FREEDOM RADIO: INTERVIEW WITH NASEEBA SANI BABALE AND BELLO SAGIR IMAM OF LITERATURE AND THE WORLD

I am Abdussalam Sani sitting in for Kabiru Musa Jammaje.

"Your work is going to fill in large part in your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what only the thing you think you can do with love and what to do, if you haven't found it yet, keep looking don't settle as with all matters of the heart you will know when you find it". This is a famous quote by William Shakespeare.

On today's episode of the program, 'Creative Writing', we are going to host, guests from literature and the world, a group on Facebook. And together with me on the programme, are: Malam Bello Sagir Imam and along side Nasiba Sani Babale.

Abdussalam: Wellcome to creative writing.

Bello and Naseeba: Thank you.

Abdussalam: May I start with Bello Sagir Imam? Literature and the world is the group on Facebook and you have avalanche of members, that we want to know more about the group literature and the world in other words, the history of the group, how did you come about it?

Bello: Well, Hello the people of Kano and its environs, and hello the members of Literature and the World. Thank you very much Malam Jammaje and Malam Abdussalam, not forgetting Freedom Radio for giving Literature and the world this opportunity to showcase herself to your teeming audience, and to answer your question directly. Literature and the world came into existence in 2012 and that was 1st Fabuary of the year and it was conceived and birthed by Huzaifa Sani Ilyas and that was following a number of requests by his fellow facebookers that his contribution to literature should extend from physical world to the electronic world. And that's Facebook, especially considering the growing linguistic and literary disorder in the social network.
Malam Huzaifa intervened by creating the group and made Rabi'u Shamma an admin, later myself that's how the number of admin kept growing up to the level we are in now, and to balance the administration of the group and to make it smoothly going, we applied the principles of division of labour which divided and shared responsibilities among us and I ended up with Secretary General and Nasiba by my side as a Vice Chairman. Now we have ten thousand members or so.

Abdussalam: The listener would want to know the aims and objectives of the group. I think Nasiba Babale...

Naseeba: Literature and the world was created to achieve these aims and objectives. Promotion of literature in Nigeria and in the world generally. Because we have members across the globe.

We want to inculcate reading culture because you know we have a poor reading culture. For writers to express themselves on how to write, so that we can correct each other.

Inculcation of critical thinking and improvement of unity and peace among members.

Entertainment aspect is entertained as well. We present poems, short stories, riddles, sometimes jokes, proverbs and the likes

Creating political awareness among members, for example before this election there was a post we requested members to put their entries on peace before, after and during the election and we received a lot of write ups, with even some members suggestion that we should compile them into a book, but because there was no funding to do this and we unable to do it.

Improvement of communication skills.

Abdussalam: When a member makes a post it can be criticized? Naseeba: Exactly.

Abdussalam: I think some posts could be error free...

Bello: May be posts by people like professor Ibrahim Bello Kano aka. (IBK) (laughs) could be error free, because he is (was actually) a member of the group.

Creation of literary awareness among members and then, there is a posts like, Tijjani Muhammad Musa writes on poetry, Rabi'u Shamma presents a book of 100 most influential people in history and then myself I present Notes from Atlanta that's a column from Prof. Farouq Kperogi.

Abdussalam: Malam Bello Sagir Imam, The group Literature and the world, are there rules and regulations, guiding principles?

Bello: Of course, every reasonable environment is governed by certain rules and regulations and our group would not form an exception and that's why we have alot of them, let me go to the info section of the group, where we expect every member to go and read before he settles in the group. It was posted by my former Assistant Secetary of the group Zainab Y. Abbas. Let me also use this opportunity to tell our teeming members that the seat of my assistant is now vacant as Zainab is very soon getting wedded.

The cardinal ones are:

1. English language is the medium of communication here, all other languages must be accompanied by English language translation.

2. No wrong spelling, post, comment or ungrammatical construction could be not allowed.

3. No multiple post by any individual member more than 3 times a day.

4. No short message services or rather cyber language, which is the order of the day on social media.

5.Critique to benefit, do your critic that will benefit readers and authors alike.

6. You should accept your mistakes.

Abdussalam: Naseeba what would say are the achievements of the group so far...

Naseeba: So far we've achieved most of our aims, promotion of unity through write-ups to members from different part of the world.

We have succeeded in improving members language and communication skills, because sometimes if somebody make a post you effect correction, next you will recognise an improvement in his post. We are also working to compile an Anthology to be published from entries of members of the group. The use of cyber language has reduced, people reacting personally to criticism has also reduced.

Abdussalam: You mention some of the activities of the group, like writing, corrections, improving communicating skills, are these only the activities of the group or there some more?

Bello: There are some more, apart from these daily postings, short stories, articles, poems, short dramas etcetra,there is also monthly presentation by the members, we do select a topic and give to a particular member to go and research on it, and we fix a time for his presentation and the presenter presents. Members would be online to participate in the presentation. We also have a radio program at Radio Kano 2, we appreciate that, we do hold the program on every last Saturday of the month.

Abdussalam: What are the challenges facing the group?

Bello: The challenges are many and the worst ones from the side of the admin is that, all the admin are committed with academic, work and family activities, so this makes it very demanding and rigorous upon us to administer the group sometimes to such an extent that one of us has to seek for leave, like myself when I demanded it, I was granted a leave of three months when I was facing exams.

Abdussalam: Malam Bello Sagir Imam, I am afraid we are running out of time, what is your special message to your members?

Bello: My special message to the members is that, we appreciate your contribution which keep the group afloat and please don't give up, continue doing that despite all challenges, and my message to people who are not members of the group is that, if you are not a member please don't hesitate join the group now!

