The Heroism of Ordinary People: An Interview with Helon Habila

This interview was published in LEADERSHIP on Monday

US-based Helon Habila, the award-winning Nigerian novelist, is currently on tour of Nigeria. Carmen MacCain talked to him in the US recently prior to his coming to Nigeria

Award winning novelist Helon Habila grew up in Gombe State. After earning his BA in English at the University of Jos in 1995, he taught at the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi. Moving to Lagos in 1999, he became the arts editor at the Vanguard and wrote a novel, published as Waiting for An Angel in 2002, which won the Caine Prize for African Fiction in 2001 and the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2003. Habila has published stories, articles, and poems in journals world-wide and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of East Anglia. After a stint as the first Chinua Achebe fellow at Bard College in New York, Habila took a position at George Mason University where he teaches creative writing. He is in Nigeria from November 17 to November 24 to promote his second novel Measuring Time. In this interview on behalf of LEADERSHIP, he speaks with Carmen McCain, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, about his writing.

CARMEN MCCAIN: I was wondering what your creative process is like. Where do your stories come from?

HABILA: I really cannot say exactly, but I am really inspired by books. Sometimes I write in reaction to books I have read. Then there is also my experience: Measuring Time has a lot of that—my experiences as a child growing up. There was a time when I realised that I wanted to write about my hometown. From that moment whatever I did I viewed it through the eyes of fiction, thinking of how to represent the people I met, the things I did, the places I saw. I was thinking of them as already a part of my book that I was going to write. I was going to write Measuring Time even before I started writing Waiting for an Angel.

In both of your novels the act of writing itself seems to take on a political significance. What, to you, is the political responsibility of the writer?

Well, quite a lot, especially as an African writer. I think there is that tradition which started from the first generation of African writers. They were writing against the whole colonial system, which was very repressive, very racist, very dictatorial. They actually used to have congresses where they would discuss the best way to write fiction in a way that would address the political issues of the day. Even before that, in traditional African society, from the folk tales, there’s always a kind of moral lesson, a kind of didacticism that is seen as an aesthetic part of that story. So politics more or less becomes an aesthetic in African fiction. There are no boundaries between what is purely political and what is art. Art becomes politics and politics becomes art. So I think people like me who find themselves in that tradition, and have that temperament, that awareness of what is going on, who feel that things shouldn’t be the way they are, have a duty to speak out. It is tradition and it’s also a matter of temperament, because there are definitely writers in Africa who don’t write about politics. They write art for art’s sake, or whatever you want to call it.

Could you say more about the influences of Hausa literature on your writing?

Definitely. I grew up reading the translation of One Thousand and One Nights in Hausa and the works of Abubakar Imam, Magana Jari Ce, Ruwan Bagaja, etc. So there is that magical or folkloric representation of reality, which is very different from pure realism. I was definitely influenced by that. And before that I was also influenced by folktales told to me by women in the compound. So, these Hausa books I discovered later were almost a continuation of that story tradition with the magical elements, spirit figures and things like that.

Both of your novels deal with history. In Measuring Time, the character Mamo wants to write a biographical history. Is this one of your own goals?

Definitely, I think so. Because so much that we have is fast fading away and being taken over by the modern, I see writing itself as cultural conservation. That is exactly what Mamo’s project is, conserving the history of people…, because they were misrepresented by the [missionary] Reverend Drinkwater. If you represent what has been misrepresented, you are putting the records right. And that is what history is supposed be. Taking moments of glory, and also ordinary moments—moments of humanity, of value to the community, and putting it down in books. It doesn’t have to be about generals, it doesn’t have to be about chiefs, it could be about ordinary people, their heroism. That is the whole point of the book, that lives should be celebrated, regardless of what office or what lack of office that person has.

Newton Aduaka, the winner of the Golden Yennenga Stallion at the FESPACO film festival, is making a film based on Waiting for an Angel. How involved have you been with this?

I’m not really involved. I’m just the author of the novel. I see film as being totally different from literature. They are both narrative art forms, but they have different ways of representing their story, their subject. I trust him as an artist. I think my novel is strong enough to stand on its own, even if the movie is a bit different in some of its portrayals.

Have you ever thought of writing a screenplay or becoming involved in film?

