The North’s regression

Slowly and inexorably, the north is becoming like Somalia. The only small difference between us and Somalia is that whereas the latter has spent decades without a functional government, there are structures on the ground and people in the north whom we call leaders. Nevertherless, Compared to the south, the north as a political entity is fast sliding back into prehistoric times in terms of development and, indeed, worse than the colonial times in terms of home-grown violence. The situation is so bad that many a frustrated northern youngster is yearning for the British to return and recolonise the country in order to bring back the halcyon times. The solution to our problems is, of course, far from recolonisation. But if it isn’t, then, what is?

For the north, there have been four epochs in the march to (or away from) civilisation. There was the precolonial time when our forefathers engaged in internecine wars and the self-immolating practice of slavery. But then, in parts of the north, the Sokoto jihad came and put aright many things through the institutionalisation of Islamic law. Then came the Europeans, who colonised the area, imposed their crafty system of ‘indirect rule’ through which they milked the nation’s resources and pretended to be developing our people. But a word for colonialism: in spite of its self-serving ends, it put some sense into our people’s understanding of leadership and built a foundation for future progress, such as the railways, literacy and structures for democratic governance. Of course, the colonialists ultimately served themselves, at times employing brute force, while pretending to be serving the natives’ best interests. Hence the stiff resistance against it and the campaigns that uprooted it.

During the third epoch, the post-independence era, it was the natives that took over the mantle of leadership and used state resources in the service of the commonweal. In the north, proofs of their selfless service are legion even today. Even though they were called names by their opponents, we can see, in retrospect, that their dedication to serving the general populace was a thousand and one times better than that of our current leaders.

The fourth milestone is, indeed, today. This dates roughly from the end of the Nigerian civil war to the current reality. It is the worst span in the history of the region. After the violent eradication of those patriotic nation-builders and the 30-month civil war, came the various “corrective” military regimes that pretended, more than the colonialists, to be working in the interest of the nation. The truth is that, apart from the brief spasms of the Murtala and, later, the Buhari/Idiagbon regimes, they worked more for themselves. They institutionalised corruption, cronyism and nepotism. Most of them turned out to become among the richest and, by implication, the most influential people in the country. Because they benefited from a corrupt system, they sustained it and injected their bile into latter day rulers who came in civilian garbs. And because the civilians who inherited the mantle of leadership have been adequately coached in the dark arts of corruption, divisiveness and cronyism, they have carried on, marching within the system and resisting any move to change or overthrow it.

The cycle of violence the north is witnessing, including some of the worst yesterday, is a fall-out of the ruthless system foisted on the region by its selfish rulers of the military and post-military era. Many analysts have pointed at the crying poverty in the region as the primary reason for these volcanic eruptions that are causing the death of hundreds of innocent people, destroying edifices and disrupting the peace. Now what is the cause of the poverty itself? Is it not the tunnel vision – if there is vision at all – of the region’s leaders who have failed to unify the common people through their divisive politics and the misuse of the region’s resources?
The north is fast regressing in all indices of human development. Apart from poverty, illiteracy is growing; so also joblessness among the youth, with concomitant problems such as drug abuse and strange criminality (with many youngsters killing their own parents); collapse of morals and ethics, education, health care, etc. A combination of these problems has created a deep well of despondency among most youth in the region, who have lost confidence in the leadership. They are asking for a change – even away from democracy. Many are saying let’s go back to the sharia law which did well for the region under the Sokoto caliphate, not minding the cultural mix of the present times. Unsure of their success in such agitations in the face of resistance from the state’s coercive powers, many have resorted to hugely violent attacks.

What is the response of our so-called leaders to all this? They shirk their responsibility by simply passing the buck and engaging in histrionics. Appeals to conscience. Calls to prayers. Blandishments. Rhetoric. Trading blames. Peace conferences. Yesterday, all the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Governor Aliyu of Niger state, could do was an effeminate call on President Jonathan to “urgently convene a national security summit.” We have heard that before, and it won’t work. We are tired of talk shops. Northern leaders should develop the north. Rebuild the infrastructures bequethed to them by the post-independence leaders. Provide jobs. Educate the youth. Stop all the divisive politicking. And stop all the stealing. Try these, and see if the violence and the regression will not disappear fiam – one time!

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My column in today's Blueprint

Bayan Shekara 27: Me Ya Sa Aka Manta Da Abubakar Imam?

A bana, littafin Magana Jari Ce, wanda Alhaji Abubakar Imam ya rubuta, ya cika shekara 80 cif da wallafawa. Sannan a jiya Alhamis, 19 ga Yuni, 2008 Imam, wanda shi ne kakan marubutan Hausa, ya cika shekara 27 da rasuwa. Wannan sharhin ya na yi mana hannun-ka-mai-sanda kan yadda mutane su ka yi watsi da juyayin Imam da ayyukan sa, ciki kuwa har da wad'anda nauyin yin ayyukan tunawa da Imam da karrama shi ya fi rataya a wuyan su.

