A renowned Kannywood film producer, Dr. Ahmad Sarari, has been elected as the National President of the Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria, MOPPAN, a northern Nigeria’s motion picture industry guild.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the election that produced Mr Sarari as president was conducted on Sunday during the association’s biennial delegates’ conference in Dutse, Jigawa State.
Declaring the results, the Returning Officer and the electoral committee chairman, Haladu Muhammad, disclosed that Mr Sarari polled 68 votes to beat his closest rival, Abdullahi Maikano Usman, who scored 44 votes.
According to the returning officer, the total votes cast was 136, out of which 112 votes were valid and 24 votes invalid.
Mr Muhammad commended all the candidates for displaying a high sense of responsibility at the polls, noting that the MOPPAN 2019 elections had set a new record into the association’s milestone.
Our correspondent gathered that 13 positions were contested in the election, out of which Mr Sarari was declared National President.
Sani Katsina was elected Vice President I, Maikudi Umar became Vice President II while Adamu Jahun was returned as Vice President III, just as Salisu Mu’azu emerged as Secretary-General of the association.
Others were Sani Rainbow, Al-Amin Ciroma and Dogon Daji who were elected as Treasurer, National Publicity Secretary and Financial Secretary respectively.
Salisu Officer became Assistant Secretary; Abdul Amart elected as Organising Secretary; Maijidda Abbas emerged as Welfare Officer while Waziri Godowoli is the association’s Auditor I and Tijjani Faraga as Auditor II.
During his acceptance speech, Mr Sarari thanked all the electorates and the electoral committee for taking up the herculean task of organising this year’s MOPPAN delegate conference.
He pledged that his tenure would be transparent, practical and resourceful, in order to move the Kannywood industry to greater heights.
He enjoined all members of his cabinet to be vigorous and dynamic in discharging their responsibilities.
“I wish to commend the electoral committee for discharging their responsibilities in ensuring a hitch-free election. I also wish to call on all the elected executives to be active in discharging their primary responsibilities.
“The time of the game of politics is over. I will, therefore, call on everyone to embrace the sense of reasoning by giving in their best to promote the industry,” Mr Sarari stated.
Earlier in his remarks, the outgoing president, Abdullahi Maikano, congratulated Mr Sarari for his landslide victory, promising to give in his support to the newly elected executives for the benefit of the association.
