The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria, (MOPPAN) has appointed Malam Habibu Barde as the interim National President of the association with immediate effect.
Until his appointment, Barde was the Vice President, North Central, of the association
This followed the formal resignation of Dr. Ahmad Sarari today as the President of one of the biggest film industry associations in the country.
In a press release signed shortly after Sarari’s resignation, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, MOPPAN, Makama Sani Mu’azu, expressed the BoT’s “profound appreciation” to the outgoing leader for his “dedication, commitment and selfless service to the growth and development of the association in various capacities for about two decades.”
Mu’azu, a notable actor and former national president of the association, added: “During his tenure as the National President, Dr Sarari brought to bear a high level of responsibility, integrity and respect for the association nationally and beyond.
“MOPPAN is one of the leading sectoral registered independent umbrella organisations in the motion picture industry for Nigeria with membership in several guilds and associations that forms branches affiliated to it at the state levels.”
He added that the association “remains committed to the development of the film industry in Nigeria and the entertainment industry at large.”
The New Citizen reports that Sarari announced his resignation at a press conference in his office in Kano today.
A report by Fim Magazine quoted him as saying the resignation was voluntary.
In a speech, Sarari went down memory lane, recounting his 19-year sojourn in the Hausa film industry untill he became the deputy National President of MOPPAN, ultimately becoming national president.
He said he had prepared to vacate office at the end of his first tenure as president but was pressured to seek re-election, which he did and won.
He pointed out that it was today that he clocked exactly two years in the saddle in his second tenure and would have continued as president under the revised constitution of the association which grants a three-year tenure.
Sarari said: “Even though the constitutional provision is now for three years per tenure, I wish to inform you that today and now I am resigning from my position voluntarily without any pressure.
“Consequently, one of my three deputies in the person of Habibu Barde Muhammad, the Vice-President North-central, will continue as president until the end of our tenure.
“Everything will continue to be done as constitutionally organised without fail; I’m the only one affected by the resignation. Everything remains as it is, they will continue to administer the association as if I was on the saddle.”
Sarari said he was proud of MOPPAN’s accomplishments under his tenure and is always willing to contribute whatever is necessary to the association in order for it to achieve more “because I’m still a floor member of MOPPAN, it’s only the presidency I forfeited. I am a member just like I will remain a movie industry stakeholder for which I am immensely proud, because the industry had done everything for me in life.”
The outgoing president thanked the members of the association for the cooperation they gave him, saying he hoped they would forgive him for any foible on his part.
“I also forgive everyone. May God unite us all individually and collectively as an industry,” he said.