Daga Ibrahim Sheme

A wata ranar Asabar a cikin shekara ta 2004, na yi wani sharhi kan marigayi Alhaji Abubakar Imam, ya fito a filn adabi na jaridar Weekly Trust, wanda na ke gabatarwa a lokacin. Sharhin, kwaskwarima ne na wani sharhin da na tab'a yi a Majalisar Marubuta ta Intanet, inda na nuna cewa ba a yi wa Alhaji Imam adalci ba wajen ayyukan tunawa da shi, musamman a hanyoyin sadarwa na zamani. Na yi nuni da cewa idan mutum ya yi amfani da na’urar Google ta intanet, zai gano cewa babu wurare da dama da aka ambaci wannan hazik'i, fasihi, kakan marubutan Hausa a intanet. Har na ce idan a misali ka kwatanta Imam da ni d'in nan Ibrahim Sheme, za ka taras da cewa an ambace ni a intanet sau ninkin baninkin fiye da Imam - ga shi kuwa ni ba kowan kowa ba ne a fagen adabin Hausa, idan ana maganar gagarau irin su Imam!
Na d'ora laifin a kan mutanen da ya kamata a ce sun karrama Imam, sun tabbatar da cewa ya na da cikakken wakilci a yanar gizo da duk wani dandali da ya kamata a ji amon sunan sa. Wad'annan mutane sun had'a da marubutan Hausa, da malaman makarantu tun daga firamare har zuwa jami’a, da su kan su iyalan marigayin.

Shi dai Imam, haifaffen Kagara ne a Jihar Neja. An haife shi a 1911. Asalin asalin sa Babarbare ne, amma kakan kakan sa ya yi hijira zuwa k'asar Kwantagora, daga nan ya tafi Sakkwato a zamanin Shehu Usmanu D'anfodiyo, ya zauna a k'ark'ashin Shehu. A can aka haifi mahaifin Imam, wato Malam Shehu Usman, wanda daga baya ya dawo Kagara bayan ya yi yawon malanta a k'asar Katsina da ta Kano.

Imam ya yi makaranta a Katsina, inda daga bisani ya zama malamin makaranta. A nan ne ya had'u da Dakta R.M. East, Baturen nan jami’in ilmi wanda ya jagorance shi wajen rubuta wasu daga cikin littattafan sa, ciki har da Magana Jari Ce da kuma K'aramin Sani K'uk'umi. Har ila yau Imam shi ne editan Hausa na farko na jaridar Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo. Ya rasu a ranar Juma’a, 19 ga Yuni, 1981 a Zariya, ya na da shekara 70 a duniya. Ya bar matar sa d'aya, da ’ya’ya 14, da kuma jikoki 42.

Imam ya kasance jagaba a harkar rubuce-rubucen hikaya na Hausa, ta yadda a yau da wuya a ce ga wanda ya fi shi. To amma ban da rubutu, ya na daga cikin ’yan kishin k'asa na farko da su ka nemi mulkin kan Nijeriya daga hannun Turawa ’yan mulkin mallaka. Haka kuma ya taka rawa k'warai a harkokin addinin Musulunci.

Rasuwar Imam ta gigita jama’a, musamman saboda gagarumar gudunmawar da ya bayar a fagage da dama na rayuwar jama’ar Arewa. Tun daga lokacin da ya mutu ake ta tunanin hanyoyin da za a bi a karrama shi, a rik'a tunawa da shi a kai a kai. Abin mamaki, har yanzu ba a gama tunanin ba, don haka ba a yi wani abin kirki a kan haka d'in ba - shekaru 27 bayan rasuwar sa!

Sakamakon rubutun da na yi a Weekly Trust, wanda babban k'alubale ne a gare mu duka mu masu hank'oron son Imam, an samu yunk'uri mai alfanu daga wasu sassa. A Jami’ar Bayero ta Kano, Farfesa Abdalla Uba Adamu ya yi wuf ya k'irk'iri dandalin tattaunawa (chat group) kan Imam a intanet, wanda ya sa wa suna www.abubakarimam@yahoogroups.com. An samu membobi a wannan dandali, to amma yawan su bai taka kara ya karya ba.

Yunk'uri mafi girma da aka samu na karrama Imam ya fito ne daga iyalan sa. Sun kira mutanen da abin ya shafa, ciki har da Farfesa Abdalla da Dakta Ibrahim Malumfashi na Jami’ar Usmanu D'anfodiyo da kuma ni. Shi Malumfashi, ya yi digirin sa na dakta ne a kan rubuce-rubucen Imam kuma tun tuni ya nad'a kan sa Sarkin Yak'in Imam a fagage da dama. To amma a yayin da mu ka amsa gayyatar iyalan Imam mu ka je Zariya wurin taro na farko don tattauna hanyoyin da za a bi a karrama Imam, a ranar 29 ga Agusta, 2004, Malumfashi k'in zuwa ya yi. Bai kuma aika da sak'on uzuri ba. Zargin da mu ke da shi shi ne, adawar da ya ke yi da wasu daga cikin mu ce ta hana shi zuwa. A gani na, ya na ganin cewa tun da ba shawarar sa ba ce tun farko, ba zai shiga ciki ba. Ka ji halin Bahaushe – mai ban haushi, na Tanko mai kan bashi!

