My Mode of Thinking

Image via Wikipedia By Muhammad KabirYusuf  The director of Centre for Hausa Cultural Studies, Kano , professor Abdallah Uba Adamu explained that the identity of Hausa man is a controversial issue which is not yet resolved and subject for continuing discussion among the stake holders. The professor who explained this while presenting his paper Hausa da Hausanci (Hausa and Hausanism) at the 1st international conference on Hausa literature and culture yesterday in the republic of Niger explained that the linguistic traits previously considered by the scholars to determine the identity of a Hausa man can no longer holds sway. This is because, according to him the most important thing to consider is what he termed ‘the core value of Hausa man’ which he believed gives Hausa man the inner sense of belonging and psychological proximity to the Hausa community as a whole. In response to the controversy, many scholars of internationally acclaimed standing discussed the identity issue of...

By Muhammad kabir Yusuf “Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant” From the word “Destination”, destiny means what we do, achieve or what happens to us in our lives, more especially the one that we cannot change no matter how we strive to. Destiny is believed to be the power behind the series of episodes in our lives. Mostly used with negative connotation, the word “fate” is sometimes used interchangeably with the word destiny. For example, it was his destiny that he lost his parents at a tender age and his fate that he remained uneducated. Against this background, one may assumed that this life is just like a movie, pre-recorded and being played back by the forces of destiny. The meaning one easily deduces from the above analogy is that; the success one attains in life is pre-determined by the forces of destiny and therefore, no amount of obstacles could otherwise be hindrance against one’s attainment of such success. It also implies that it will not only be useless bu...

By Muhammad Kabir Yusuf When last did you meet a personality of this calibre? The man, Abdalla Uba Adamu became a professor of Science Education in 1997 at the age of 41. He is now a cultural anthropologist, studying popular culture, media and Hausa society. He single-handedly developed internet journalism in Bayero University for which Mass Communication department of the university employed his services. From 2003 when he convened an International Conference on Hausa Home Video, he became internationally acclaimed authority in the field with a number of paper presentations in Germany and U.S.A. He is currently the director of Volkswagen Centre for Research. In this interview with Muhammad Kabir Yusuf, he explains how flexible his personality is which allows him to explore art, literature, popular culture and media. For quite a long time you have been a very good friend of popular culture. What is the history behind that? Well, the only history is that I have always been intereste...

I am not a good student of history. So, I would not know whether history brought together the popular queen Amina of Zazzau dynasty and the powerful queen ‘Yargoje popularly known as Algoje, in Algoje’s court room for the two to sign women empowerment treaty. That would have been a great plus to Hausa society for being the first in the modern history to had empowered women on the African soil. If proven positive, that must had taken place in the 14 th century , between 1310 and 1350 precisely when Algoje ruled Zamfara dynasty. What ever the historical truth might had been, the above was the last scene of the wonderful play performance named Algoje that formed part of the activities of the 27 th International Conventioin of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in the ancient city of Gusau , the state capital of Zamfara. On the evening of last Friday, the participants from all over the nation and highly placed personalities of Zamfara state gathered in the multipurp...

By Muhammad Kabir Yusuf B.M Dzukogi (aka kindirmo poet) is a writer, literary critic and activist and columnist. The writer of Kano to Ibadan by Road just produced a daringly bold title Sex is Beautiful which generated a lot of comment within the literary circles. LEADERSHIP's MUHAMMAD KABIR YUSUF reviews the book. Title: Sex is Beautiful Author: B. M. Dzukogi Pages: 71 Publisher: Kraft Book Ltd To start with, Dzukogi has basically two reasons for writing the pamphlet Sex is Beautiful. The two reasons are not sequential; the two reasons can not be numbered 1 and 2. Each of the two reasons is an independent number 1. They independently address two different issues. The first reason is an internal compelling urge towards uplifting the moral standards of our beloved country. In Dzukogi's words, "this pamphlet is... a quest to reverse the ills of our immediate environment". Where did this reason origin...

