An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has ordered police to arrest and investigate 10 local celebrities for “immoral conduct” on social media that could influence youth, Channels TV reported.
The court issued the order last week Tuesday following a suit by lawyers calling for their prosecution for singing and dancing to “immoral” songs and sharing them online, Baba-Jibo Ibrahim, a judicial spokesman said, according to the report.
“The Upper Sharia court gave an order to the police commissioner to arrest the 10 suspects and carry out an investigation on the roles they played in displaying immoral conduct,” Ibrahim said.
The accused are four men and six women, including a popular hip-hop singer, a famous film actress and eight TikTok influencers with huge followings.
Sharia law operates alongside criminal and civil law in Nigeria’s 12 Muslim-majority northern states.
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Hip-hop singer Ado Gwanja is accused of releasing a song titled “A Sosa”, meaning “Scratch your body” in Hausa language to which the other celebrities danced in videos online, according to the report.
However, none of the accused has been arrested or reported to the police, nine days after the court order, Ibrahim said.
“We will wait for the completion of the investigation by the police for the next line of action to be taken by the court,” he said.
None of the celebrities has so far reacted publicly and Gwanja and other high-profile figures did not immediately respond to attempts to contact them.
On Tuesday, Nigeria’s broadcasting regulator NBC banned television and radio stations from airing another of Gwanja song for containing obscenities and “portrayal of drunkenness as an acceptable way of life”.
“Social media has a wider reach and potential to circulate content to a large audience,” Ismail Na-Abba, head of Kano’s film censorship board told AFP.
“For this, we will not allow anyone to hide under the ubiquity of social media to spread immoral content.”
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.