Duk da haka, taron ya yi albarka. Akwai dattawa da dama a taron, kuma yawancin ’ya’yan Imam maza, da wasu jikokin sa, duk sun halarta. An tattauna kan hanyoyin da za a bi a karrama marubucin, musamman ma yadda za a sa a rik'a jin amon sunan sa a k'asar nan kwatankwacin yadda ake jin na gwaraza irin su Janar Murtala da Janar Yar’Adua.

Bayan wannan taron, an sake yin wasu tarurrukan a wasu ranakun. A k'arshe, an yi abubuwa biyu. Na d'aya, an gina gidan yana a intanet mai suna www.abubakarimam.com, wanda Dakta Haroun Adamu, mamallakin makarantar nan Zaria Academy, ya d'auki nauyin gina shi. Wani masanin intanet da bai dad'e da dawowa daga Amerika ba inda ya yi tsawon shekaru, wato Malam Salisu U. D'anyaro, shi ya yi gidan yanar kuma ya ke gudanar da ita. Na biyu, an kafa cibiyar tunawa da Imam, wadda a Turance za a iya kiran ta Abubakar Imam Documentation Centre. Ta na cikin wani gidan sama da ke kallon randabawul na Babban Dodo a Zariya.

A yayin da gidan yanar ya ke d'auke da tarihin Imam da rubuce-rubucen sa, a ita cibiyar kuma an adana wasu kayan tarihi da su ka jib'inci marubucin, ciki har da samfurin rubutun sa na hannu, da takardun sa, da littattafan sa, da lambon girma da ya samu, da hotunan sa, kai har ma da rigunan sa!

Wad'annan abubuwa uku, babu shakka, manyan hanyoyi ne na karrama Imam. To amma a yau, idan na waiwaya baya, sai in ga ai ba su isa ba. Kuma ma tuni an yi watsi da su. Na farko, dandalin tattaunawar da Malam Abdalla ya bud'e a intanet, bai hab'aka ba. Mutane k'alilan ne a ciki. Kuma babu sak'wanni a kai a kai a ciki. Don haka dandalin bai cimma nasarar bud'e shi. Mai yiwuwa dalilin shi ne saboda Malam Abdalla ya gina wani dandalin tun da fari mai suna www.marubuta@yahoogroups.com wanda ya shafe na Imam d'in. Yawancin marubuta ma ba su san da dandalin Imam d'in ba.
Ta b'angaren gidan yanar da Malam Salisu D'anyaro ke gudanarwa kuwa, ya yi kyau k'warai, domin hatta littattafan Imam za ka iya sauko da su kyauta. Sai ai ya kamata a ce ana saka sababbin abubuwa a cikin sa, kamar labaran marubuta da mak'aloli kan harkar rubutun Hausa. Kafin a yi hakan tilas sai an samu ’yan rahoto ko marubuta da za su rik'a aikawa da sak'wannin da za a rubuta.

Haka kuma ya dace a ga hotuna da bayanai daban-daban a ciki wad'anda su ka danganci Imam da iyalan sa har da mu ’yan amshi.

Ban da haka, shin har an k'ure tunani kan Imam daga yin ’yan wad'annan abubuwan kenan? To ai ba a ma fara yak'in ba! Dalili shi ne har yanzu ba a yi wa Imam karramawar da ta dace da mutum irin sa ba, wanda ya bauta wa k'asa ta hanyoyin da Allah ya hore masa - kama daga kaifin alk'amin sa har zuwa fagen siyasa inda ya taimaka wajen k'wato wa Nijeriya ’yanci daga hannun ’yan mallaka. Domin fa Imam ba marubuci kad'ai ba ne, a’a d'an siyasa ne na sahun gaba, kuma malamin addini ne wanda ya taimaka gaya wajen fito da al’umma daga duhun jahilci. Kuma d'an jarida ne wanda ya gina dandamalin da mu jikokin sa mu ke cin abinci a kai a yau.

Akwai hanyoyi da dama da za a bi don inganta tunanin mu kan wannan bawan Allah. Na d'aya, a fitar da rana d'aya a kowace shekara don yin laccoci kan rayuwar Imam da ayyukan sa. Wato dai kamar yadda ake yi kan su Murtala da Yar’adua da ire-iren su. A taron, za a dubi ayyukan da ya yi, a d'ora su bisa jigo ko sikelin da aka zab'a a shekarar da ake laccar; misali: rubutun hikaya, aikin hajji, siyasa, karatun boko da na addini, aikin jarida, wallafa, ds. Wannan hak'k'i ne na iyalan sa da sauran masoyan sa; idan sun yi jagora, sai abin ya yiwu.

Na biyu, ya kamata a rik'a shirya laccoci kan rubuce-rubucen Imam, wanda su kan su marubutan Hausa ya dace su yi. Misali, a yau d'in nan a K'ungiyar Marubuta ta Nijeriya (ANA) ta Turanci, babu b'ab'atun da ake yi sai na karrama marubucin nan d'an k'abilar Ibo, Farfesa Chinua Achebe, wanda a bana gwarzon littafin sa Things Fall Apart ya cika shekara 50 cur da bugawa. To, mu mu na ina Magana Jari Ce littafi na 1 ya cika shekara 69 da bugawa a cikin 2007? Ko ‘ihn’ ban ce su Malumfashi sun furta ba, ballantana Allah-maimaita-mana! To, ba a makara ba, domin littafi na 2 da na 3 na Magana Jari Ce an buga su ne a cikin 1938 - wato shekara 70 cur a yau. A cewar Dakta R.M. East, wanda ya jagoranci wallafa littafin, an buga littafin ne a wajajen watan Satumba 1938. Kun ga kenan akwai damar a yi wani abu, ko da na rana d'aya ne, don tunawa da wallafar littafin da aka yi.

