SECURE NORTH (1)

-November 29, 2020

By Aliyu Ibrahim

The last time I googled Borno state on my phone what I saw flabbergasted me, the pictures were breathtaking: corpses and homeless individuals running for survival or camped in the bush. These have never been the kind of pictures one would see back in the day when farming, mining and other business were flurishing in the state. Borno state has now turned to a war zone, and dead end to innocent, arm-less civilians.

Yestarday, 43 innocent hardworking farmers were beheaded in Zabarmari by the famous terrorist, Boko Haram in some approximately 20 kilometers away from Maiduguri, the capital of the state. Their offence was only being civil and law abiding. They were the same Muslims the marauders are claiming to fight for.

Boko Haram war has never been about Islam or Islamizing the country, but to bring mass destruction and inflict hunger and hardship to the lives of innocent citizens. And most of whom are the same Muslims, who embraced the same faith with the terrorists. Allah (SWT) says that a single life of a believer is better than anything on earth. But terrorists who supposedly fight for the course of the same God are destroying His most valuable creatures.

Arewa is tolerating. The blow is too much on the region with so many insecurity challenges at hand and the government whose primary job is to protect lives are virtually asleep. Lives should not be wasted this way. Majority of Nigerians are angry; so angry and disappointed that they see the government as evil as the terrorist themselves.

When a government fails to protect its citizens, and refused to step down, people naturally see it responsible for its inactions to swiftly make every life counts. For this reason and others not mentioned, Buhari's administration which was seen and perceived as the only option to secure the entire region from insecurity before 2015 as a historic failure in the country's democracy. And many wish the President to step down.

Being alive and have a territory secured is not a privileged but a mandate mandated on the shoulders of the government. Northerners will never forget this. History will always be written and rewritten that a northerner in power has more blood of his brothers in his hands.

Re: How Polygamy Can #SecureNorth: In Defense of Dr. Idris CUPPS

-November 28, 2019

By Aliyu Ibrahim

Dr. Idris Ahmed's sopportive view on Datti Assalafy's way of using polygamy to deter banditry and kidnapping is as cunningless and as unwitty as saying voting for a rich politician in Nigeria is the only way of curving corruption and public fund theft in the country.  Even though there is a correlation between having a high libido in the absence of sexual satisfaction, polygamy alone is never an option for the psychopath and their marauding actions.

Few questions need to be considered before airing a view like this. That:

1. Is there any scientific hypothesis that says inadequate or lack of sexual satisfaction leads to domestic violence i.e. joining banditry etc.?

2. Why is that peaceful country like Germany and the-like don't practice polygamy but have lower if not zero cases of such aforementioned domestic violence?

3. Is there any evidence of sanity and social security in the lives of those who adopt polygamy way better than those without it?

In a multicultural and religious diversified country like Nigeria where the country is practically divided into north and south; each shares distinct socioreligious differences. Going by Dr. Ahmed's view, northern Nigeria needs polygamy more than the south. Why? It is absolutely hilarious that northerners' solution to insecurity is lack of sexual satisfaction. Even with that bases of baseless justification, many of the perpetrators are married.

Polygamy doesn't make the Middle East countries Dr. Ahmed mentioned as "peaceful" nations but institutionalized religious laws which are exercised without double standard or prejudice. They are also still not peaceful in the meantime, but let's save that for another discussion. In Nigeria for instance, northern Islamic dominated cities like Kano and Sokoto have numerous cases of rape and adultery committed by polygamous men. Some are still visiting brothels or hosting their harlots at their private lodges.

Book Haram and other terrorist group don't only rape virgins or single women, they copulate with anything in the skirt they come across. As he said:

"The only solution to this is to marry all the remaining women as additional wives so that when bandits reach the villages and towns they will not commit “zina” with any of them because they’ll find them married. They know raping a married woman attracts stoning to death as penalty."

Between killing an innocent life and committing "zina" which sin is more gravious in the eyes of Allah? These people kill, maim and cause massive destruction[s] without giving a second thought.

And if men are to marry all the remaining single ladies in northern Nigeria with the poorest economy at hand, what will be the fate of the next generation children that will be produced?

Nonetheless, sexual satisfaction is very important to a man. Science has aslo proven that as well. Becoming a terrorist due to lack of it is baseless and clueless and shouldn't be given as a tangible reason. Even the terrorist will never hearken this silly idea. Nigeria's insecurity has to do with bad governance since independence. Both the government and religious scholars have a great task to dealing with it.

