Section II
An Overview of Creative Writing In Northern Nigeria
p. 29-52
Texte intégral
Introduction1
1In an interview which he granted Weekend Concord a couple of years ago, Abubakar Gimba was asked to comment on which language he found most suitable for conveying his message to the audience. His response was very interesting and in a way it has helped to inspire this study on the effectiveness of Arabic, Hausa or English as a medium of communication for northern Nigerian creative writers. Gimba contends:
Whether foreign or local... the purpose of writing is communication. If you think that you will get across to a wider readership through an indigenous language, then by all means, write in that language. If, on the other hand, I can reach many people through the use of English, I try to do so... If I am going to do that through the use of Arabic and 1 have mastery in Arabic then I’ll use it. I’m not bothered whether the language is local or English. Abubakar Umar2 was able to write so well in Hausa because he had mastery of the Hausa language and it was the most suitable medium through which he could reach his readers... Despite the fact that you have people taking degrees in Hausa, Abubakar Umar’s books still form the bedrock for the study of Hausa. So it doesn’t really matter whether you write in vernacular or English.
2Time and time again, scholars and students of Nigerian literature have stressed one issue, which is the underdevelopment of creative writing in northern Nigeria. To support their position, they often refer to the so-called educational ‘backwardness’ of the region vis-a-vis the rest of the country. Their argument is also predicated on the paucity of works of art written in English by Northern writers. The aim of this study is to counter the view that creative writing in northern Nigeria is still in its infancy. Because of the peculiar nature of the development of creative writing in northern Nigeria, books written in English have been regarded as more important, and this trend should be reversed.
3Creative writing in northern Nigeria in Arabic, Hausa and English have served specific purposes for different writers over the years. The yardstick applied by scholars, who often equate the development of creative writing in northern Nigeria to the number of books written in English is erroneous and misleading. ‘Communicating’, in Gimba’s opinion, ‘is the essence of literature’. This study accepts and supports this position. Any reasonable assessment of creative writing in northern Nigeria should include the mode of creative discourse used to achieve the writer’s intention to entertain, inform or educate, all of which must be determined by the intended target audience.
4A quintessential definition of the word ‘writing’ is found in The New Encyclopedia Britannica Volume 29. It states that writing is:
A form of human communication by means of a set of visible marks that are related, by convention, to some particular structural level of language. This definition highlights the fact that writing is in principle the representation of language... that spoken language has a number of levels of structure... which a writing system can ‘map onto’ or represent.3
5Today, many existing languages use an alphabetic writing system, whereby fewer symbols need to be learnt. Fewer symbols make the alphabet system much easier to use than the syllabic or logographic systems, which were in use about 4,000 years ago.
6Nowadays, writing is closely linked with literacy. What this means is that a literate person acquires a certain level of competence in reading and writing a language. Thus, a literate society is one where the majority of people can read and write for their own purposes. Only such people can appreciate literature.
7Within this context, we shall define the term creative writing. Creative writing is the art by which an individual, competent in the use of a given language, applies his imagination to create a work of art which appeals either to the critical sensibilities or the passions of the audience. Usually, such a story turns out to be a representation of a slice of the totality of the creator’s personal experiences, the experiences of others, or a re-creation of the socio-economic or other realities of the writer’s society. It may be capable of universal applicability.