Na uku, ya kamata a gina gida na musamman wanda zai d'auki Cibiyar Tunawa da Abubakar Imam kamar yadda ake da Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre a Abuja ko Murtala Muhammed Foundation a Legas da Abuja. Idan iyalan Imam sun ga cewa ba su da halin yin hakan, to su rungumi gwamnati, ko da ta Kaduna ce, domin a taru a san yadda za a fitar da jaki daga duma. A tunani na, wannan ba abu ba ne da zai gagare su.
Na hud'u, a fito da babbar gasa ta rubutun littattafan hikaya masu ma’ana na Hausa ta shekara-shekara da sunan Imam. A rik'a kafa kwamiti da zai duba littattafan da su ka shiga gasar don fidda zakarun da su ka cika k'a’idojin da gasar ta tanada. Yin haka zai k'ara saka juyayin Imam a zukatan marubuta da manazarta. Idan an tuna, babbar gasar rubutun littattafan Hausa a yau ita ce ta tunawa da Injiniya Bashir K'araye wadda maid'akin sa Hajiya Bilkisu ta sa. Gasar ta samu nasara. An yi ta farko a bara, kuma har an fara ta bana a yanzu. Wannan gasa ta Imam za a iya bai wa k'ungiyar ANA ta k'asa ita domin ta rik'a gudanarwa.

Na biyar, a inganta gidan yanar www.abubakarimam.com, ta yadda zai k'unshi abubuwan da bai da su a yanzu.

Na shida, ina labarin littafin tarihin rayuwar Imam na Hausa da Malumfashi ya ce ya na yi ya kwana? Shekaru kamar biyar da su ka wuce, Malumfashi ya fad'a mani cewa har ya k'are aikin, wai “zai fito kwanan nan.” To, amma shiru ka ke ji, wai malam ya cinye shirwa! Ya zuwa yanzu, tarihin Imam a littafi guda d'aya ne, wato Abubakar Imam Memoirs wanda surukin sa marigayi Dakta Abdurrahman Mora ya fito da shi a cikin 1989. Wannan littafi shi kad'ai ne madgora wajen samun ingantaccen tarihin Imam, amma da Turanci aka yi shi! Kuma ba “kammalalle” ba ne, domin babu bayanai kan iyalan Imam a ciki, da ya ke shi Imam d'in ne ya rubuta shi, kuma ya fi maida hankali kan ayyukan sa na harkokin addini da na siyasa fiye da na adabi. In dai ba Malumfashi ya lak'ume shirwa ba ne, to don Allah ya fito mana da wancan littafin da ya ke magana. Mun gaji da gafara sa, ba mu ga k'aho ba. Idan kuma shi ba zai iya ba, to ya ba yara wuri, su su yi!

Na bakwai, malamai masu sha’awar Imam tare da nazarin ayyukan sa su cire gasa/kishi//hassada/gaba da ke cikin ran su, su had'a kai, su taru su fito da hanyoyin karrama Imam da su ka dace. Al’ummomi daban-daban a duk duniya su kan yi wasu ayyuka na musamman don tunawa da gwarazan su, to amma mu “ninanci” (kamar yadda Malam Abdalla ke cewa) ya yi mana tarnak'i. “In ba ni na yi abu ba, babu wanda ya isa ya yi shi,” ko kuma “Wane ai ba fagen nazarin sa ba ne wannan, da har zai zo ya na yi mana shiga-sharo-ba-shanu.”

Mu sani cewa idan fa ba mu karrama gwarzayen mu da kan mu ba, babu wanda zai karrama ma mana su. Su dai sun taka rawar su sun tafi, sun bar mu a fagen. Don haka, hak'k'in tunawa da su ya rataya a wuyan mu, ba a wuyan kowa ba. Kamar yadda marigayi Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardaunan Sakkwato ya tab'a fad'a, idan har ba mu buga tambarin kirakin kan mu ba, babu wani bare da zai zo ya buga mana shi. Kukan kurciya jawabi ne, mai hankali ke ganewa!

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An buga wannan sharhin a jaridar LEADERSHIP HAUSA ta ranar Juma'a, 20 ga Yuni 2008 makon jiya

The Murray Last Interview

Photograph by Abdalla Uba Adamu shows Prof. Last at the conference on preservation of Arabic manuscripts, in Kaduna last year

The following interview was published in LEADERSHIP newspaper, Abuja, on Wednesday, January 16, 2008


How Hausa People Choose When To Die

By IBRAHIM SHEME

Professor Murray Last is the kind of person you would call a poplar among the shrubs. A scholar par excellence, he traverses the world of academics like a Colossus. I had been seeing his name in books and journals ever since I started learning ABCD. So meeting him a few months ago was one of the most pleasant moments of my life.

