Author:
Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah
Genre:
Prose
Publishers:
Jemie Books
Year:
2014
Pagination:
178
Reviewer:
Muhammad Abbas Liman
Zaharaddeen Ibrahim
Kallah is a bilingual author in Hausa and English who made his name in Nigerian
literary arena years back. His 2010 Hausa
novel, “Sadauki Mai Duniya” has been outstanding in the presentation of Hausa
society as far back as 16th century. His latest English novel titled “The Right
Choice” was shortlisted and published under the maiden edition of Nigerian
Writers Series (NWS), patterned after the famous African Writers Series (AWS)
that published and projected many African literary icons such as Achebe,
Soyinka, Sembene, Ijimere, Nwapa, Ekwensi,
Ngugi, and Amadi Elechi.
The novel “The Right
Choice” took place in an imaginary country in Africa, named “Unity States”. It recounted
some post-colonial events and the involvement of military in power, following
their claim that politicians were corrupt.
Kallah’s work is
engaging in a masterly that observed how blacks had unquestioningly internalised
colonial values by exploiting and raping their own countries for personal
benefits. This, according to the writer, was among the factors that left the
continent backward, thereby becoming the home of illiteracy, poverty,
unemployment and insecurity.
The book is built on
his main character, Sameera Junaid Hassan who had disappointed her father, for
not being the male child he always wanted. Just like Jean Toomer and Charles
Chesnutt, the issue of sex preference is one of the themes tackled by the author.
This matter is not only common in African societies but almost everywhere in
the world. But in the context of Hausa society, a male child is the preference
because of socio-economic reasons. Here, Kallah took a radical position by proudly
creating an intelligent female protagonist. (See page 3-4). He avoided the view
that it is the male child that would take care of the family if the parents are
weak and old. Similarly, he eschewed the
view that the burden of rearing a female child was recognised as problematic.
Kallah, just like
Ibrahim Sheme in his book “Yartsana”, dwelled on the ills of sex preference and
resultant maltreatment. In both stories, sex preference was linked with
maltreatment, early marriage, prostitution and social exclusion. Social evidences
however abound that the girl-child is more caring and responsive to filial
duties.
On the brink of forced marriage, fortuitous
salvaging of Sameera was ordained, when she was taken away from the village by
a family friend, and that made it possible for her to acquire western
education, which at the same time exposed her to world struggles to put things
in order. As a historian, writer and journalist, Sameera joined a crusade to
revolutionise her country, which of course paid off by making her a world
heroine. The writer has joined writers such as Susan E. Philips, Julie Garwood,
Grace Draven and Maya Banks, in the campaign against forced marriage.
Revisiting to dominant cultural beliefs,
Kallah created Aliyu Usman, her husband, who served as a reinforcer of her values
and opinions. In fact, they met during a conference where he saw Sameera as a
person who was both academic and intellectual minded. Aliyu falls in love with
her, so he used all strategy to ensnare her. The writer, created Sameera as
someone very radical, a young woman that developed interest on Marxist-oriented
sociological disposition. This can be seen in the conclusion of her paper,
where she asserted that:
When the proletarian
Pushed to the world
False consciousness
Faded away
Revolution has arrived:
No going back. (p. 2)
The Right Choice is
equally about the state of Africa’s disarray, and sometimes, wanton anarchy,
after the departure of colonial powers, and our trademark of ceaseless military
incursion. The Unity States was not an exception to coup and counter coup by
the military whom despite the claim that politicians were corrupt, ended up
being equal or more corrupt than the politicians. The additional selling point of
the book is the way it exposes the leadership of a black nation of Kallah’s
creation, which is a true representation of most African countries. In page 35,
the Unity States was shown to be an oil rich country with fertile agricultural
lands. But all these were used for the benefit of minority, ruling the country towards
a negative path, rather than towards the development of popular basics
amenities, infrastructure and facilities, that leaves none worse off.
As a journalist,
Sameera’s attempt to expose the illicit and uncharitable ways of leaders, has put
her in a defensive position. The Head of State, General Danjuma was uncomfortable
with her and went outside propriety, to state that:
“The criticism of our government is getting
too much. Could you imagine a woman editor in The Unity Newspaper being too
radical? She wants to destabilize my government.” (p. 33)
The ruling elites tried
to use all draconian and unethical means of silencing Sameera from her
antagonism of their government by many means: principal of which, was money being
the first step and commonest measure of silencing people in African nations.
Poverty and poor living standard warrant the use of money to bribe journalists
from writing the actual happening in black nations.
Sameera refused to rescind
her critical position, but got more vehement and released her promising novel “the
law of the jungle”, which was
critical of the incumbent head of military government. This irritated the
ruling elite and they quickly acted in their universal language of repression
and the brutal lust for inflicting injury: the author successfully painted a
sinister scene, thus:
It was 9:30pm. She was driving her
brown Golf back home. When she drove into Bintalo Avenue, the street was quiet:
only birdsongs could be heard. When she got very close to her house, a Toyota
Jeep by the side of the road rushed to her direction. She quickly searched for
the brake in order to avoid a collision. Four men in military uniform came out
and one of them pointed a pistol at her. (p. 79-80).
Kallah was deliberate,
moral and ground breaking in setting intellectualism against corruption in the
Unity States. Sameera and her husband were all writers and at the same time
journalists who founded a Newspaper company. Media houses were used in fighting
the cause, despite the risk of persecution and assassination of journalists who
attempt to uncover the dirty game of the military government. The story of
Sameera’s abduction appeared on the front pages of national dailies (see page
82).
It becomes
thought-provoking and disturbing to observe that the scenario of detention and
killing of journalists in third world countries of Africa is persistent whenever
they try to perform their duties as social police.
