Hisbah in Kano State has cancelled a wedding of two TikTok celebrities that was ordered by a court after a viral kissing video, an official told AFP Sunday.
A judge ordered the Islamic Sharia police to marry the two TikTok celebrities after they posted an “indecent” video.
Kano is one of 12 primarily Muslim states in Nigeria where Sharia law coexists with common law.
Videos of Idris Mai Wushirya and Basira Yar Guda snuggling and kissing circulated on TikTok, causing fury in Kano.
On Monday, a magistrate court judge ordered the Kano Sharia police, known as Hisbah, to marry two people within 60 days for broadcasting footage of them kissing, which is considered immoral in Kano’s devout Muslim society.
However, after telling the judge they were “in love,” Mai Wushirya told Hisbah authorities preparing for the wedding that he did not want to marry Yar Guda, according to Abba Sufi, Hisbah’s Director-General.
“Mai Wushirya told us that he lied to the court that he and Yar Guda were in love to evade prosecution.
“With this development, we have cancelled the wedding and have resolved to refer the matter to the judge who gave the order for appropriate action,” Sufi said.
On Monday, Mai Wushiryar’s parents granted Hisbah “explicit consent” for the wedding, while Sharia police attempted to reach Yar Guda’s family.
The Kano State Government agreed to buy a house for the prospective couple in order to meet the bride’s condition.
Nigerians’ reactions to the court order were divided.
The Nigerian Bar Association, the country’s attorneys’ union, criticized the court order as “an affront to the fundamental rights of the individuals concerned.”
“No court has the power to compel any person to marry another person or two persons to mandatorily marry,” Mazi Afam Osigwe, head of the NBA, said in a statement.
Kano is home to a developing film industry known as Kannywood, the world’s second largest in terms of volume after Bollywood, with over 200 films made each month in Hausa, the language spoken in the region and throughout West Africa.
The increased use of social media by Kannywood for skits and songs prompted the board of censors to expand its authority to social media, detaining and imprisoning numerous TikTok users for recordings deemed vulgar or indecent.