SO IT'S NEVER WRONG TO WEAR HIJAB IN PROTEST?

This is Aisha Yesufu, an activist who's always at forefront of any kind of protest organized to draw attention. For me, she's just an attention seeker and a noisemaker who gives priority to seek the attention of the media either for self gratification or humanity; that's her cup of tea.

I'm not saying my view about her or rather the intention of this write-up isn't to center on her personality but to look at the conception of hijab by overly majority of non-Muslim southerners.

The word hijab is an Arabic word which means to cover, or something that covers another thing. It simply means a woman to cover her body from others to see her figures in order to protect lechers and amoral persons from their evil plot. If I may, it's a way of protecting the dignity of a woman. There is no specifiable kind of hijab for women to wear in Islam. Wearing such hijab doesn't harm any other person and will not hinder her from doing what she wants.

We have seen many non-Muslim southerners try so hard to fight hijab for public servants, like the recent lawyer, Firdaus Amasi (in the above picture) who was discriminated for appearing in hijab. I still can remember how the schools I woked for here in Kaduna vehemently fought hijab as though it's something that will stop the students from learning or tarnish the image of the school. A principal who I debated in 2017 once told me students with hijab looked dull!

Now that Aisha Yesufu wanted to join the EndSARS campaign to end police brutality which is measuredly championed by southerners, they didn't even see her hijab as something weird or bad to be in their midst. She has become a heroine and an example of how a hijab Muslim participated in the course. That's not just amazing but surprising even though someone who knows Nigeria pretty well knows that she (and her hijab) could also be rejected after the peaceful protest ends.

This will teach you one lesson, those fighting the hijab don't have any reasonable reason doing so, constitutionally or religiously but ethno-religious sentiment. It is never about south or north; Islam or Christianity, its about Nigeria which is bigger than everyone's opinion.

It's hight time we stand against religious indiscrimination with a concise & educational debates to make those with bad thing about others' religion understand that in a country like Nigeria, everyone is entitled to exercise and enjoy section-4 of the constitution.

THE THING FOR SECURITY CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH

Even though the spirit of togetherness is lively and almost all concerned youth are awake, and social media space or cyber space in the north is regurgitating with #SecureNorth, #EndNorthBanditry etc. to show how important it is for the government to respond to surging security challenges in the region, that doesn't stop the cancer of sectarian bigots to lunch their missiles. We have to be blunt about it. We cannot keep quite to things that are more threatening to us than what we already have on the table.

The biggest enemy or threat is having those around you who are always not ready to stand for you, that is, they are armed to teeth against anything positive you're so keen to achieve.

Northern youth are divided into: either educated and opportunist or illiterates and ignorant, not to even mention of religious fanatics. These are set of citizens that are naive to their dreams or to the dreams of their mentors. Nonetheless, the escalation of insecurity across the region and it pains almost overpowered the egocentrism and fanaticism to the level that even those who have not engaged themselves in the campaign have the slightest patriotism in them that says "it's a good job!".

We shouldn't be angry with those who don't want to join the campaign or wish bad for it, rather try as much as humanly possible to woo them through convincing ways, with some illustrative examples of the menace and the benefits of doing so. Thank God, insecurity has touched almost every community of the north, one doesn't need to stress himself/herself trying to make others understand the kind of grave danger every northerners is in.

Promises are made by the government. The failure of the previous administration to curve insurgency was what paved way for Buhari and APC into power. Now that BH are only "tactically defeated", kidnapping and banditry are added to the already pressing challenges, not to mention of the long five (5) years promises and patience the citizens exercise, the change must come. That change is yet to be seen, not even its glimpse.

The government must act as it is supposed to. They are not doing their citizens any favour, it's their duty as employees. Security is not privilege; is the right of the citizens. All you need to do is to post, tag and share so that the cyber space will automatically be our voices. 

While we continue to campaign for a better and secured North, we shouldn't forget to pray hard. And never for any reason risk your life, we need you all alive.

"SPEECHLESS SPEECH"

After what seemed a century wait for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the country to address Nigerians on the situation at hand about how exactly the surging of peaceful protest particularly in southern Nigeria will be curbed, Mr. President delivered what a famous Kannywood star, Adama Zango called "speechless speech". I will briefly digest on the speech and the rhetoric of the phrase used by the celebrity. Enjoy.