Abdussalam: I am afraid this is where we draw the curtain of the programme, our guests were Bello Sagir Imam and Naseeba Sani. Babale, on behalf of my associate presenter Kabiru Musa Jammaje, I remain sincerely yours Abdussalam Sani from the Association of Fiction and Non Fiction Writers (AFINOW). Thank you.

Transcribed by Rabiu Shamma
Publicity Secretary
Literature and World.
10/04/2015.

ALH. ADO BAYERO: WE STILL MOURN YOU

(The tribute below was published in 'Polo & Event International Magazine' of July 2015, and later, it was translated into Hausa and published in 'Leadership Hausa' of 2-8/10/2015.)

Exactly a year ago, torrents of tributes are still tearing the media space. That's because the exit of the revered emir Alhaji Ado Bayero was very painful. One of such tributes was a 'Gloomy Friday', a dirge written by my humble self and published in both Sunday and Daily Trusts newspapers after it was read in Freedom Radio, Radio Kano 2 and other radio stations.

Alh. Ado Bayero, of blessed memory, was a member of a ruling house of Gidan Dabo, a clan of Sullubawa, the 13th emir of Kano since after the holy war of Uthman Danfodio, and until his ascension to the throne in 1963 at the age of 33, he was the Nigerian ambassador to Senegal. The emir was a former Police Boss and Member of Parliament. He answered the call of his Creator on one fateful Friday morning, after a protracted illness, at the age of 83, leaving behind 30 sons, 32 daughters and over 300 grand children of his own as well as thousands of others within his extended family.

I still recall the most striking part of his golden jubilee speech which portrayed him as some one who harbored no grudges against any one where he said: '...I want to use this unique opportunity to seek for forgiveness from all and sundry whom I might have offended directly or indirectly. I have forgiven all'. This is a rare quality especially of people of his personality. Ninety nine times out of hundred the emir was out of his palace, undoubtedly, he was attending one Islamic school Quranic graduation or another.

On the sight of their darling king, you would hear children of Kanawa chanting: 'Allah Kara maka imani, Allah Kara maka imani, Allah Kara maka imani...' Meaning, 'may Allah increase you in faith'. And for the adults they would break into welcoming smiles with their thumbs up. The emir would then responded with gentle smiles. Sometimes, he would be out commissioning Islamic structures like, mosques, Islamic schools or research centers, etcetera, which he used to do not by the usual cutting of tape but by leading the prayer, in which cases he donated in millions. The emir was also a promoter of Western education and a critic of the dreaded Boko Haram.

Dr. Ado Bayero gave a sense of belonging to all and sundry under Kano emirate, including the non-indegenes. This habit help in making Kano a center of commerce. During annual Durbas, he made tours round Kano to greet his people. For the Hawan Nassarawa, the emir would visit the settler area of Sabon Gari to see and great the people there. To facilitate peace, he appointed leaders among them, for instance the sarkin Yarabawa (traditional leader of Yoruba), sarkin Inyamurai (traditional leader of Igbo) and Sarkin Nupawa (traditional leader of Nupawa) among others. To exemplify inter ethnic marriage, the emir married Hajiya Maryam, popularly called 'Illorin'.

As an embodiment of peace, the leader settled disputes among his subjects in such a way that his decision was acceptable by both parties more than that of the conventional courts. Closeness or relationship with the emir doesn't immune one from his dispensation of justice and fairness as it was evident in some cases involving his district or ward heads and host of others. His dispute settlement didn't only stop among his ordinary subjects, even the high and mighty within and outside the state sought his help in settling dispute, which he offered with much interest. A clear example was a time when two warring kings from southern Nigeria couldn't sheath their sword despite efforts by their colleagues from other kingdoms. But when the Kano monarch intervened, their war became history.

Common people visited him in his palace and he gave them attentive audience. They took gifts to him like moringa, a loaf of bread, a piece of pineapple or any other thing they could afford which he always collected happily. He was so generous and concerned about common man to the level that he recognized the places some of them used to sit in his mosque that when he didn't see them he asked after them, sometimes he would be told that the unavailable person was ejected from his rented house that was at a trekking distance with the palace but now he relocated to a far place. In such a case Bakan Dabo would order for a purchase of a nearby house and gift it to the man. Or if it was sickness that prevented the man from showing up, he would sponsor his medical bills, even if that required taking him to a hospital abroad. These and many more exceptional qualities earned the emir reverence among his people to such a level that he was immortalized since during his lifetimes as many young and adult men who bear the name Ado in Kano and its environs, were named after him. I have never known a famous person, celebrities inclusive, whose pictures adorns the house walls, offices, buses, taxis, screens, and bikes like the emir Ado's. Many schools, roads, hospitals, bridges, libraries, halls, gates, shopping malls, research centers etc, within and outside Kano were named in his honor.

Just like Chinua Achebe in the field of literature, or Aliko Gote in business who carved a niche for themselves in their respective specializations which gave Nigeria a good name in the eyes of the world, Alh. Ado Bayero who was close to Her Majesty the Queen of England uplifted the image of the country in the world because of his royal uniqueness. In his life time, Her Majesty and her son Prince Charles at different times payed homage visits all the way from the Great Britain to the Kano Emirate Palace to great the emir. Maimartaba was indeed among the great Africa Who's Who.

Our father Takawa, as you reach one year away from us, we remain fatherless, and still mourn your demise because of the huge legacies you bequeathed us. We will continue praying and writing about you. We love you, but Allah loves you most. Glory to Allah for giving us the chance to benefit from him. May Allah admit him in jannatul Firdaus. May You help his successor, the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria: Muhammad Sunusi the 2nd reign well. 'Kano ta dabo tunbin giwa, ko da me kazo anfi ka'

(C) Bello Sagir Imam 2015.