I really want to do that some day. Some people approached me to write a movie script. I started writing it and then it became a novel! I’m really enjoying the experience. I don’t know how far it’s going to go, but I’m definitely going to go into movies one of these days. To write, or even direct, if I have the chance. The movie industry is just incredible, and I think this is the moment to get involved.
All right, thank you so much.
Thank you, you’re welcome.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Mr Habila is scheduled to do a reading from his novels on November 21 at NuMetro, Abuja.

Ci-gaban Adabin Hausa: Ina Hausawan Ne?

Daga Ibrahim Sheme

(An buga wannan sharhin a filin Adabi na jaridar LEADERSHIP HAUSA ta ranar Juma'a ta makon jiya)

Kwanan nan aka yi wani }asaitaccen biki na karrama marubutan Hausa uku wa]anda su ka yi zarra a gasar rubuta littattafan hikaya na Hausa don tunawa da marigayi Injiniya Mohammed Bashir {araye, wanda tsohon kwamishina ne a Jihar Kano. Mai]akin marigayin, Hajiya Bilkisu Abdulmalik Bashir, wadda ita ce Sakataren Zartaswa ta Hukumar Aikin Shari’a ta {asa (Executive Secretary, National Judicial Service Council), ita ce ta ]auki nauyin shirya gasar. {ungiyar Marubuta ta Nijeriya (ANA), reshen Babban Birnin Tarayya, Abuja,ita ce ta gudanar da bikin. A tarihin adabin Hausa, ba a ta~a yin gagarumin bikin karrama marubuta irin wannan ba. Taron da za a iya kwatanta shi da wannan shi ne wanda aka yi a kamfanin buga littattafai na Gaskiya Corporation da ke Zariya lokacin da aka }addamar da sabon bugu na wasu daga cikin littattafan Alhaji Abubakar Imam, cikin 1981, wanda ba a da]e da yin taron ba Allah ya ]auki ran shi Alhaji Imam. To amma ko wancan taron na Zariya bai ko kama }afar wannan ba wajen bun}asa da alfarma. Abin sai wanda ya gani!

Wani abu da ya ba mutane da dama mamaki game da wannan gasa shi ne yanayin su wa]anda su ka shirya gasar. Irin abin nan ne da ake cewa ana zaton wuta a ma}era, sai ta tashi a masa}a. Na farko, mutumin da ya fara kawo shawarar shirya gasar, ba Bahaushe ba ne. Inyamiri ne mai suna Mista Patrick Tagbo Ogujiofor. Ma’aikaci ne a wannan hukuma ta aikin shari’a, inda shi ne jami’in ya]a labarai. A bayanin da ya yi a jarida kwanan baya, Ogujiofor ya ce tunanin shirya gasar ta faru ne a bara, lokacin da su ka je ta’aziyyar rasuwar Injiniya Bashir {araye. A lokacin, uwar]akin sa Hajiya Bilkisu ta ]an furta cewa mijin ta mai }aunar karance-karancen littattafan Hausa ne da kuma son ha~aka adabi. Wannan abu ne wanda kusan dukkan masu ruwa da tsaki a harkar adabin Hausa ba su sani ba, domin kuwa yawancin su ba su yi mu’amala da shi Injiniyan ba.

To, inda kaya su ka tsinke a gindin kaba shi ne, shi Patrick wani }usa ne a harkar rubuce-rubuce, amma fa da Turanci. Ya ta~a ri}e mu}amin shugaban }ungiyar ANA ta Jihar Yobe, lokacin ya na aiki a can. Mutum ne mai son al’amuran Hausa, kuma ya na jin Hausa kamar jakin Kano. Kai, matar sa ma Bahaushiya ce!

Saboda haka sai ya ba wa Hajiya shawarar cewa ya kamata ta shirya wani abu wanda zai sa a ri}a tunawa da marigayin. Nan take sai ta amince da hakan. Su ka tsara cewa a shirya gasar rubutu ga marubutan Hausa. Wani abu da zai ba ka mamaki kuma shi ne, ita kan ta Hajiya Bilkisun ba Bahaushiya ba ce. ’Yar }abilar Igbirra ce daga Jihar Kogi. Amma wannan bai hana ta amincewa ta ]auki nauyin shirya gasar ba.