Murray Last is a Emeritus Professor of History based in England. He obtained his PhD from the University of Ibadan, becoming the first person to do so. He is best known as the foremost scholar of the Sokoto Caliphate. He first went to Sokoto in 1962 principally to study the ancient Arabic and Ajami manuscripts that filled the libraries of that headquarters of the defunct Caliphate founded by Sheikh Usmanu Danfodio. He had his tutulege under the great vizier of Sokoto, Waziri Junaidu, a man of immense learning himself. Under the Waziri, the young Last – in his 20s – became the first white man to gain full access to the long scholarly heritage of that intriguing era.

Now in his old age, Prof. Last is in retirement. Nevetheless, he was able to attend an international conference on the preservation of the arabised Hausa script, the Ajami, as well as Arabic manuscripts. I was fortunate to be present at the event, which took place last year at Arewa House, Kaduna, where I booked an appointment with Prof. Last. Accompanied by Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu of the Bayero University, Kano – another burning light in the sphere of academics in our times, I interviewed Prof. Last in his hotel room on the circumstance of his early foray into studies of the Caliphate, some of the findings of his work and his views on various aspects of contemporary scholarship. His finding that people can decide on when to die (when they are sick, of course) is as controversial today as it was when he first revealed it three years ago.

SHEME: I think it is only reasonable to start by asking what drew your attention in the first place to the study of the Sokoto Caliphate.

PROF. LAST: I came to Nigeria in 1961. I got a grant from Liverpool Foundation for two years to work for my PhD. I had been at Yale where I read Chinese and African history for my M.A. Although I wanted to do Chinese history, in those days you could only go to learn Chinese in Hong Kong. I was very excited with African history since Independence was coming in 1960. I was in Yale from 1959 to 1961, so I was there for the excitement of Independence and everything. I had long been interested in Islamic things. I had traveled to Jordan, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

When I came to Ibadan to do my PhD, I decided to choose an Islamic subject. There was H.S.C. Smith, who was a professor then, with people like Jacob Ajayi and others, with Kenneth Dike as the vice chancellor. It was then of course known as University College, Ibadan. Abdullahi Smith, as the late H.S.C. Smith later became, suggested that I study the viziers, the Waziris, in Sokoto since there were documentations of the letters from the Waziri to various Emirs, and also letters from the Emirs to the Waziris, so it seemed a very good subject to do. I started in 1961 to do "A Study of Sokoto in the 19th Century, with Special Reference to the Waziris," which was the title of the thesis.

To start the study, did you have to move to Sokoto?

I first came to Kano in December 1961 and then spent the Christmas in Maiduguri so, I didn’t actually go to Sokoto until Muhammad Ahmad Al-Hajj came up with me to Sokoto, after I had done my first year in Ibadan. I spent the summer in Kaduna, reading in the Archives, staying with Adamu Ciroma and Dahiru Modibbo Girei. Sometimes I played scabbles with Gomwalk and people like Garba Ja Abdulkadir and the Sarkin Jalingo – the Sarkin Muri as he became. So I got my real taste initially in Kaduna and then moved on to Sokoto to settle in the Waziri’s house.

Was it Alhaji Junaidu?

Yes, it was. He was very kind to me; he let me stay in one of his rest houses, next to his own house. Each morning, I would go to his house and sit in the library on the floor and start reading manuscripts, with my dictionary beside me. So me and my dictionary read the books! My Arabic, I had started learning it in Ibadan in 1961 to ’62, so it was getting better by the time.

Were you the first European or white man to undertake a study at that level in those days?

Yes, but at the Antiquities Department in Jos, Dr A.D.H. Bibar had done some cataloguing and preserving some of the manuscripts in the Waziri’s house, particularly the correspondence, and he wrote a few articles. And there was a British non-resident Senior District Officer, H.A. Johnston, who was interested in the history of Sokoto and wrote a book called "The Fulani Empire of Sokoto", but he basically used the district notebooks. So I was the first student actually to write a doctoral thesis on Sokoto using the Arabic materials and being taught by the Waziri and other people in Sokoto. But I was the first person to get a Nigerian PhD from Ibadan. It was so very exciting!

It must have been a great privilege.

It was fantastic! And of course Ibadan was the best place because it was the only university, so all the brightest Nigerians were there and they were much brighter than I was and of course much more sensible politically wise. It was an exciting place to be. Dr. Afigbo was the other person who finished at about the same time with me but I finished my thesis first.

I learnt that you migrated to Medical Anthropology. So what happens to History?

After I finished my PhD, I came up to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, to help start the Northern History Research Scheme, from 1965-67. For three years I worked, collecting Arabic and Fulfulde manuscripts and photocopying everything. But then the war started, the (Nigerian) Civil War, and I had friends on both sides. Secondly, when I was in Sokoto, the A.D.O. was an old friend – Dahiru Modibbo Girei, who later became head of BCNN (Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria). And as A.D.O. he had to decide who was mad in the prison and who was not mad, and we used to talk about it. So from that point, from 1967 or so, I knew really we must try to do work on traditional notions of madness. Thirdly, ABU Teaching Hospital, the medical school, was just starting and Ishaya Audu was the vice-chancellor; he was the medical doctor who was Yakubu Gowon’s personal doctor. So it seemed a good thing for me to study traditional Hausa medicine so that the new medical students and doctors might know something about what their patients felt themselves.