Creative writing in Northern Nigeria
The Arab Connection
8Creative writing in northern Nigeria owes a lot to Arabic literature, which itself was greatly influenced by Islam and, most importantly, the Koran. Since 622 a. d. the Koran has been the pivot around which Islamic religion and Islamic culture have continued to revolve. The Koran is often regarded as the first book ever written in Arabic and it set the standard, especially in the area of style, for other books in Arabic, which came after it. Before the emergence of Islam as the dominant religion in the Middle East, the literary tradition of the Arabian peninsula was oral and basically poetic in orientation. The most important types of poetry during the pre-Muhammeddan/pre-Islamic era were the qasida (ode), the ritha (eulogy) and the hija (satire). For 600 years, after the hijra, the Arabic literary world emphasized the composition of various forms of poetry, as was the practice during the pre-Islamic era. According to M. G. Raji:
In its classical form, Arabic literature was dominated by lyrical poetry the origin of which was rooted in the pre-Islamic Arabian heathenism... In the ensuing struggle between Islam and Arabian paganism, the latter collapsed and, with it, the idea of poetry as a form of inspiration or vision.4
9However, in the 12th century, a revolution occurred in the Arabic literary world. A highly imaginative Arabic prose genre emerged, the thematic preoccupation of which mainly consisted of historical chronicles, epic journeys and biographical accounts about the life and times of eminent Arab clerics and political leaders. Sometimes the writers told folktales, but they continued to follow the standard and style established by the Koran. Raji contends further:
Under the full beam of Islamic intellectualism in which it was developed, classical Arabic literary theory was marked by definite Islamic characteristics by which Arabic literature was ruled for centuries.5
10The best known of the Arabic works which sprang up during this period, and which has been critically acclaimed by the Western literary world as a masterpiece, is the collection of stories known as The Arabian Nights or The Thousand and One Nights in which the protagonist, Scheherazade, tells a series of stories to save her life from the hands of her husband – a king who habitually murdered his newly married wives the day after he wed them.
11There are two kinds of prose narrative, al-nathru ’l-mursal (ordinary prose) and al-nathru ’l-masju (rhymed prose). The first simply gives historical, political or biographical accounts and is devoid of metre and rhyme. The second kind of prose narrative, though devoid of metre, contains regular internal rhymes. This is the form used by Arab intellectuals or clerics to write letters or deliver sermons. A main distinguishing characteristic of Arabic prose, which differentiates it from Arabic poetry, is the absence of metre.
12Islam, and by extension the Arabic literary tradition, spread to northern Nigeria from the Middle East through North Africa between the 11th and 15th centuries when the Habe or Hausa Sarakis, scions of the Bayajidda dynasty, ruled a very large part of what is now northern Nigeria. This area is the home of people of diverse backgrounds, who seem to have been welded together by the all-pervading influence of Hausa culture. Hausa culture readily accommodated Islam, and it is not surprising that among the Hausa, Islam quickly gained ascendancy as the true and perfect mode of worshipping God. Islam was used in northern Nigeria to bind the people into an indivisible whole, with a common destiny and a common goal. It is interesting to note that the link between the Hausa and the Arab world is further underscored by the fact that oral traditions ascribe their ancestry to Bayajidda, an Arab prince from the Caliphate of Baghdad, which for several years was the capital of the Islamic world. Bayajidda was reputed to have migrated from Baghdad several centuries before the first itinerant Arab preacher arrived in the Hausa area. His first point of call was Kanem-Borno. He later moved westward to Daura where he married the Queen, who gave birth to a son, called Bawo, the progenitor of seven children. These children were the founders of the seven Hausa states which constituted the Hausa Bakwai: Biram, Daura, Katsina, Zaria, Kano, Rano and Gobir.
13Bayajidda also had children through a Gwari concubine betrothed to him by his wife. Hausa oral tradition postulates that the fruits of this relationship led to the foundation of Zamfara, Kebbi, Gwari, Yauri, Nupe, Yoruba (Ilorin), and Kwararafa (Jukun) States. These seven states were known as the Banzai Bakwai. A statement by C. C. Ifemesia is worthy of note. He states emphatically that the Hausa Banzai Bakwai:
... were not among the original Hausa states but had subsequently come under the expanding influence of the Hausa people and Islam... The existence of this Banza Bakwai tradition indicates an early attempt to explain the remarkable diffusion of the Hausa language and culture in many parts of what is now called northern Nigeria. . . a development which has continued with even greater intensity to the present day.6
14The remarkable diffusion of the Hausa language, a member of the Hamitic-Semitic linguistic group, explains why some students discuss northern Nigerian literature under the rather parochial term ‘Hausa literature’.
