Day Kannywood stars united for awards
The first Kannywood/ MTN Awards, which honoured players in the “Arewa” music and movie industry, was a gathering of ‘ who is who’ in the Northern entertainment industry. From movie producers, directors, actors, actresses to other stakeholders, all were present.
According to Chairman of the Organizing/ Security Committee of the event Hamisu Lamido Iyantama, the event is supported by MTN Nigeria and was the first of its type to be organized and sponsored by the telecommunication firm.
In his welcome address, co- organizer of the award Dr. Ahmed Sarari of Classic Movie said the award night is an acknowledgement of the importance of the Hausa movie industry in Nigeria.
Dr. Sarari added that the movie industry is second only to government in terms of providing employment opportunities to millions of young people.
Dignitaries at the award
Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who bagged the award of ‘ Icon of development,’ was represented by his deputy Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero who bagged the award of ‘ Icon of Peace,’ was also represent at the event which had the District Head of Dala Aminu Ado Bayero in attendance.
Addressing the huge crowd of artists during the occasion, Deputy Governor of Kano State Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje who spoke at length, urged practitioners in the movie industry to utilize the opportunity presented to them by the state government in Kano. He stressed the state government commitments in uplifting the lives of the youths who constituted the larger percentage of practitioners in the industry.
“This government is a government for the youths; you are all witness to what we have been doing to see that our youths have been carried along in all our development undertakings. We are committed to ensuring that our youths excel in all their positive engagements,” said Ganduje.
Similarly, Governor Yero commended the Hausa movie industry and urged all practitioners to be good ambassadors of the industry wherever they may find themselves.
Thrills at the award night
Despite the security challenges in Kano State, the venue of the event attracted a lot of fans and fun seekers. Security agents were also on hand to ensure a hitch- free event, which began around 8: 15 pm with Shehu Hassan Kano and the Sheikh as masters of the ceremony.
Guests at the event were thrilled by splendid musical performances by different artists in the Hausa music industry, such as Mudassiru Kasim, Sani Musa Danja and his group, Ali Nuhu and Nafisa Abdullahi, among others.
Audience went agog when Sani Danja came on stage with his popular song ‘ Dan Zaki’ and his kind of dance steps. The audience became more thrilled when multiple award winning actor Ali Nuhu came on stage to perform one of his famous dance steps.
What went wrong?
There was panic when about six gun shots were heard outside the venue. People became scared and started running helterskelter, with some breaking into the venue for fear of the unknown. It was later revealed that the shots were fired to disperse a crowd of fans who attempted to gatecrash into the main event area.
It took some time before normalcy returned. Some invited artists could not make it into the venue, because the crowd outside the became almost out of control.
Miscreants also took advantage of the high interest in the event and sold fake invitation cards to people at N1,000 and N2,000. According to Iyantama, the committee succeeded in apprehending the miscreants who had sold a lot of cards to innocent fans before they were arrested.
What went right
Despite the allegations of bias in the awards by some artists, the event, being the first of its kind, has received lots of commendation from different angles. The stage setting was perfect, event organizing was good and also the choice of location was also commended.
Winners at the award
The award night went through the early hours of the Sunday, and winners from different categories were announced. Some awards were not on the original list initially sent out to the public.
A the maiden edition of Kannywoood? MTN award, best actor lead award goes to Ali Nuhu for his Performance in the movie Matan Gida while best actress lead award was won by controversial Nafisat Abdullahi for her role in the movie Ahlul kitab.
Similarly, best supporting actor award went to Zahraddeen Sani for his performance in the movie Fulani; the award for best supporting actress was won by Ladi Muhammad for her role in the comedy movie Kicimilli. The movie Wani Gari won the best film award while Aminu Saira won the best director award. Similarly, veterans in the Hausa movie industry were also honoured with lifetime achievement award. They include: Jos- based director and producer Sani Mu’azu, Ibrahim Mandawari, Audu Kano ( Karkuzu), Samanja, and Hamisu Lamido Iyantama.