The writer, just like
Stieg Larson in his “the girl who kicked the hornets’ rest” rightly believed
that there is need for enlightenment about the need for social reorientation
against corruption and criminal acts. Journalists like Nafisa Muhammad in her
literary column gave a detailed account of how the military attempts to stop journalists
from performing their duties. This is not unconnected with the perverse desire
of power-holders to control the flow of information to the masses.
The detention made
Sameera very popular in her country. Masses joined hands to protest for her
freedom. The reaction made young military officers to topple the dictatorial
government of Danjuma. Although, no justification for military incursion in
governance, the coming of Brigadier Saleem Sa’ad paved way for Sameera to join
politics and win the seat of president, becoming the first female president in
Unity States.
In typical Hausa society of today, it is uncommon to have women
holding high ranking position of president or governor. But, Kallah’s book has trailed
the blaze in the crusade for gender inclusiveness and sensitivity. He
consciously defied social boundaries and borders, to create an ideal activist
in a woman. We will do well to acknowledge that even in conservative
environments, there are minds who are progressive. The author has shown
uncommon bravery in his campaign (See page 125).
Even
though it is uncommon in contemporary Hausa community to have females in high
ranking positions, history has it that women were served as queens in
traditional Hausa states in pre-colonial period, such as Daura and Zazzau where
Queens Daurama and Amina spur forth a whole socio-cultural stock and were also
known for valour. Noting this, Kallah has toed the path of Tendai Huchu, Dona
Kapelli and Kadir Nelson in their books “the hairdresser of Harare”.
Following this
socio-linguistic antecedence, it is not surprising that Kallah’s strong character
Sameera, was regarded as one of the most powerful female presidents that
attempted to actualise her vision of an economically and politically vibrant
African continent, like the USA. Sameera through her ambassador to Nigeria,
revived a strong diplomatic relation with Nigeria in order to help the country
get out of the trauma of poor leadership. Like an ideologue, Kallah craftily
lends his voice to the clamour for a United States of Africa. He did everything
to portray the possibility of collective African co-existence and co-operation.
I highly commend the
way Kallah attempts to change the view point of our world with the
sophistication of his thought. This could vividly be perceived in the speeches
made by president Sango and Sameera Junaid at African Union summit. Below is
excerpt of President Sango’s poignant speech:
“You
will believe me that the African continent is battling with security lapses,
while the world in this globalised era has opened new forms of understanding
and mutual relations. We ended in confrontations, conflicts and wars that have
never been in the history of Africa, similarly explosions and suicide attacks
that were never in our tradition, neither is the killing of innocent persons.”
(p. 166)
While Sameera’s speech
was proffering, inspiring and capable of restoring hope for the possible regain
of the lost glory of African continent, when they were living in peace with
less conflict as opposed to contemporary times. Hear her:
“The
world of globalisation shouldn’t be for hatred and war, but for multilateral relationships.
It could be linked with olden days when the mode of transaction was trade by
barter.” (p. 167)
All these are good
examples of where the writer has artfully presented a counter-perspective, a
realistic narrative on both continental situation and the measures for
overcoming problems bedevilling our nations. So doing, he has theorised and
sermonised by encouraging Africans to firstly look inward.
By Kallah’s powerful
depiction, the achievements of Sameera as a woman in a traditional Hausa Muslim
society would boost the morale of other women to emulate her, even the writer
has carefully modelled her as a role-model to many, thereby re-presenting
long-held perceptions that saw women as burden and disappointment by proving
them wrong. Even Junaid Hassan, the father of Sameera who previously referred to
his home full of girls as useless, regretted his actions and sought forgiveness.
Below is the repentant emotional outburst of Junaid Hassan.
“Sameera, I must cry. I too need
your forgiveness, my daughters. The way I treated you during your childhood was
bad, just because I thought to have a family of only women was disastrous...”(p.
77).
What
Kallah did here would definitely discourage people with such behaviour of
treating their female daughters badly. Children are all gifts of God
irrespective of their sexes. They should be treated equitably with fairness,
love, care and guidance.
Though
the Right Choice is set in an imaginary country, the narrative perfectly fits a
country like Nigeria that was colonised by Britain and later handed over to native
politicians. Nigeria just like Kallah’ imaginary country, is experiencing acute
corruption, social inequalities, and abuse of power and human right, for decades.
The country witnessed many military regimes and political governments, yet it
is still a sitting duck. The author, through his favourite characters, has done
a wonderful job of depicting his ideal state and ideal qualities.
It
is obvious that the book has made very good attempts to offer solutions to
economic, social and political crises. Kallah rightly believes that no nation thrives
when its leaders are corrupt, because he saw them as the root of evils that
will destroy the nation. He therefore advocates a standardisation of rules and
foreseen a time when punishments would be meted out without fear of favour. Without
doubt, Nigeria is currently experiencing such changes envisaged by the author.
The
present Nigerian government, as if reading from “The Right Choice” is fighting
corruption. Deviating from the usual, it is checking and questioning government
officials, charging them towards transparency and patriotism.
Kallah’s
work has successfully displayed the kinds of inhumanity that result from
causing political instability and economic difficulties. The book recommended
ways out, though the hard work of some of its key characters. This work is
unique from many other African writers in terms of style, plot and diction. The
book is therefore recommended to all categories of readers: to the young, for
the development of positive attitude; to the old, for reconsideration of ways;
to the poor, for a rekindling of hope; and for the rich/powerful, to boost
humanism and patriotism, in the ultimate knowledge that, in the end, it is
humanity that prevails.
Muhammad Abbas Liman is
staff of the Registry, Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached on bassleem@yahoo.com
