Aminu Kano

=== Hausa cinema and plays ===
{{See also|Hausa-language cinema}}
As a young boy, Aminu often composed plays which he used to act out "his complaints, criticisms, and aspirations in dramatic form". In these plays, he regularly reserved the leading role to himself and gave out the other parts to his playmates.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=43–44}} Later as a student at Kano Middle School, he became the first to formally write drama works in the Hausa-language.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=228}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gar |first=Yusuf Baba |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFjfEAAAQBAJ |title=Capturing Culture: Traditional Theater in Contemporary Hausa Video Films |date=2024-01-18 |publisher=LIT Verlag |isbn=978-3-643-96410-6 |pages=81 |language=en}}</ref> While studying at the [[Barewa College|Kaduna College]], he founded the Dramatic Society and wrote several plays in which he:<blockquote>...criticized the exploitation of the masses and challenged the system of [[Emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate|emirates]] in [[Northern Region, Nigeria|northern Nigeria]]. In the play, ''Kai wane ne a kasuwar Kano da ba za a cuce ka ba?'' ('Whoever you might be, you will be cheated at Kano market') he depicted the exploitation of country people by heartless merchants, while in ''Karya Fure take ba ta ‘ya’ya'' ('A lie blooms but yields no fruit') he raised the problem of excessive taxes levied upon the Hausa rural population. In the years 1939—1941 Aminu Kano wrote around twenty short plays for the use of schools in which he ridiculed some of the outdated local customs as well as the activities of the [[Native Authority]] in the system of indirect colonial administration.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=276}}<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=228}}<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Adamu |first=Abdalla Uba |url=https://auadamu.com/phocadownload/Conference_Presentations/Media_and_Cultural_Communication_Presentations/2005%20Read%20to%20Reel%20-%20Transformation%20of%20Hausa%20Popular%20Literature%20from%20Orality%20to%20Visuality.pdf |title=Read to Reel: Transformation of Hausa Popular Literature from Orality to Visuality |publisher=Department of Mass Communication Bayero University, Kano |year=2005 |pages=8–9}}</ref></blockquote>In 1940, during the second annual general meeting of the Kaduna Old Boys Association (now Barewa Old Boys Association), a meeting where the alumni of the college "meet and have free discussions among themselves", Aminu, at the time still a student, staged his ''Kai wane ne a kasuwar Kano'' play for the KOBA attendees. According to [[Abubakar Imam]], who was among the attendees, 'observers' viewed the play as "politically inspired, capable of doing more harm than good to the stability of the region, and more especially with a global war on". This led to the school's authorities refusing to host any future meetings and to associate with KOBA.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|page=162}}

Aminu drew inspiration from notable writers such as [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Trevor |url=http://archive.org/details/wasitonlyyesterd0000unse |title=Was it only yesterday? : the last generation of Nigeria's "Turawa" |publisher=Bristol : BECM Press |others=Internet Archive |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-9530174-7-8}}</ref>{{Rp|page=284}} [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], [[Voltaire]], and [[Thomas Paine|Tom Paine]], attempting to adapt their works for a Hausa audience.<ref name=":3" /> He often served as the playwright, actor, and director in his plays, sometimes converting prose into drama or using strictly original material. He and his colleagues constructed stages, inviting audiences to witness their shows, often during festivals like Sallah. These performances gained popularity, sometimes drawing the attendance of even the emir and district heads. Aminu made social commentary and criticisms through these plays and shows. One notable play, initially titled ''Kar Ka Bata Hajin Naka'' ('Don't Spoil Your [[Hajj]]'), later renamed ''Alhaji Ka Iya Kwanga'' ('Alhaji, You Know How to Dance the [[Conga line|Conga]]'), cautioned Nigerians against being captivated by the superficial allure of Western ways, emphasizing that imitation was destined to fail. Instead, he advocated for change through education in their own customs.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=55}}

Although he sent several of his plays to [[Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo]], the government-run Hausa-language newspaper, none were accepted.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=277}}<ref name=":3" /> According to [[Abdalla Uba Adamu]], 'The traditional establishment was too entrenched to accept literary criticism, especially from one of them.'<ref name=":3" /> Nevertheless, Aminu Kano's plays were influential in Hausa cinema, with several of his plays adapted to film.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCain |first=Carmen |date=2013 |title=Nollywood and Its Others: Questioning English Language Hegemony in Nollywood Studies |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/article/538429 |journal=The Global South |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=30–54 |doi=10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.30 |s2cid=144044295 |issn=1932-8656}}</ref> He was particularly influential on [[Maitama Sule]], one of Hausa cinema's early adopters. Sule mentioned attending Kaduna College after Aminu had graduated, recalling that almost all the plays he acted in were written by Aminu.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=56–57}} He added that he remembered an occasion where:<blockquote>...students swarmed to the railroad station to greet Aminu when they heard that he was enroute from Kano to Bauchi and would stop for a short time in Kaduna. The train was delayed for several hours, so they all trooped over to the field to perform a play of his on which they had been working. Aminu, when he arrived, joined the cast...<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=57}}</blockquote>Sule played a pivotal role in founding one of Northern Nigeria's first film production companies, the Maitama Sule Drama Group.<ref name=":3" /> His social and political critiques are often reflected in [[Cinema of Nigeria|Nigerian films]], particularly [[Kannywood|those in the Hausa language]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCain |first=Carmen |date=2013 |title=Nollywood and Its Others: Questioning English Language Hegemony in Nollywood Studies |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/article/538429 |journal=The Global South |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=30–54 |doi=10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.30 |issn=1932-8656}}</ref>