etc could as well find this theory as a handy.

Moreover, the situation on the ground is telling a different story. According to findings by yours truly many of these youths have secured decent jobs, and some of the girls have successfully married.

Another weak reason is that the war against the immoral filmmaking, by the censorship board, is hypocritical because there are satellites all over the state including government house and all government offices. This is clearly myopic. As the saying goes "a thief is suspicious that everybody is like him". First, we ask the advocators of this bogus claim, are they assuming that anybody who has a satellite is immoral? Or are they saying that whoever has a satellite is definitely watching indecent films. It is apt to point that the prevalence of unlawfulness in one place will never validate same elsewhere.

Besides, the adverse effect of these hausa films is farthest than foreign films in our society. The films in reference were here for decades with relatively far less impact on our society due to our divergent norms and values with the whole films, characters, etc. But when the so called Kannywood came and started producing the Hausa version of the foreign and (southern) Nigerian films the whole society found itself drowning fast! Before you could pronounce the word "RABO" the immorality the foreign films couldn't spread in our society in decades was hurtfully spread over by kannywood films.

Among the most surprisingly absurd charge of the apologists of Kannywood is the one that the war against filmmaking in Kano is wearing the toga of Shariah, however it is anything but Islamic. They forgot or chose to ignore the fact that being dirty does not bar one from cleaning somebody.

The irony is that the very people who are saying this are the ones who are the first to produce and are still producing the most lewd Hausa film magazine, unprecedented in the history of Hausa man. It is the first magazine produced in the north that will show pictures of nude Hausa girls posing in different kinds of lewdness. They are among those who are benefitting from the immorality of those films, via their lucrative (but sinful) business, hence their war against anti-immorality campaign.

One of the gimmicks these people are trying to use is that of blackmailing the State government into submission. One of them recently warned that "a rash of anti-Shekarau sentiment has been unleashed among the youths. This is visible in folk songs being produced in movie studios in Kano, Zaria and Kaduna. Initially the songs were targeted at the Kano State Censorship Board (KSCB) but they are now including the governor in their attacks."

Suffice it to say that going by the way the Governor handled stiffer situations (like that of yan achaba) in his first term where he needed votes for second term, it is not that likely he will be ruffled by this empty and fallacious chicanery, but one must state that this is simply a delusion. The activities of censorship board are endearing the Government to the society. The people are behind the board in its war against immorality. We are appealing to the Government not to relent in its war against immorality. If they mock you with songs we will pray for you with the Holy Qur'an!

The most disturbing thing about the filmmakers is their unruliness. One wonders why should a simply directive, that indecency should be stopped, be so hard to be complied by any right meaning citizen. It is very paradoxical that people who always claim, albeit ridiculously, that they are inculcating good morals, via their trash, to the society, shamelessly refuses to obey the law and worst they are always confrontational. The case of Iyan Tama is simply of unruliness. Some people have even, convincingly, debunked his claim that he is registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Instead of those who cheered him to this predicament to play blame game let them help him prove to the courts that he is not guilty.

Mahmud wrote from Chiranchi Quarters, Gwale Local Government, Kano State.