PMB Film Village: The Pyrrhic Victory Of Ecclesiocracy over Democracy

Sheik Abdallah

The Nigerian Film Corporation recently toured the ancient city of Kano in preparation for the establishment of a film village to be named after President Muhammadu Buhari. The governor of the state and other stakeholders appeared enthusiastic about the project which presumably would open the ancient town to tourism, movie making and constructive international exposure. But based on threats from one of the ultra religious clerics from the ancient city the project has become stillborn.

A Muslim Cleric, Sheik Abdallah Usman Gadan Kanya, according to sources mobilized for support amongst like-minded Muslims in order to throttle the film village project on the wings of a strange threat of cursing its initiators through "spiritual" means. This was coming from a man who has a PhD from Bayero University in Kano. But then, we don't go to schools to get educated, but to fit into a system. Obviously, the Sheik found his fit in religious fundamentalism.

According to sources, "…Sheik Abdalla described the project as a plot to undermine Muslims and their religion in Kano State by creating a hub for immorality and un-Islamic acts. He threatened that, unless the government stopped the film village, clerics would embark on spiritual prayers that would result in blindness and deaf diseases on those behind the film village."

 

The power wielded by these clerics should not be underestimated and I don't mean so-called "spiritual" powers, but their ability to mobilize and unleash mayhem on ordinary people (usually non-indigenes) if they so wish. These clerics seat pretty and represent a subculture of socio-political control that is extremely effective, ruthless, avaricious, anachronistic and exclusive, despite our so-called democracy.  Religious clerics, traditional rulers and their antics within the nation's socio-political space represent a major factor that has prevented Nigeria from reaching true nationhood. 

It is obvious that the educated and enlightened young people of Kano were in support of the film village project since it could potentially provide avenues to exhibit creativity and provide employment. But such modernizing ventures reduce the power of the Islamic clerics to shape opinions and maintain unearned privileges. By preventing the project, in the name of Islam, the clerics have appropriated and arrogated unto themselves the rights of individuals to live as free people in a secular society. Because education tends to free the mind to some extent, northern leaders, afraid of losing their stranglehold on their people, have deliberately maintained a largely illiterate society to serve their whims. 

The Sheik was incensed by the idea that Kano would be culturally opened to other Nigerians and international visitors when he said, "…From all parts of the world, people will be coming to Kofa to do film or drama. A southerner (Nigerian) will come and do film in Kofa; a northerner will come and do film in Kofa. American will come and do film in Kofa, Indian will come and do a film in Kofa and Britons will come and do the same thing in Kofa. To come and practice immorality and destroy our values." There you have it. The Sheik seemed to think that Islamic values were superior and different from that of other human beings. This is probably the reason why in most core northern cities there is a deliberate separation of Nigerians into those living within the City (usually walled and inhabited by the indigenes) and those living in Sabon-Gari (new settlement) inhabited by settlers.   

To buttress his point, the Sheik concluded that the film village was a conspiracy by an unnamed lawmaker who insisted on bringing the project to Kano to "destroy Islam". He further revealed that some "pagan" Yorubas had wanted the project in their city but were denied in order to bring the film village to Kano to destroy Islam!  The Sheik wondered why the "first benefit" (it was included in the 2016 budget) Kano would be getting from the Federal Government was a film village that has the potential for destroying their pristine morals and values. 

PMB was obviously rattled by the self-aggrandizing posture of Sheik Abdallah and his cohorts because he was eventually prevailed upon to stop the film village project. The president's "wishes" were conveyed to the Kano State government and the theocrats enjoyed a pyrrhic victory. However, the utterances and threats of Sheik Abdallah are some of the reasons why the country needs to be restructured so that those who want to live as if it was 2000BC can do so.  

The powers of religious leaders must be subject to democratic ethos for the country to move forward. We must decide if we want democratically derived decisions or those coming from a bigoted zealot with a questionable agenda. We must also decide if this country is truly secular or it is a thinly veiled Islamic republic. The proposed film village would have improved the local economy and the lives of those connected with it - and we are talking of thousands of people (if corruption allows). But those thousands of hopes have disappeared in a puff of very hot prayers that is nothing but hot air. 

To those who feel disappointed, take heart. Religion, as we know it, is probably on its last legs and that is the reason why those benefitting from its enslaving qualities are fighting to maintain the status quo. It is good to worship, but do it with your eyes wide open. Your heaven or hell is right here. We have looked to the East and to the West and yet the redemption they promise gives no rest, after more than five hundred years. We need to change the current song to our song and one day (that is sure to come) when the film village project comes of age, nothing would stop it.