Before the JUSUN Strike, Nigerians witnessed a series of strikes by the staff members of different establishments and parastatals of government. ASUU Strike of 2003, which lasted for almost 7 months stood out for its uniqueness in the history of strike in Nigeria. Now that the giant ASUU seemed to be asleep, JUSUN is fully awake. In this piece, LEADERSHIP’S MUHAMMAD KABIR YUSUF traces the origin of the damaging but avoidable strike. In the wake of 1st December of this year, all the judicial establishments were closed, the gates of which were covered with leaves and branches of trees to symbolize strike. The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) ordered all its members to get off any official duty of the judiciary. This from that date crippled all the activities of one of the three arms of the government across the nation. A visit to the High Court and Sharia court of Appeal in Kano by LEADERSHIP revealed that the activities of the normally very busy places is minimized to someth...

Sa'idu Babura is a Professor of Oral literature with special interest on Northern Nigeria literature. An academic staff member of the department of English and French of Bayero University, Babura taught Northern Nigeria literature not only in Nigeria but also in Germany during his sabbatical leave. In this interview with MUHAMMAD KABIR YUSUF, Babura comments on the recent rennaisance of northern literature including the international conference on northern literature hosted by Bayero University Would you like to shade some light on the background of this conference? The department of English and French in 1988 called a meeting and collectively decided that literature in Northern Nigeria is an area of research and cause that ought to be promoted. In the same year the department hosted the conference on literature in Northern Nigeria two years later, we hosted the second one on the same topic. In those conferences, many scholars have in Bayero University and Ahmadu Unive...

From the way ANPP Governors are decamping back to PDP, it is tempting to think that Nigerian democracy is heading towards single party democracy. For the clarification about this, LEADERSHIP’s MUHAMMAD KABIR YUSUF discusses with a member of the inner caucus of the ANPP honourable Ibrahimn Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila. A two term member of the house of representative and currently the deputy minority leader in the house, Kawu says it all about the future of ANPP and Nigerian democracy at large. Excerpts  Honourable, how comfortable are you with the judgment of the Supreme Court over the 2007 presidential election dispute ? Well, I am very much comfortable since the Supreme Court is the last resort for the common man. The thing is that what ever judgment comes from the supreme count we must accept it. This is irrespective of whether the judgment pleases us or not. The way the judgment is passed is encouraging. It portrays the improvement in the judicial sector. Three out the seven ...

Originally posted on dandalin-siyasa@yahoogroups.com By MUHAMMAD KABIR YUSUF HAMDANI   I have been a member of this group for a number of months now. But I have been a passive member. For all along, I have been observing what is going on in here without daring to contribute. The recently heated Shi'a-Sunna debate has honestly kept me interested. Even if not for the concept discussed, but at least, for the mere fact that an intellectual exercise is going on here. As this exercise is going on, other members of the group further intellectualized the discourse by questioning the moral credibility of the debate. Whether it is proper to discuss religion in a politically inclined group is the furtherance of the already existing intellectual activity. While all these are going on, I still decided to maintain my silence, even though, it is tempting to say something even when one doesn’t have a meaningful contribution to make. When a member made a posting on Fa...

Title: OH, ME! Author: Nafisah Ahmad Sulaiman Publisher: Informat publishers Reviewer: Muhammad Kabir Yusuf (El- Hamdani) Email: mkyhamdani@yahoo.com , mkyhamdani@gmail.com E. E. Sule believed that "Women writers in Nigeria have been accused of exploring feministic themes excessively at the expense of literary aesthetics". At the individual level, none of the Nigerian women writers from Zaynab Alkali to Chimamanda escaped the accusation of the literary critics of being feminist. Now that this new title OH, ME! came our way, are we to expect the arrival of yet another feminist into the community of the Nigerian literary works? The answer to this question seemed negative. For what we are encountered with, within the covers of this new title is more than a feministic theme. It is a general survey of life with multifaceted strata.At best, the play written by Nafisah is more than an attempt to produce a literary masterpiece, but also to redefine the moral burden attached to li...