Nancy Isime slammed for wearing hijab in crime movie, MURIC pushes for ban

Nollywood actress Nancy Isime has sparked outrage among the Muslim community in Nigeria for wearing a niqab in a robbery scene in an upcoming movie, “Three Working Days.”

On Monday, Isime shared pictures of a bank heist scene from the movie dressed in Muslim attire on Instagram. She captioned the post, “Life Lately.”

In pictures, she donned a niqab ( a niqab is a veil worn by some Muslim women in public, covering all of the faces, apart from the eyes), wielding guns in what seems to be a bank robbery scene.

Jerry Ossas directed the movie, which stars Demi Adebayo, Mike Afolarin, Uzor Arukwe, Deyemi Okanlawon, Romeo Horsfall, and Emem Ufot.

The movie’s poster, also revealed in her post, depicts women in hijabs and face veils brandishing guns during a bank heist, sparking widespread outrage.

In July 2023, a similar outrage occurred after the first 45 seconds of ‘Jaye Lo’, a yet-to-be-released music video by a Davido signee, Logos Olori,

showed some men wearing white attire (Jalabiyas) and white caps and dancing in front of a mosque.

The concept earned the ire of Muslims, calling on Davido to yank the video and stop its release. After a few days, Davido bowed to pressure from Muslims in Nigeria and consequently deleted the offensive video of ‘Jaye Lo‘.

Outrage

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called for an immediate ban on the film.

The group said it depicts Muslim women as criminals and incites the public against them.

Ishaq Akintola, the executive director of MURIC, issued a press statement on Thursday, urging the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to take swift action against the film.

The statement reads in part, “ An extremely anti-Muslim film has been released into the Nigerian movie industry. The upcoming film, recently unveiled by Nancy Isime, shows women in purdah brandishing dangerous weapons and robbing banks.”

Mr Akintola described the movie as “satanic, repugnant, and provocative,” warning that it could incite public hostility towards Muslim women and ridicule the Muslim community at large.

“This film is Islamophobia taken to the highest level,” Akintola stated. “It aims to portray Muslim women as criminals, potentially inciting violence and discrimination against them.”

MURIC argues that such portrayals are part of a broader plot against Muslim practices and could fuel tensions within the country.

“We believe that the film is the handiwork of Muslim-haters and part of the plot to stop Muslim women from wearing hijab and niqab. The plot was hatched long ago, and its execution began in the schools. This plot was boldly and diligently confronted in Nigerian courts by Muslims until the highest court in the land made a pronouncement on it. This Satanic film is the latest effort in the war against hijab.

This hate film is capable of setting Nigeria on fire if the relevant authorities do not take urgent action. We therefore call on the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to investigate and place an immediate ban on the coming film.

Meanwhile, MURIC’s call for a ban is accompanied by a plea to the Muslim community to remain calm and peaceful.

As the debate continues, all eyes are on the NFVCB to see how it will respond to MURIC’s demand for an investigation and potential ban of the upcoming film.

Nollywood actress Nancy Isime

More pressure

Similarly, an online petition on change.org titled “Mockery and Defaming of Muslim Women,” initiated by Maryam Hanbali on Wednesday, is calling for the movie’s ban.

The petition has already garnered 23,670 signatures, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the movie from all platforms. The goal is 25,000 signatures.

It also seeks a public apology from the producers and Ms Isime for what it describes as a thoughtless misrepresentation that has caused significant distress to the Muslim community, especially to women who wear the hijab and niqab.

Bashir Ahmad, former Digital Communications Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, criticised the movie on X.

Mr Ahmad added, “The movie producers should have considered alternative costumes for such scenes, such as balaclavas or masks. For us, the hijab (niqab) is not worn by our women to hide their identity to commit crimes but to respect, follow, and abide by the teachings of our religion.”

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NFVCB reacts

Reacting to the complaints about the upcoming movie, the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), in an X post, stated that the movie has not been released and is taking steps to address the concerns raised.

The post reads, in part, “ We reinstate that as a classification agency, NFVCB will not overlook any film or video works, including dramatised short content (skits) that abuse, denigrate,s or undermine religious, culture,l and ethnic sensibility.”

NFVCB also reassured its commitment to promoting the positive transformation of Nigerian society by classifying films that balance the need to preserve freedom of expression within the law.

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