What eventually drew you to the study of the Maguzawa?

When I retrained for doing the anthropology of medicine, of healing, I was linked to ABU. I first went to Dankanjiba, a market town on the edges of Kano and Katsina, in Malumfasi district. I surveyed the entire village. I asked everyone the medical history of their houses. And it became very clear that I could only talk to the male head of house; I couldn’t go inside the house. I then did a study of a Fulani camp where I couldn’t again see the women and the children. Basically, I was only allowed to speak to the men. So I realised that if I had wanted to speak to women and children and see how they got ill and what was wrong, I had to go to a place where I could live inside the house without a problem.

Is it because of the Islamic culture?

Yes. I discovered that 90 per cent of all illnesses was suffered by women and children.

And you could not reach out to them directly.

In a normal Muslim village, you couldn’t be with them all the time. The Maguzawa farm house where I went to stay in was not where the Catholics were, nor was it were the Protestants were, but was where, basically, there wasn’t any proselytisation. So in that sense, it was logical to go to the Maguzawa. And honestly, I thought Maguzawa made some more traditional meaning. So I did (a study of) medicine because it was clearly something that needed to be done because the doctors and the new students (at ABU) didn’t know anything about their patients.

I was told that in one of the lectures you gave some years back, you said that Hausa people chose where to die and when to die. Can you please explain?

It caused a lot of trouble when I said that! But I tried never to publish or give lectures abroad unless I have mentioned it in Nigeria first or at the same time. So I have a rule that if I am going to make any "rash" statement, I must make it here and defend myself from the attack! So I gave this talk in the British Council at their invitation in Kano...

When was that?

Two years ago. Basically, it came out of a work, because I did a survey of a single cemetary in Kano – Dandolo, by Goron Dutse. And the grave digger kept a record for a year of all the burials he did every day. Possibly, the statistics was not perfect but it did suggest that more people died on Friday than on any other day of the week. This came about because one of my old friends at B.U.K., John Levers, who died in Kano and was buried as a Muslim in Dandolo, I used to sometimes go to his grave. And so as happens with a talkative, I talked to the grave digger and by chance asked him, "How many graves do you dig every day?" And his answer was, "Ten graves every day but fifteen on Fridays!" And my jowl dropped. I knew that this was very unusual. And I know that Allah gives a blessing if you die on Friday.
What the statistics actually show is that it’s women and children who die on Fridays more than men do and the argument is: why should that be? But I think it’s the case if you look at it worldwide, that there comes a time when you are close to death that you can decide when to die. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence, both in Nigeria and worldwide, that someone will wait until their children have come and then as soon as they come, they switch off, if you like. So it’s quite interesting. But then the biological problem is, how is it possible to do that? Because if your mind switches off, you go into a coma and the body works automatically. So, biologically and physiologically it’s a real problem which I have no answer to nor do any of my biomedical friends have. But anecdotically one of the striking things is that very often the person dying sends the people around him away, and as soon as they’re gone out of the room or shortly after, he dies. And that happens so commonly both here and elsewhere.

And up till now, nobody has been able to find out why one dies when one wants?

Obviously, there are a lot of cultures where people train themselves on when to die. But in the end, it is very common that you can’t just turn your brain off. What sometimes happens is that in a day or two he will die of the toxins building up in the gut. I know someone whose mother did that, so I am speaking the truth. I know.

Professor, how have you been able to maintain your relationship with Nigerians all these years?

It is mainly because people are so kind and nice to me. But it is extremely pleasant to come back. I always try to visit every year. I always try to come back to Kano and see people there and I come to see friends rather than to do work.

How would you compare the quality of scholarship in your days and now?

I think, to be honest, there are so many universities and so many professors and students and such like that inevitably the selection process is less strict. In the old days, with one, two universities, it was very difficult for students to get into universities and they were driven to do very good work. So I think it is partly the natural consequence of expansion. Many people actually know things that the rest of us didn’t know then. So, in some ways, recent scholarship is more interesting. But I have to admit that the amount of work done on the Sokoto Caliphate is actually little, it is not very great. There is good work, very good work, but by and large there is a tendency not to ask difficult questions.

Why not? Are people afraid to ask questions?

My notion crudely is that I expect to be laughed at but it is what I call the use of old history of Kano, Sokoto, Zaria, Katsina. It is good for schools, good for undergraduate courses; it promotes the establishment of what I sometimes call the golden realm, that in a sense the Shehu’s age or Muhammadu Bello’s age was the golden age, as it were. You might not agree but there was a decline over the century but people are willing to say, people like Shehu Galadanchi, that there was a decline and that was why Allah brought the Nasara (the Europeans) almost as a punishment for the failings of the Sarakai or the Sarauta class. And my argument is that you can’t imagine that the Christians (the colonialists) are stronger than the Muslims. Some say that colonialism came about as ikon Allah (predestined) ; it was a calamity, a disaster.

