Sharia police in the northern Nigerian city of Kano have annulled a court-ordered marriage between two TikTok celebrities after a viral video of the couple kissing, the religious police told AFP on Sunday.

On Monday, October 20, a judge ordered Kano's Sharia police, known as Hisbah, to perform the wedding of two TikTokers within 60 days, ruling that the kissing was indecent in Kano's conservative Muslim society.

"The court ordered the Hisbah to marry the man and woman, since they are so in love that they are showing off their romance on TikTok," Baba-Jibo Ibrahim, Kano state judicial spokesman, told AFP.

TikTok celebrities Idris Mai Wushirya and Basira Yar Guda, who have dwarfism, shared videos of themselves kissing and hugging.

But Mai Wushirya then told religious police officials preparing the wedding that he was not interested in marrying Yar Guda after assuring the judge they were "in love," Abba Sufi, director general of the Sharia police, told AFP.

"Mai Wushirya told us that he lied to the court about being in love with Yar Guda to avoid prosecution," Mr. Sufi added. "With this development, we annulled the marriage and decided to refer the matter to the judge, who ordered appropriate action," he concluded.

The Hisbah was established in 2001 to enforce the provisions of Sharia law in the state.

Kano is home to a thriving film industry, dubbed Kannywood, which produces more than 200 films a month in the Hausa language spoken in the region and throughout West Africa.

The censorship office set up by Muslim preachers and local authorities to monitor Kannywood extended its activities to social media in 2022.

The Hisbah regularly arrests and sentences influencers whose content published on social networks it considers "immoral."