Alhaji Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim, DG of the Kano Censor's Board, at a conference on indigenous language literature in Damagaram, Niger, December 2009 (c) CM

The Director General, Kano State Censorship Board, Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkarim has been allegedly caught in a sex scandal involving a minor, following an alleged incident along Maiduguri Road in Kano metropolis last Sunday, August 22.

Reports indicate that Rabo was allegedly with the girl in his car late in the night when a police patrol approached. He panicked and fled on high speed, eventually knocking down a motorcyclist around the Na’ibawa area. He was allegedly apprehended by a mob that vandalized his car before the police intervened.

The police took him to Hotoro Division where it was discovered he was a top government official. He was then released on bail.

A police source informed us that some incriminating evidence pointing at a possible sexual relationship between Rabo and the girl was found in his car. “When the car was searched, the police found the girl’s pant but you know, when such issues involve big people in town, it dies a natural death but he was actually arrested for alleged sex relationship with the girl as well as for hitting a moving bike,” the source said.

Rabo, during interrogation, allegedly told the police that the girl was his niece and he had fled the scene when the police approached because he suspected they might have been thugs sent after him by actors in Kano.

Rabo has led a crack down on the Hausa film industry following a leaked explicit video featuring a Kannywood star. He has since jailed several film makers in the state and his name has been synonymous with the puritan attempts to sanitize the film industry from indecency.

This has set him on a war path with filmmaker in the state and elsewhere, who have on several occasions dragged him to court, the latest coming barely a couple of weeks ago.

We contacted Rabo, who is presently away in Saudi Arabia to perform the lower hajj on telephone, he said it was a mere plan to tarnish his image by people at odds with his progress in sanitizing the industry.

“What happened was that I invited friends and relatives on that fateful day for a feast during iftar at my house, he explained, “and because the work was much, I invited some of my in-laws to come help us prepare the dishes and therefore had to drop them at the family house after everything and it was on my way back that I noticed a vehicle approaching me. Knowing the kind of threat and information on attempts to harm me, I sped for my dear life. I drove blindly, not knowing what I was really doing owing to the pressure of the moment when I hit a man on a bike and suddenly, a mob gathered and vandalized my car, thinking I stole the car. It was then the police arrived and rescued [me]. They eventually released me on realizing that the girl I was with was my niece,” he said.

On if he could give details about the girl for further clarification, he said he wouldn’t want to say much on his family members to the public but maintained that the said niece has been under his care since her father, his elder brother, died.

The Deputy Police Commissioner, Kano State Police Command, Tanko Lawan when contacted on the issue confirmed that there was an accident involving Rabo and a bike man. He said Rabo was sighted in suspicious circumstances and when the police attempted to inquire, he sped off causing the accident as the police gave chase. Lawan further said investigation into the matter has since commenced.

"Rabo arrested for sex related offence" Breaking news article by Ruqayyah Yusuf Aliyu on director general of Kano State Censors Board in Sunday Trust, 29 January 2010, p. 31

"Kano Chief Censor in Alleged Child Abuse Scandal" by Abdulaziz Abdulaziz in Leadership, 30 August 2010. p. 2

Hausa filmmakers on location gather around to read the Sunday Trust article "Rabo arrested for alleged sex related offence" (c) CM

Censorship chief escapes lynching for soliciting sex from minor