By New Citizen
Leading Kannywood actress Hadiza Aliyu Gabon has dismissed a report that said she was the sister of the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam.
An online newspaper, Grassroots Africa, had reported yesterday that Hadiza Gabon hailed from Bauchi State rather than the Republic of Gabon as widely believed.
The report, titled “Actress Hadiza Gabam, a Nigerian, Sister to former Jonathan’s protocol”, said: “Initially, her family did not approve of her move to flung into the film industry, a reason why she always hide her true identity and never tell the world the true spellings of her family name: GABAM (sic).”
“This brings to fore end of speculations that she is of Gabonist extraction,” it added.
However, an investigation by Kannywood’s leading publication, Fim Magazine, has disproved the claims by Grassroots Africa.
When the magazine’s correspondent contacted Hadiza Gabon for her comment over the report, she dismissed it outright as “false.”
The famous Hausa actress said she did not even know who Shehu Gabam was.
“Who is he? I am not related to him in any way,” she said.
The magazine further quoted the actress’s friend, the singer Sadiya Yarima, as well as the renown Hausa film producer Alhaji Yakubu Lere, both of whom dismissed the story that the Kaduna-based Hadiza was not of Gabonese origin.
Lere said the writer of the story, Sani Musa Sani, who also happens to be the publisher of the online newspaper, “does not know Hadiza Gabon,” adding that if he had known her true origin he would not have published such a story.
Lere, who is best known for producing the super hit movie ‘Wasila’ in the 1990s, disclosed that Hadiza first travelled to Nigeria in order to meet with him after seeing his film.
“For somebody to say she is from Bauchi, that means he does not know anything about her,” he said.
Lere said, “She came from Gabon. She came by road through the Central African Republic, through Cameroon, and arrived Adamawa.
“She told me that she has maternal relatives in Adamawa.”
He added that she could not even speak English when she first came to Nigeria, and she was not fluent in Hausa, she spoke “only Fulfulde and French.”
Lere said the actress first lived with her relatives in Nasarawa area of Kaduna, where he met her through a friend of his, Sulaiman Lere, who used to visit his girlfriend at the house.
Yakubu Lere said he consequebtly became her leader in the industry, introducing her around.
Lere, who is now a politician in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said, “At that time I used to take her along to the Fim magazine office at Yoruba Road whenever I was visiting the late Abaab (Abdulrasheed Kankiya).”
He said Hadiza Gabon got her first break as an actress in the remake of his film ‘Wasila’ when he produced it in 2010.
Lere said he knew Shehu Gabam very well, as they worked together in the Atiku Abubakar campaign some years ago.
“For Sani to claim that she is from Bauchi does not arise. They don’t even resemble each other.”
He added: “If you notice, she is still not very fluent in Hausa, but speaks French better. She once lived in France before she came to Nigeria.”
He said he still relates with Hadiza very well, as she often visits his family to say hello.
Lere said: “I wonder why people do things! Such is not good. What does he (Sani) want to achieve (with his story)?”