Patrick kuma memba ne a }ungiyar ANA ta Abuja. Sai ya shigo da }ungiyar cikin al’amarin, inda shi da shugaban }ungiyar, wato Dakta Emman Usman Shehu, su ka shiga fafutikar shirya gasar. Ina jin in ban da shi Emman Shehu da kuma wani lauya Bazazzagi, marubuci, mai suna Ahmed Maiwada, babu Bahaushe a }ungiyar. Wa]annan bayin Allah sun yi aiki tu}uru wajen shirya wannan gasa har Allah ya sa aka yi ta aka gama lafiya.

Na ba ku wannan dogon tarihin ne don ku fahimci cewa ba Hausawa ka]ai ba ne su ke da kishin ci-gaban adabin Hausa. Za ma mu iya cewa su Hausawan, musamman Musulmin cikin su, ba su damu sosai da ci-gaban al’adun su ba; sau da yawa su kan bari wasu can su shirya musu hanyoyin ha~aka al’adun su, musamman a fannin rubutu.

Ga hujja. Gasar rubutu ta farko da aka shirya, a cikin 1933, wani Bature ne jigon yin ta. Baturen, Mista Rupert M. East, jami’in ilmi ne a Zariya. Shi Turawan mulkin mallaka su ka ]ora a kan aikin. A wannan gasar ne aka samu marubuta zufin farko, irin su Abubakar Imam, Abubakar Tafawa-|alewa, Bello Kagara, Muhammadu Gwarzo da John Tafida Wusasa. Haka kuma gasar da aka yi a cikin 1982, Garba Asiwaju Malumfashi ne jagoran shirya ta. Bahaushe ne, to amma fa Kirista. Ya shirya gasar a matsayin sa na daraktan al’adu a Ma’aikatar Al’adu ta Tarayya, ba domin addini ba, sai don ha~aka adabin Hausa. A gasar ne aka samu marubuta irin su Sulaiman Ibrahim Katsina da Bature Gagare.

Ita kan ta wannan gasar da aka yi a bana, yawancin masu shirya ta ba Musulmi ba ne; ina nufin su Patrick, Emman Shehu da Ahmed Maiwada. Biyun }arshe Hausawa ne, to amma ba Musulmi ba ne. Sun shirya gasar ne ba tare da sun sa tunanin addini a ran su ba, a’a sai don su ga yadda za a yi a inganta adabin Hausa, tare da ma}udan ku]in da Hajiya Bilkisu ta bayar.

Shin ina Hausawa su ke? Ina Musulmi? Wa]annan tambayoyin su na daga cikin wa]anda ni da Farfesa Abdalla Uba Adamu, ]aya daga cikin al}alan da su ka yi hukunci kan wannan gasa ta Injiniya Bashir {araye, mu ka yi wa kan mu ita lokacin da shi Malam Abdalla ya zo Abuja don halartar taron karrama marubutan da su ka yi zarra a gasar. Gaskiyar magana ita ce, Hausawa Musulmi ba su damu da ha~aka al’adun su ba, musamman ma dai a wannan zamanin. Ba su ]auki rubutu da wani muhimmanci ba.

Sau da yawa, Hausawa Musulmi so su ke a ma daina rubutun. Kamar yadda Hajiya Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, ]aya daga cikin zakarun gasar Injiniya {araye, ta fa]a a hirar ta da aka buga a jaridar Leadership Hausa a makon jiya, a Kano an da]e ana }o}arin dur}usar da rubutun hikaya na Hausa na wannan zamanin. An yi tsinuwa da zage-zage a masallatai; an ce marubuta ne manyan masu gur~ata tarbiyya a }asar Hausa. Kuma abin sai }ara gur~acewa ya ke yi. Misalin hakan shi ne yadda kwanan baya Hukumar A Daidaita Sahu ta Jihar Kano ta shirya gangamin }ona littattafan Hausa, inda har Sarkin Kano sai da ya halarta kuma ya jagoranci cinna wa tarin littattafan wuta.

Kwanan nan kuma Hukumar Tace Finafinai ta Jihar Kano ta fito da wata doka mai ban-dariya da takaici, inda ta ce tilas ne duk littafin da za a buga a Jihar Kano sai an kai mata shi ta karanta ta amince tukuna, bayan kuwa ga shi ba ta da masana masu lokacin yin wannan aiki. A kaikaice, manufar dokar ita ce ta hana yin rubutun kwata-kwata.