15No culture can exist in isolation. Every society is dynamic and is, therefore, susceptible to influence from different sources. Such influences may be either negative or positive. Such influences exist in the link between northern Nigerian or Hausa literature and Arabic literature. Ahmed Yerima suggests:
What has emerged today as Hausa literature has been greatly influenced by Islam, the Muslim religion which was spread along with its core-language, Arabic and its literature. On Arabic literature rests the rich source and influence of Hausa literature as it is known today.7
16The oral rendition of poetry known as waka (song) was a very popular medium of literary activity in both pre and post Islamic eras in Hausaland. Poetry was firmly rooted in Hausa culture, and before the emergence of Islam it was common to find poets who sang extempore songs in celebration of the achievements of highly influential personalities in the society, who rewarded the poets with money in return for their praise singing. After the introduction of Islam as the main religion in Hausaland, another group of poets emerged. This group, which still exists, consists of itinerant religious men who are Muslims and who sing religious songs laced with verses from the Koran. These songs are meant to inspire people as well as to praise God for his love and affection towards mankind.
17The Arabic language was firmly established as the language of the intelligentsia; many Hausa poets in the post-Islamic period succeeded in learning Arabic well enough to use it to write poetry. Being literate in the Arabic language elevated the poet who could write in Arabic and he was accorded more prestige than the oral poet. Most of these literate poets were also itinerant scholars who travelled around Hausaland and who were highly patronized and respected by political and religious leaders. The use of the Arabic alphabet to compose poems was sustained until the late 18th century when the Arabic script was adapted to create a unique Hausa script called Ajami. In a joint article, Don Scharfe and Yahaya Aliu, speaking about the indigenization of the Arabic language in Hausaland comment as follows:
Initially, learning meant knowledge of Arabic, the language of the Koran, and Islamic tradition. Gradually a form of nationalism arose, and the local languages of various areas were put into written form making use of the Arabic alphabet. Where sounds did not exist in Arabic they were added, and the resulting script of Hausa was known as Ajami. Many poets use it to this day.8
18The Fulani jihad took place in 1804; it was a period of great literary revival in Hausaland. Both Uthman dan Fodio and his son and successor, Mohammed Bello, were scholars of high repute, who encouraged the acquisition and diffusion of knowledge through books.
19The high regard Mohammed Bello had for books is made evident in a letter he wrote to Aminu el-Kanemi, Shehu of Borno, who had accused Bello of destroying books after the jihad of 1804. According to Dan Izevbaye:
Mohammed Bello... accused el-Kanemi of ignorance because el-Kanemi based his allegations on information received from those people who cannot read or write.9
20Muhammadu na Birnin Gwari was an important Hausa poet of the post-jihad period. He was actively patronized by Mohammed Bello and other influential people in Hausaland. He was well educated and had travelled extensively throughout West Africa. Although Arabic still continued to be the official language used by the clerics and the royal courts, Muhammadu na Birnin Gwari ensured that he elevated the Ajami script to the level of a canon. Birnin Gwari’s untiring efforts inspired Isa, one of the sons of Uthman dan Fodio, to attempt a translation of some of his father’s works. Notable personalities in Hausaland who popularized the use of Ajami included Aliyu dan Sidi, the Emir of Zaria, and Shehu na Salga of Kano who wrote an epic poem entitled Bagauda, which discussed how descendants of Bayajidda established Kano.
The Colonial Period
21Usually, students of Nigerian history date the commencement of colonialism in northern Nigeria from the day the British defeated the combined forces of the Fulani Muslims at Gurmi in 1903. The Muslims were under the command of Sultan Attahiru, who had embarked on an hijra after the defeat of his forces at Kano earlier that year. In this study, however, we maintain that colonialism started in Hausaland after the Fulani jihad of 1804, when the Fulani replaced the Habe dynasties who had reigned in the various city-states of Hausaland for centuries.