Some people are at the moment clamouring for the removal of Arabic inscription in the naira and it is generating a lot of debate. Interestingly, nobody knows how the inscription got onto the naira. Would you shed light on this?

It was on the pound, the colonial Nigerian pound. I was going to comment on that. As you probably know, it was the (Christian) missions that took up Ajami (the arabised Hausa scripts) more than anyone else. It was the missions who translated the Bible into Ajami. It was the colonial authorities that gradually moved into boko, into Roman scripts. To be honest, I think the British used Ajami from quite an early time. One of the officers, in 1904-1905, used to write letters to his soldiers, who were Kanawa (Kano indigenes) in Ajami. So it was assumed that it was normal to use Ajami in some of your own Nigerian relations. And the Army too; because remember the commands given at the battle of Sokoto to the British soldiers were given in Hausa; the white Nasara officers gave their commands in Hausa. So you’ve got to see this extraordinary use of Hausa. You couldn’t get promotion as a colonial officer without passing your exams in Hausa from a very early time. And remember Richard Palmer, who became Resident in Katsina, used to kneel down to his malam with his gafaka (leather bag) and take Arabic lessons in Katsina town.

So the British actually promoted the concept of the use of Ajami.

They took it over.

Were there any attempts to find out from other groups whether they had their own script that you are aware of, maybe the Yoruba or any other tribes?

Obviously the Yorubas could have used the Ajami, but as I said in the conference, if you are doing a tonal language in Ajami how do you tell the tone? First, there wasn’t a standard Yoruba, and as you probably know it was the missions that created a standard Ibo, which a lot of Igbos disliked. But why bother? Both the Igbo and the Yoruba were more interested in getting education using Roman scripts. And in the 19th century they were using English in Lagos. The Yoruba elite too were becoming Christians although there was a majority Muslim population amongst the Yoruba. And to be honest, if you were going to break into the new world of learning of geography, science and medicine, all the books were in European writing.

Did you encounter any hostilities in the beginning of your research work into the Sokoto Caliphate, being a white man living in Sokoto?

Never in Sokoto. Or if I did, I might have been insensitive to it. The point is that I was an almajiri sort of person, a student, very thin and badly dressed. And living in the Waziri’s house, I was fed by the Waziri’s servants – not the best food, I might say! So I just lived on tuwo miyar kuka and tuwo miyar kuka. Fura if I was lucky. I was the only white person of that stature. I was in my twenties, and Sarkin Kudu, the late (Sultan) Maccido once referred to me when someone asked seeing me there, saying, "Dan gida ne" (He’s one of us). Of which I was terribly proud. I wasn’t a threat to anyone. The only place I was called a Nasara was in Kano Kurmi market when looking at the Arabic books – you know that section by the mosque. Well, it was not offensive to be called Nasara, because once you cross out of Nigeria and go to Niger, Europeans are all called Nasara, Turawa or Bature.

What advice would you give young and upcoming scholars?

The greatest mistake that I made and therefore would warn others not to is not to systematically talk to every old person I could find. That is to say by concentrating on Arabic manuscripts, which don’t die like people do. For instance, I met an old woman who sent to me the Hausa songs of the Fulani who lost their cattle during the epidemics of the 1890s because I didn’t have a tape recorder with me. When I went back three weeks later, she had died.

I will want the young scholars to talk to their grandparents as often as possible about what they knew and treat them like a real living source. Not that the old people will always tell them the truth, that is not the point, but at least you must find out what they knew and then get it back.

The other thing I will advise students to do is to get out of their cars and walk around the countryside. For instance, the other time I was walking just outside the wall of Kano, and I discovered an old shrine where they used to swear by goats and I spoke to few people around and they all knew about it. Is there anyone in B.U.K. who is still interested in doing that kind of thing?

The scholars in Nigeria complain of lack of funding.

To be honest, this is a serious issue. During my days as a student, I was living on 500 pounds per year, and my car consumed half of it because I drove around a lot. To me, I found the countryside more interesting, but the average Nigerian finds it boring. I would like Nigerian students to explore European, Indian and American cultures and they would be surprised at what they will find.

Review of Nana Aishatu Ahmad's "The Twist"

Twisting Tradition’s Tale

A new novel explores the dilemma of working African women struggling to maintain a happy family while building a career

By Ibrahim Sheme

Breaking the stereotype of the northern Nigerian woman as a passive, non-assertive creature is a difficult task indeed. A long period of silence on the writing scene has created the impression that even the educated women in the north, especially among the Hausa-Fulani Muslims, are submissive and unquestioning. Little surprise, therefore, that when Zaynab Alkali’s novella, "The Stillborn," was published by Longman in the 80s, attention was focused on the northern women. Ironically, even though Alkali is a Muslim she is not of the Hausa-Fulani stock.

Ever since Alkali’s pioneering work was published, however, many more women have been published in the north. One of them, Nana Aishatu Ahmad published two collections of poems, "Vision of the Jewel" and "Voice from the Kitchen" containing variegated themes that demonstrate her capacity as an emerging strong voice on the literary scene in the north. She might not have attracted much publicity probably due to the “unpopularity” of poetry books in Nigeria. But now she is back with a novel titled "The Twist," which has just been published.