Wani abin juyayi shi ne, yawancin masu sukar littattafan hikaya na Hausa ba masu karanta su ba ne. Ba su san abin da ke cikin littattafan ba. Su a ]an }aramin tunanin su, babu abin da ke cikin littattafan sai labaran soyayya, sharholiya, batsa, zinace-zinace, shan muggan }wayoyi, da sauran su. Kawai idan an samu littafi }waya ]aya mai ]auke da wani abu wanda bai yi musu da]i ba, ko wata she]ara a cikin wani littafi, shikenan an samu makamin farfaganda, a shiga kafafen ya]a labarai ana kumfar baki. Ba za a fa]i dalilin yin littafin da aka yi ba (misali, idan an ga batsa a wata she]ara, a ce an yi ta ne don ta dace da muhallin ta). Kuma ba za a ta~a yin nuni da duk wani littafi mai ]auke da irin koyarwar da su masu sukar su ke so a yi ba. Ba za su ba da misali da littattafan da su ka dace da tunanin su ba, a’a sai dai wannan }waya ]ayan. Ka ga kenan ana yin al}alanci cikin jahilci. Hakika, na san wani al}alancin ana yin sa ne da gangan don a shafa wa marubuta kashin kaji.
Sannan kuma su masu sukar, daga hukumomi zuwa ]ai]aikun mutane, ba su yin komai don agaza wa marubutan. Ba su shirya taron wayar da kai, ba su yin wa’azantarwa, ba su ba da tagomashi na ku]i, ba su shirya gasar rubutu su gindaya }a’idojin da su ke so, kuma ba su sayen littattafan. Hukumar A Daidaita Sahu ta alamta yun}urin agaza wa marubutan, to amma abin da ta yi kamar ka ]iga ruwa ne a hamadar rairayi. Wani rufin-]uwan-’yan-bori (an rufe gaba, ba a rufe baya ba) kuma da hukumar ta yi shi ne gangamin }ona littattafan marubuta da ta yi, wa]anda kamata ya yi ta ja su a jika, ta saka su kan hanyar da ta ga ya dace.

Abin mamaki, akwai daga cikin masu nazari da marubuta wa]anda ke yin furutan da ke }ara iza wutar }yama ga marubutan. A marubuta, akwai }yashi da hassada da kuma tunanin in-ba-ni-ba-to-ba-wanda-ya-iya. Idan ka dubi surutan da ake yi wa juna a tsakanin }ungiyoyin marubuta na Kano, to ka san lallai da sauran aiki.

Sannan manazarta/masana irin su Malam Ibrahim Malumfashi (wanda ke kan hanyar zama cikakken farfesa a fagen adabi) sun yi ayyukan da ke tabbatar da cewa manufar su ba ta kawo gyara ba ce; kawai su na yin sukar neman suna su ke yi, ba tare da sun kawo tabbatattun hujjoji na sukar da su ke yi ba. Haka kuma abin ba}in ciki shi ne, duk da yake wai a jami’a su ke, su ma a tsakanin su akwai }yashi da hassada irin ta malaman zaure. Babu shakka, Malumfashi shi ne kan gaba wajen ~ata sunan marubutan Hausa na wannan zamani; da gangan ya }i yarda ya fito rana a gan shi, ya la~e cikin duhun tarihi, ya na bautar shu]a]]un gumaka. Idan wani al’amari ya taso na yadda za a yi a inganta adabin Hausa, to ba ya ciki.

Babu wata }asa mamallakiyar babban harshe da ya kai gawurtar harshen Hausa inda tsirarun manazarta da ’yan kazagin su masu }aramin ilmi su ke farfagandar jawo koma-baya a fagen adabi kamar }asar Hausa. Sai dai abin mamaki, da yake sukar adabi ba ta hana adabi ya]o, har yanzu rubutun ake. Ya }i mutuwa ballantana a yi jana’izar sa. Masu jiran ganin kushewar sa sun ha}a kabari mai zurfi, su na ri}e da farin alawayyon yi masa likkafani, to amma akwai alamun cewa har su mutu shi adabin Hausar ba zai mutu ba. Wannan kabarin da su ka ha}a, su za a rufe a ciki.

CYPRIAN EKWENSI AND SHEME

It's me here interviewing Cyprian Ekwensi, in Ilesha, south-western Nigeria, some years back. The interview was published in the Weekly Trust when I was that paper's Literary Editor.