22Although the Fulani held political power, they did not enjoy the total support of their Hausa subjects. In fact, it is safe to assume that the popularization of Ajami was a subtle rejection of Fulani rule by the Hausa. We can also assume that it was this disaffection with Fulani rule that prompted a Hausa poet, Shehu na Salga, to compose a poem which eulogized the former Habe rulers of Kano, even when a Fulani emir was already ruling the city. According to Robin Halett, the disdain with which the Hausa regarded Fulani rule is vividly revealed in a statement credited to a Hausa woman. Baba of Kano, who asserts:
The European... found a lot of tyranny and oppression here, people being beaten and killed and sold into slavery... We Habe (i.e., Hausa) wanted them to come, it was the Fulani who did not like it. When the Europeans came, the Habe saw that if you worked for them, then they paid you for it. They didn’t say, like the Fulani, ‘Commoner, give me this! Commoner, bring me that.’ Yes, the Habe wanted them, they saw no harm in them.10
23A stratification of the society along racial and tribal lines existed in the Hausa states, when the British came onto the scene. However, despite this stratification, Islam and Arabic continued to bind the Fulani and the Hausa together. The British found it difficult to penetrate and dismantle the hold that Islam had on the people, because Western education was not accepted by the generality of northerners – the Hausa inclusive. This was because the existing Islamic-oriented culture emphasized Koranic education. The situation in the northern part of Nigeria was in direct contrast to what was happening in the western and eastern parts of the country. In these places, Western education was readily embraced by the people, who saw it as a means of elevating themselves from a colonially imposed abyss of cultural-degradation.
24The British, however, undermined the status-quo, while promoting indirect rule. They allowed the Fulani emirs to govern on behalf of the British. The colonial authorities introduced a Roman-alphabet for Hausa, which de-emphasized the importance of the Arabic language and the Arabic-scripted Hausa, which it replaced even in the royal courts of Hausaland, where it became the official language. The acceptance of a colonially imposed Hausa in the Roman alphabet made the region susceptible to the influence of Western literary traditions. This development is not surprising, considering the fact that even in the Arabic world, which had provided an impetus for the emergence of a literary tradition in northern Nigeria, the Arabic literary tradition was displaced in favour of Western or European literary traditions. For example, Raji maintains that when the British invaded of Egypt in 1882:
... a Western educated and cosmopolitan class (despite its consciousness of being under an alien force) was born. Its interest in European culture and literature, among other things, was manifest. The new and ever-increasing readership was no longer satisfied with the classical Arabic literature of which they were not only critical but which they also subjected to European literary standards.11
Northern Writers in Hausa
25The Hausa who had some education were a bit more cautious than their Arab counterparts in accepting Western literary traditions wholeheartedly, but they readily accepted the Roman scripted Hausa language as a medium for creating a literary work of art, instead of English. Ahmed Yerima has identified the reasons responsible for the rise of indigenous Hausa literature. They are:
First the British government had, between 1898 and 1903, witnessed the ruthless behaviour of the Fulani Emirates, who preached Islam. Christianity was the religion of the British and therefore, they needed a way of disarming the stronghold of the Fulani. They preferred the Hausa and therefore made Hausa the only other language apart from English encouraged to be written in Roman instead of Arabic script. Secondly, the introduction of the Roman script for the Hausa orthography, encouraged a new awareness amongst the Hausa politically, socially and economically.12
26In essence, creative writing in this Roman-alphabetized Hausa language is a relatively recent phenomenon. On this issue, Adeboye Babalola states emphatically:
Although the Hausa must have had the knowledge of writing before 1800, it was evidently put to use only by a close circle of Muslim leaders (who mostly wrote in Arabic and for religious purposes), and it was only at the start of the twentieth century that written Hausa literature came into being. The first Hausa novel to be published is in fact barely a generation old. Many of the modern works are clearly in the line of direct and immediate continuity from the older, oral Hausa and Arabic forms.13
27In this pioneering study on the emergence of modern Hausa literature in northern Nigeria. Babalola highlights the dependence of Hausa prose literature on ‘Hausa folklore and Arabian tales’. He goes on to identify three important features of Hausa folklore which have also found their way into Hausa prose. The first feature he identifies is found in stories where animals are the principal characters, these animals being usually endowed with ‘human characteristics and tendencies’. Secondly, in Hausa folklore, where human beings play important roles, there is a celebration of good over evil, a victory of the weak and the helpless over the strong and the mighty. The third feature is that which Babalola describes as ‘the stereotyped figure of the ogre ... who lives in the solitary wild or in caves, hoarding wealth and keeping as maid or wife a young human beauty. Set against him is the figure of the human hero, whose additional weapons include courage, strength, a fatal sword or some supernatural charm’.