Mrs Ahmad was appointed a Commissioner in her native Gombe State only yesterday. Until then, she was the Dean of Faculty of Languages at the FCT College of Education, Zuba, Abuja. Born in Gombe, she graduated from University of Maiduguri with a degree in English Literature and obtained M.Ed. (English) from University of Jos. She has taught at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, and Federal College of Education, Gombe. "The Twist" is her first published novel.

The novel tells the story of Amina Bashir, a beautiful woman caught between devotion to the sacred vows of love and marriage and the violent rejection of some insidious sins that wreck marital knots. Amina was madly in love with Siraj, a hardworking civil servant, when she was in secondary school. She rebelled against her father’s wish, who wanted her to marry a tycoon, insisting that Siraj was the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She even attempted suicide when the marriage was just about to be consummated with Alhaji Ganima, the local champion. Eventually, her wish was granted and she married her heart-throb.

The marriage seemed to have been made in heaven and everything looked set on remaining happy ever after. Amina and Siraj began to raise their own children. They had moved to Abuja where Siraj had secured a job with a federal ministry, and Amina had become a senior staff in an international NGO. Things became awry, however, when Amina discovered to her horror that Siraj was becoming unfaithful to her. Feeling betrayed, she moved out of the house, taking her children along. For years she buried herself in her work, which provided opportunities for globe-trotting, believing that she had bid goodbye to the marriage that had suddenly become a nightmare. But then the elders of her home town, at the behest of the emir, waded into the crisis. A reconciliation ensued at the emir’s palace. A deeply penitent Siraj, who had experimented with marrying some other women but found they could not measure up to his first wife’s qualities, reunited with Amina. The duo promised to hold onto each other for better or for worse.

The story may appear simplistic on the surface, but it is really a tale that runs deep through the African psyche. It reflects the tension afflicting many modern marriages, especially those where the wife works in an office just like her husband. Working African women have been helping to change the traditional perception of the fair sex as weak and unexpressive. Amina’s rejection of the comfort of her household emanates from her sense of independence, which only a good education could confer. A successful worker who travels abroad on behalf of her NGO and rubs shoulders with men in various endeavours is too important to trample. She saw the denigration of her marital chastity not only as a slap on her treasured womanhood but also a slight on her sense of humanity.

Amina strikes one as a rebellious character - first against her own father who tried to yoke her with traditional practices and impose a husband on her, then against her husband whose romantic antics were camouflaged as an attempt to earn for himself a second wife. She also rebuffed the elders’s effort to reconcile her with her husband until she was ready to dictate the terms. A comparison with her mother Shumo is inevitable here. Shumo is of the old school, seeing women in their traditional role of men’s followers in all cases and never questioning things. Even though she was against the proposed marriage between her young daughter and old Alhaji Ganima, she could not bring herself to oppose her husband stoutly on the matter. And even when the marriage almost hit the rocks, she tried to placate Amina and make her accept Siraj once again warts and all. Amina, a thoroughly modern woman, used rebelliousness as a counterbalance to the men’s retrogressive attitude towards women.

There are other sub-themes in the book, such as respect for elders (for example, Amina giving up her defences when the emir intervened in the crisis of her marriage), forced marriages in the north, girl-child education, the role of international non-governmental organisations in development projects in Africa, maternal health (Maryam’s giving births to so many children because she did not further her education or acquired office work), the extended family structure, etc.

The book is well-written, with the story flowing effortlessly. The author has proved that she can write prose as well as she could write poems. Her diction is simple but punchy, gripping the reader and imposing a sense of urgency in knowing what’s next in the various sharp turns and “twists” in the tale. An aura of poetry pervades her choice of words and use of phrases, a proof that the poetess in her isn’t very far away when she writes. Save for about two typographical errors, it would have been said that the work is flawless.

One notable weakness in the story is that the author did not go deep in exploring some of the themes in the book and developing some of her characters. It would have been good to develop the character of both Amina and Siraj instead of using them hurriedly to convey a rather all-important message that modern working women in Africa will no longer be pushed around by their men.

The book was published by Informart Publishers Limited, Kaduna. Its finishing and packaging were handled professionally in terms of the overall design, choice of colours, cover illustrations, etc.

No doubt, this is an important contribution to Nigerian literature in English. It should be read by anyone interested in the development of society through the betterment of the women’s lot. Educational institutions, government ministeries and parastatals, NGOs, the general reader, etc., would do well to read The Twist.

The implication of a story such as this is that it would provoke the much needed debate over the social structure in Hausa and or Fulani society where traditional practices are intricately embedded and rampant, not only in village life but in the big cities as well. It should also encourage other women to come out of their closets and tell their stories, the stories of African women. No one will tell their stories if not them. And there are too many of those stories waiting to be told.

Hajiya Nana Aishatu Ahmad should not rest on her oars in the difficult art of writing. God has given her the talent to write, shine and excell. She should, therefore, utilise it in the service of casting light on the various practices that hold African women back. By holding women back, no society would develop because women are the bedrock of national survival. Creative writers like Mrs Ahmad are the pregenitors and torchbearers who should show the way.