Chief Ekwensi died on Sunday at the age of 86.

Cyprian Ekwensi, Foremost Writer, Dies At 86

This story was published in today's issue of LEADERSHIP:-

Chief Cyprian Odiatu Duakwa Ekwensi, author of several popular novels and short stories, is dead. He died at the age of 86.

Ekwensi was born in Minna in Northern Nigeria on September 26, 1921 and later lived in Onitsha in his ancestral east.

He was educated at Government College, Ibadan, and Achimota College, Ghana. He later studied pharmacy at the Yaba Technical Institute, Lagos, and graduated from the Chelsea School of Pharmacy, United Kingdom, in 1956. He read Forestry at the School of Forestry, Ibadan.

The late Ekwensi worked for two years as a forestry officer and taught Pharmacy for a couple of years at Igbobi College, Lagos. He was employed as a pharmacist by the Nigerian Medical Corporation.

Ekwensi was regarded as father of the modern African novel on city life.

He went into creative writing as a vocation, publishing his first novel, When Love Whispers, in 1948. He went on to produce other novels, including An African Night's Entertainment (1948), The Boa Suitor (1949), People of the City (1954), Passport of Mallam Iliya (written in 1948 but published in 1960), The Drummer Boy (1960), Jagua Nana (1961), Burning Grass (1962), Beautiful Feathers (1963), Iska (1966), as well as hundreds of short stories and essays. He was for many years a columnist with Drum magazine and later Monthly Life magazine.

He also published a number books for children. Under the name C.O.D. Ekwensi, he released Ikolo the Wrestler and Other Ibo Tales (1947) and The Leopard's Claw (1950). In the 1960s, he wrote An African Night's Entertainment (1962), The Great Elephant-Bird (1965), and Trouble in Form Six (1966). His later works for children include Coal Camp Boy (1971), Samankwe in the Strange Forest (1973), Samankwe and the Highway Robbers (1975), Masquerade Time! (1992), and King Forever! (1992). In recognition of his skills as a writer, he was awarded the Dag Hammarskjold International Prize for Literary Merit in 1968.

Ekwensi joined the Nigerian Ministry for Information and rose to be Nigeria’s first indigenous Director of Information at independence. With first military coup in 1966, culminating in the disturbances in the Western and Northern regions that year, Ekwensi gave up his position and relocated to Enugu where he joined the secessionist government of Biafra. He became chairman of the Bureau for External Publicity in Biafra and an adviser to the head of state, Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu.

After the war he moved to Lagos where he spent the rest of his life in relative obscurity.

In 1999 he was honoured with the chieftaincy title of Osi Baarohin of Ibadanland and was inducted Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters in 2006. He was also a recipient of the Nigerian national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR).

He is survived by a wife, nine children and many grandchildren.

A statement signed yesterday by his son Georges Chiedu Ekwensi on behalf of the bereaved family said that the late sage’s funeral arrangements would be announced by the family in due course.

ANA ELECTS NEW EXCO

At a well-attended and very successful 26th International Convention of The Association of Nigerian Authors which held from 1-4 Nov. 2007 at Disney Hotel And Resort,Owerri, Imo State,the following were elected into the National Executive Council to serve for a tenure of two years:

1.Dr. Wale Okediran-President
2 Dr Jerry Agada-Vice President
3 Denja Abdullahi-General Secretary
4 Hyacinth Obunseh-Asst Gen Sec
5 B M Dzukogi- Treasurer
6 Maryam Ali Ali-Financial Secretary
7 Alkasim Abdulkadir-P.R.O North
8 Ebika Anthony- P.R.O South
9 Chief Charry Ada Onwu-Auditor
10 Prof.Festus Emiri- Legal Adviser
11 Miesoinuma Minima-Ex-Officio
12 Omale Allen Abduljabbar-Ex-Officio
13 Greg Mbajiorgu- Ex-Officio
14 Aliyu Sanni- Ex-Officio

May I on behalf of the newly elected executive thank the congress at the convention and the generality of Nigerian writers at home and abroad for their ovelwhelming support.We promise not to let you down and take Nigerian literature and the affairs of Nigerian authors to higher heights.

DENJA ABDULLAHI
GENERAL SECRETARY.