28Worthy of note for his contributions to the development of indigenous creative writing in the Hausa language was a British colonial officer, Dr. Rupert East, who worked in the north between 1932-1952 and was for many years the Superintendent of the Literature Bureau in Zaria. Dr. East was involved in an effort to persuade learned Hausa personalities who were literate in the Roman-scripted Hausa language to write for the benefit of the people. Although Dr. East was rebuffed by several of the people he approached, he was able to publish some books written by Hausa writers.
29His Literature Bureau later metamorphosed at different times into the Gaskiya Corporation and the Northern Nigeria Publishing Corporation. Later in 1954, it became the Northern Regional Literature Agency. Its main objective was to publish books written in the various native languages of northern Nigeria, especially Hausa, the dominant mode of discourse.
30In 1933, Dr. East’s literature Bureau published some plays in a collection titled Six Hausa Plays. Later in 1934, an Hausa tale, Jiki Magayi was published. It was co-authored by Dr. East and Malam J. Tafida Zaria Wusasa. Cyprian Ekwensi, the well known Nigerian creative writer is reputed to have based his An African Nights Entertainment (1962) on Jiyi Magayi. Between 1932 and 1933, Dr. East’s bureau introduced a creative writing competition in Hausa. Five written works of art were adjudged the best of all the entries received and they were subsequently published. One of the five books was Gandoki a classic by Bello Kagara – also called Muhammadu Bello Kagara, a relation of Abubakar Imam.
31In Gandoki, Bello Kagara mixes history and myth together to weave an excellent tale. The story contained in Gandoki is set in northern Nigeria, following the institutionalization of British rule. A close examination of Gandoki shows that it fits perfectly into Adeboye Babalola’s classification of the folklore features of Hausa prose literature. Babalola describes Gandoki as:
The greatest adventurer in modern Hausa fiction. His whole life centres upon his obsessive love for war. He will not hesitate to intervene anywhere where a battle is likely to occur; rather he will go to any length to invite trouble... whenever any daring act is to be done, and others are slow to act, it is Gandoki who leads. When the colonial wars were almost over, he felt that he was getting rusty and was therefore ill at ease; so he set out with his brave son, Garba on a pilgrimage to Mecca . . One day after a fierce battle... they fell asleep while resting in the wilds. They awoke to find themselves flown over to the spirit island of Sayaland in India... It is from here that their tough, incredible experiences with the spirit world really begin.14
32The adventurous streak noticeable in Gandoki’s character made the story appealing not only to the East, but also to the Hausa audience who quickly identified with the personality of Gandoki. He was also well versed in the use of charms which was common in Hausaland.
33The other books accepted for publication by the Literature Bureau were Shaibu Umar by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Idon Matambaye by Muhammadu Gwarzo, Jiki Magayi, which was co-authored by Dr. East and John Tafida Zaria Wusasa, already mentioned, and Ruwam Bageja by Abubakar Imam. The career of Abubakar Imam is very interesting. He had been a student of Dr. Rupert East at Katsina College. He later worked for Dr. East’s Literature Bureau and was a very versatile creative artist.
34Imam, who was also the editor of Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, established in 1939 as the voice of the Hausa intelligentsia on literary, cultural and socio-economic issues in Hausaland, was the writer of another Hausa classic, Magana Jari Ce published in 1936.
