Opinion

Censoring the Uncensored: The irony behind Hisbah’s ban on Hamisu Breaker’s song

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"UwnQDDCc" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Ummi Muhammad Hassan<&sol;p><div class&equals;"KptULFzU" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Following the ban by Hisbah on a new song titled &&num;8220&semi;Amana Ta&&num;8221&semi; by Hamisu Breaker&comma; social media went into an uproar&comma; capturing the attention of the public&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the early hours of April 24&comma; 2025&comma; social media was filled with reactions following a press statement issued by the Deputy Commander of the Hisbah Board&comma; Kano State chapter&comma; Dr&period; Khadija Sagir&comma; announcing the ban of Breaker&&num;8217&semi;s new song&period; The reason cited was that the song allegedly contains obscene language&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This announcement&comma; however&comma; triggered a counterreaction from the public&period; Many became curious to know more about the song and the so-called obscene content&comma; with some taking to their social media handles to express their opinions&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"9kDVXTZq" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>The irony of the situation is that Hisbah unintentionally gave the song more prominence&comma; causing it to go viral&period; Many people who were previously unaware of the song searched for and listened to it&comma; just to understand the controversy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In my opinion&comma; after listening to the song&comma; it contains no obscene language&period; Rather&comma; the issue seems to lie with some young women who mimed the song in a suggestive manner after hearing that Hisbah had labelled it as indecent—as though to dramatize or reinforce the claim&period; Some even appeared as if they were intoxicated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To me&comma; this is both devastating and concerning&comma; as it reflects the erosion of the strong moral standards once upheld by Hausa women&period; Many young people are now making videos lip-synching the song in indecent ways&period; It made me pause and ask myself&colon; where has our shyness gone&quest; I believe this question deserves a deeper conversation on another day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Breaker&&num;8217&semi;s case&comma; thanks to the Hisbah ban&comma; he became the most trending Kannywood artist in April&comma; and his song went viral—and continues to trend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A similar incident occurred earlier this year when the federal government banned Idris Abdulkareem’s song &ast;Tell Your Papa&ast;&period; That action unexpectedly brought the artist back into the spotlight&comma; causing the song to trend widely&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Social media has made censorship increasingly difficult&period; Once a movie&comma; text&comma; or song reaches the internet&comma; it becomes almost impossible to control—even by the creators themselves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While social media censorship remains a challenge&comma; this recent incident highlights the need for the government to intensify efforts against the spread of indecent content—through Hisbah and agencies like the Kano State Film Censorship Board&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Clear guidelines should be put in place&comma; requiring artists and filmmakers to submit their content for review and approval before public release&period; This&comma; among other strategies&comma; could help reduce the spread of inappropriate material&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Additionally&comma; Hisbah should be more mindful of how such announcements are made&comma; as they may inadvertently promote the very content they seek to suppress&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ummi Muhammad Hassan&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication at Bayero University&comma; Kano&period; She can be reached via email at&colon; ummeemuhammadhassan&commat;gmail&period;com&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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