Tribute: Bashir Tofa and His Eight Books by Wale Okediran

 

TRIBUTE:  BASHIR TOFA AND HIS EIGHT BOOKS BY WALE OKEDIRAN

 

It was raining when I drove into Kano on that sultry day in June.

 

 All through the six hour journey from Abuja, the weather had remained bright and clear except for a mild shower in Zaria and later at Dokomaya, a

dusty roadside hovel some distance to Kano.

Then suddenly, as I approached Kura, a few kilometres into the ancient and historic city, the heavens opened up.

 

 With the rain, the usually congested Kano traffic was now clear of the ubiquitous motorbike riders popularly known in the city as ‘yan acaba’. The hot weather which had thrown the city into an unprecedented heat wave the previous week had remarkably gone down.

 

Expectedly, the rain also prevented the usually boisterous almajirai (almajiri) from ploughing their begging trade on the streets.

 

 Instead, I could see them on a roadside clearing playing soccer, their begging bowls littering the margins of the makeshift football field like miniature spectators.

 

 And as I observed their frail, supple limbs dance over a football in movements that would have made Austin Okocha green with envy, I thought to call the attention of the Green Eagles’ coach, Shuaibu Amodu, in case he needed fresh feet for his already aging team.

 

I had come to Kano in my position as the President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), on the invitation of the organising committee of the launch of Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa’s eight books, all written in Hausa.

 

 While Tofa’s reputation as a former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republic Convention (NRC) and a successful Kano businessman were well established, his position as an author was not that well defined.

 

 Rumour even had it that the book launch was actually a prelude for the politician-cum-writer to re- launch his political career.

 

As if to support this claim, the vicinity of the Sani Abacha Stadium venue of the event was in a carnival mood with drummers, praise singers, party faithfuls and pick pockets having their day.

 

 The praise singers were so ebullient that they could even be seen assisting some politicians to fold their flowing manyan riguna (babbar riga) while at the same time heaping praises on them. “You will soon become Nigeria’s President, while your wife will become a Senator,” one praise singer could be heard serenading an obviously impressed

politician.

 

The indoor sports hall of the stadium was packed with politicians of all cadres, traditional rulers and all forms of uniformed security agents - the police, soldiers, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the green uniformed state security outfit, Hisba. The Hisba was originally conceived to arrest violators of the Shari’ah law.

 

 Apart from guarding the dignitaries at the occasion, the security personnel were also detailed to protect the trunks of money expected to be made from the book launch.

 

I was later introduced to the author who appeared very relaxed and full of smiles in spite of the pressures of the big event.

 

In a brief interaction, Alhaji Tofa explained that he decided to write in Hausa because of his strong belief that using the English language to teach has a negative consequence on the learning process.

 

 It was his assertion that local languages be encouraged in schools as children easily get more knowledge in their native languages.

The roll call of dignitaries at the event was quite impressive.

 

Apart from the Emir of Kano, whose arrival was announced with booming gun shots, Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, Alhaji Maitama Sule, Professor Shehu Galadanci, the representatives of the governors of Edo and Katsina states, Federal, State and LG legislators among others were at the well organised and colourful ceremony.

 

 More importantly, I was quite impressed with the prompt arrival of the VIPs.

 

The whole event did not take more than the scheduled two hour duration.

 

With Tofa’s eight books: Tunaninka Kamanninka (The Way You Think Reflects in Your Character), Kimiyyar Sararin Samaniya (Space Science), Kimiyya da Al’ajaban Al-Kur’ani (The Science and Wonders of the Qur’an), Gajerun Labarai (Short Stories), Amazadan a Birnin Aljanu (Amazadan in the Land of the Spirits), Amazadan da Zoben Farsiyas (Amazadan and Farsiya’s Ring), Rayuwa Bayan Mutuwa (Life After Death), and Mu Sha Dariya (Let Us Laugh), Hausa literature has garnered a very wide acceptance across the society.

 

As good as this development sounded, there still remained for the African, nay the Nigerian writer the urgent need to answer that nagging question of “the language issue.” While the idea of writing solely in one’s native language seemed patriotic, the problem was getting the critical mass of readers to make the exercise worth while.

 

In 1986, after the Kenyan Writer, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o had declared that he would henceforth only write in his mother tongue, Gikuyu, he was forced to revert to the English language when he could not garner the expected reading audience he wanted.