35Magana Jari Ce was a very successful work of art considering the fact that it was written in an indigenous language. Since its publication in 1936, Magana Jari Ce is reputed to have sold several million copies. The book has become an icon of northern Nigerian creative writing, and about three years ago, its importance was underscored when it was serialized on Nigerian national television. Abubakar Gimba, a prominent northern writer says this of Abubakar Imam:
... the greatest, so far as I know, the greatest Hausa novelist. He produced three volumes which proved to be, and still are standard textbooks for Hausa language. In those days we used to read them in secondary school. And I am sure that Hausa language departments in our universities use them as prescribed texts... And I think that Abubakar Umar was more widely read than even writers like Chinua Achebe among Hausa speaking people. His language is superb and he has helped sustain the Hausa language.15
36Magana Jari Ce is a combination of Hausa folklore and tales largely informed by the Arabic literary tradition. The central character and the source of stories recounted in Magana Jari Ce is a parrot! The stories teach morals meant to improve the society in all spheres of activity. A common thematic preoccupation which seems to link them together is that they all stress the fallibility of man.
37On the whole, the five books cited above were the forerunners of a glorious dawn in the creation of works of art in northern Nigeria. Since their publication, other works, including poems written in Hausa, with varying themes, have been published. Among the prominent ones are: Abubakar Tanan’s Wasan Mararafa (1954), Shuaibu Makarfi’s Zamaninnan Namu (1959), Naibi Suleiman Wali’s Maraba Da Yanci (1959) and Sa’adu Zungur’s Arewa Jumburiya ko Mulukiya (1968). The publication of these works certainly marked an important phase in the evolution of creative writing in northern Nigeria. While we can safely assume that most of these works of art were developed out of the original ideas conceived by each writer, some northern writers have also attempted to translate books written in English into Hausa for the benefit of Hausa readers not literate in English. Such books include Gandun Dabbobi by Bala Funtua, which is a translation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Daren Sha Biyu Qania (1977) by Ibrahim Yaro Yahaya, a translation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
38Interestingly, British colonial policies in northern Nigeria enabled Hausa to supersede English in every respect, a policy that met with the tacit approval of many influential northerners who saw English as an alien language. On the other hand, there were also northerners who were not oblivious of the fact that English, the language of the colonizing power, England, was a language which ensured social, political and economic mobility. Apart from this, they also knew that through English, an international medium of communication, it would be relatively easy to put across to a very large audience the position of the North on many sensitive issues as well as the hopes and aspirations of its people.
Northern Writers in English
39This dichotomy of opinion about the importance of English as a medium of communication in northern Nigeria shows the increasingly dynamic nature of the region. Munzali Jubril concedes this fact too:
... Northern Nigeria is, in fact, a changing society. National integration is progressing at a tremendous speed and not least of its agents are the mass media. This, in effect, means that Northern Nigerians are being brought out of their tiny shells and are having their horizons widened. The utilitarian value that English has as the medium of inter-ethnic communication in Nigeria is daily being appreciated by Northerners and contact with the South at other levels is also forcing a re-evaluation of attitudes and concepts that have always been taken for granted by Northerners. Moreover, many of the elite in the North are aware of the literary vacuum which exists for Northern Nigerian Literature in English.16
40Jubril made this statement in 1990. It is on record that the awareness of some northerners about the importance of English led to the emergence of a small crop of northern intellectuals with the ability to write and converse in English. Among these northern writers in English are: Mohammed Tukur Garba, Yahaya Dangana, Ibrahim Tahir, Umar Ahmed, Hauwa Ali, Labo Yari, Zaynab Alkali and Abubakar Gimba. One common thematic strand which links the works of most of these writers is the attempt to correct fallacies about northern Nigeria’s seemingly conservative outlook.
41Of all these writers, the contributions of Zaynab Alkali and Abubakar Gimba are most worthy of note. They have become the jewels of northern Nigerian fiction and they have contributed immensely to the popularization of northern Nigerian literature in English.
42One common denominator which links Alkali and Gimba is the fact that they have each been recipients of different literary awards for prose fiction on different occasions. Zaynab Alkali, born on the 3rd of February 1950, is one of the upcoming female writers on the Nigerian literary scene. She is the author of The Stillborn (1984), and The Virtuous Woman (1986) What makes her writing career unique is that when her first novel, The Stillborn, was published, it won the Association of Nigerian Authors Prose Prize for 1985, a development which immediately established her as an accomplished creative writer in Nigeria. In the novel, the central character, Li, is a woman who attempts to define a place for herself in a very conservative society.
43Alkali’s books speak volumes for her creative ability, intelligence and versatility. Her cultural background – northern Nigeria, essentially Islamic in orientation – has provided ideas for her which she deftly weaves into the plot/structure of her works. In fact, she confirms this herself:
My main characters are drawn from the northern part of the country. It is a different situation there. In the South they have a lot of chances more than we have. Tradition ... still weighs very hard in the North. It makes changes slower. I would like to see women with lots of talent up north, women that are determined to see to the progress of themselves and their children. But somehow because of our society women are finding it hard to break through17
44Alkali strikes her reader as one of the lone voices in northern Nigeria in support of female emancipation in a male dominated world where women seem to be consigned perpetually to the position of second class citizens. Alkali’s contemporary, Abubakar Gimba, a seasoned government technocrat and banker, was born on the 10th of March 1952 in Nasarawa, Niger State. He is the author of Trail of Sacrifice (1985), Witnesses to Tears (1987), Innocent Victims (1988), Sunset for a Mandarin (1992) and Sacred Apples (1995).
45For Gimba, literature is a mirror of life and this position is vividly reflected in his attempts to discuss different aspects of his complex society. Often, the plot structure of Gimba’s novels revolves around socio-economic themes. Ezekiel Fajenyo and Olu Osunde have attempted a critical appraisal of some of Gimba’s books including Witnesses to Tears, Sunset for a Mandarin, Innocent Victims and Trail of Sacrifice. Their conclusion:
Witnesses to Tears is a celebration of twisted fare as Sunset for a Mandarin is on the salvation of the human soul from the pervasive deluge of life. Trail of Sacrifice is the tale of man’s attempt to attain maturity, fulfilment through love and study of man. Sunset for a Mandarin is entirely about man’s avowed attachment to defined principle despite the seemingly unconquerable travails of the world, while Witness to Tears and Innocent Victims reflect man’s pitiable insufficiency in the face of prevailing cosmic travails which must engulf his being, towards self realization.18
46Most of Gimba’s critics readily agree that with Sunset for a Mandarin, Gimba has established himself not only as one of the leading creative writers in English from northern Nigeria, but also from the whole of the country.
47The book, which was Gimba’s fourth, is full of political intrigues. A first time reader familiar with Abubakar Gimba’s civil service background is bound to feel that the novel is based on the author’s experiences while working as a senior government official. The novel is set in a fictitious African country, Songhai. Incidentally, Songhai is also the setting for Gimba’s latest novel, Sacred Apples, where he looks dispassionately at the concept of womanhood, especially the idea of an independent woman, living in a patrilineal and very inward looking society, unreceptive to change.
48The protagonist in Sunset for a Mandarin, Hajj Hamzah, a top government administrator, finds himself embroiled in a series of confrontations with different power blocs in Kindendo State; in a bitter struggle for dominance. His troubles actually start when he falls out of favour with his boss. Commander Sayyid Abbud. He is accused of an offence he never committed and he undergoes a baptism of fire at the hands of his detractors.
49The novel is an indictment of military rule and its attendant maladministration. It can also be argued that this critique of military rule is a graphic representation of the Nigerian state which is unfortunately, reputed throughout the world as an embodiment of corruption, nepotism, tribalism and other sundry vices.
50Anyone who reads this may wish to ask why we have singled out Alkali and Gimba for special mention out of a crowd of northern Nigerian writers. The reason is quite obvious. Apart from being very good writers, their novels display the seminal elements required of any interesting novel. This positive stylistic development is noticeable in most books written by northern writers. The books are replete with nerve-charging suspense which engages the interest of the reader.
Conclusion
51Northern Nigerian writers in Hausa or English have become adept at crafting works which have succeeded in entertaining, educating and informing not only northern Nigerians, but many other people in the whole country and beyond.
52We must emphasize that in assessing the impact of northern Nigerian writers on the Nigerian literary scene, there are several facts which should be taken into consideration. The first is that in the North at present, Hausa is regarded as more important than English, and works of art which have sold millions of copies – Magana Jari Ce, Gandoki, etc. – have been published in the indigenous language. Secondly, Hausa is not considered to be just a local language any more. It is now an international language, spoken throughout the northern belt of most West African countries and by many different ethnic groups. It has also been recognized by two internationally known radio stations – the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Voice of America (VOA) – as a medium for widespread communication. Thirdly, any study conducted on the impact of northern Nigerian creative writing must take cognizance of the totality of the northern Nigerian literary experience and how both Hausa and English have helped to create a sense of awareness in the generality of the primary audience.
53Despite the history of the introduction of Western literary traditions into northern Nigeria, creative writing in English is gradually coming of age. With intellectuals like Abubakar Imam, Ibrahim Tahir, Hauwa Ali, Zaynab Alkali and Abubakar Gimba, northern writers have tried and are still trying to assert their rights as equal partners on the Nigerian literary scene with their counterparts from the southern part of the country. While it is true that not many books written in English or Hausa have been published by northern writers in recent years, it is also true that the economic downturn in Nigeria has gradually stifled the publication of works of art by Nigerian publishers in general.
54Man by nature is dynamic, he has the ability and required aptitude to respond to changes. If writers in northern Nigeria find English to be the only medium suitable for communicating their ideas to the audience, they will certainly adapt. However, for now, it seems that the Hausa language has an edge over English and is still serving the needs of creative writers of northern Nigerian origin effectively. The Hausa language is certainly not an inferior language and its important role in nation building should not be disparaged.
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Notes de bas de page
1 An earlier version of this paper was published in the Post Express Literary Supplement (Lagos). We are grateful to the editor, Nduka Otiono, for allowing us to reprint it here.
2 In the interview, Gimba referred to northern Nigeria’s widely acclaimed Hausa writer Abubakar Imam as Abubakar Umar. For the sake of clarity and consistency, the name Abubakar Umar will be retained in the quotations extracted from the interview. However, the more popular name Abubakar Imam will be used in the other parts of this study.
3 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 29, Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago, p. 1025.
4 M. G. A. Raji, Literary nationalism: The growth of modern Hausa literature on the ruins of the pre-colonial Arabic literary tradition. In: Essays on Northern Nigerian Literature. Vol. 1. Oba Abduraheem, ed, Hamdan Express Printers, Zaria, 1990, p. 22-23.
5 ibid., p. 23.
6 C. C. Ifemesia, States of the Central Sudan: (i) Kanem-Bomu, (ii) the Hausa states. In: A Thousand Years of West African History. J. F. Ade Ajayi and Ian Espie, eds., Thomas Nelson, Surrey, 1965, p. 92.
7 Ahmed Yerima, Literary documentation of Hausa literature, ANA Review, 1990, p. 17.
8 Don Scharfe and Yahaya Aliu, Hausa poetry. In: Introduction to African Literature, Ulli Beïer, ed., Longman, London, p. 36.
9 Dan Izevbaye, The fired image: Literary beginnings from cultural ends. In: Cheif Wale Ogunyemi at Fifty, Dapo Adelugba, ed.. End-time Publishing House, Ibadan, 1993, p. 127.
10 Robin Halett, Africa since 1875, Heinemann, London, 1975, p. 300.
11 Raji, op. cit., p. 24.
12 Yerima, op. cit., p. 17.
13 Babalola Adeboye, A survey of modern literature in the Yoruba, Efik, and Hausa language. In: Introduction to Nigerian Literature, Bruce King, ed., p. 57.
14 Babalola. op. cit., p. 60.
15 Dayo Aiyetan, Interview conducted with Abubakar Gimba, Weekend Concord, 8 February 1992, p. 5.
16 Jubril Munzali, Northern Nigeria: Literature and the English language. In: Essays on Northern Nigerian Literature, Vol. 1, Oba Abduraheem ed., Hamdan Express Printers, Zaria, 1990, p. 9.
17 Zaynab Alkali, Writing about women. The Guardian on Sunday, 15 December 1985, p. B4.
18 Ezekiel Fajenyo and Olu Osunde, The Writings of Abubakar Gimba. A critical appraisal, Delta Publications, Enugu, 1994. pp. 109-110.
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