First of all, addressing a nation in a chaotic state like this where hoodlums have hijacked a peaceful protest and the social media influencers and angry educated citizens are fueling the remorse course, it becomes not only important but exigent for something convincing to tame the hearts of the citizens.

The protest was divided into two: #EndSARS which is basically about the police brutality in Southern Nigeria and #SecureNorth, demands for proper security checkups and reforms for a better country. Both the aim of the protests is to remind the government of its duty to protect the lives of innocent and obedient citizens. Along the line, the former was hijacked and was turned to vandalism and barbarism, murder and extortion, not to mention of ethno-religious sentiments in disguise.

Angry politicians, attention seekers, social media warriors known as influencers, fake news, media houses have all played a vital role  to avail the acceleration of protest which metamorphose into deadly riot. Poor military intervention in Lagos was absolutely a sweet sour action, for it is undeniably grody and sinister to kill unarmed citizens. The government must not only take responsibility but bring those officers to book and compensate the deceased.

Buhari's speech doesn't really address the nation about the current situation and proper measures taken to ensure it stops, not to even  mention of his negligence and carelessness about northern youth who fought, sacrificed their money, time and lives to bring him to power in 2015. It is clear that he doesn't give a damn about the north and his promises on insecurity were just as empty as the speech presented. No single statement to northerners, not even condolences to the lives lost recently in Zamfara state.

Nigerians asked for speech and they have got it. 

Adam A. Zango, just like any other important figure in the movie industry may coin a word that can make it through the country's English mainstream. Nothing is wrong with the phrase as it can both be alliteration and personification at the same, trying to show how empty the speech is.

Farouq Kperogi wrote: Pierre Bourdieu has written brilliantly on this in his book titled Language and Symbolic Power. And because ‘standard’ usage norms often reflect the biases and arbitrary social conventions of the ruling intellectual, cultural, and political elites in any given epoch, the norms usually change in the course of time.

You can read more in my comment box on how elites and other important figures can change or contribute to language faster than you expected.

YOUR LIFE; THEIR LIVES

One thing that is more important in this beautiful chaotic world is the fact that no matter how less important you assume others to be, their lives may be far more important to you than you even think. Life it all about mutual relationship that is intertwined like a chain, in such a way that we affect one another directly or indirectly; whether we like it or not.

Nigeria is gradually losing its food with only few people noticing it or taking a minute to observe it, not even the government that wants to switch the gear of the national economy to farming and abolish importation. 

Farmers that are meant to feed the nation are dying either in the hands of bandits or cattle rustlers, and many of them are losing their hard-earned money as ransom to kidnappers. The rendition has been normalized with innocent citizens in the north losing more than enough and those who are entrusted to protect and save them from this holocaust are enjoying their tea somewhere; they are only good at sending condolences and making empty promises.

Now that the threat has gone to almost every grazing community with so much examples of casualties, farmers have lost interest in the only means of livelihood they know and learn to lean on.

Whenever you enjoy your jollof rice, remember that those the fate of the rice lies on their shoulders are getting killed with you doing nothing, not even a tweet or a post or share to make it trend so that they will at least, have a peace of mind in their thatched roof muddy houses. The presidency is only working base on report given to them, we must feed them with the reality at hand.

#SecureNorth

#EndNorthBanditry

#ArewaIsBleeding

(1) THE ABSURDITY OF UNIVERSITY REPRESENTATION IN KANNYWOOD SERIES, LABARINA

This is s short review on a single theme from the series where I will discuss on how negatively and colourless university is presented and why it is important for Hausa movie industries to be wary on the perception of viewers on tertiary education. Enjoy.

The Kannywood series, "Labarina" which is weekly viewed on the most populous Arewa-24 every Monday that has captured the minds of many viewers being it first of it kind by one of the best Hausa movie directors, Aminu Saira. Having famous movie stars, including Nafisa Abdullahi as Sumayya who is the heroine and the storyline carefully revolves around her makes it more interesting and intriguing. The complexity of the situation the leading character is placed in, jumping from one huddle to another, having different set of characters confusing her is quite acclamating. Even though a teenager, her caring mother and naivety of being real justify the development of the plot.

Presido, as a villain is also a student in the university who is the only child in his family and an apple in his father's eyes, a former Minister of Defence. Apart from being unserious in his academics, he is quite a notorious element who moves around with a gun in the school premises and has a history of killing two people—not to even mention of his expulsion from an American university. That makes him a renown murderer. He threatens any student that crosses his path and brutalizes anyone that confronts him or his dream girl as seen in a scene where student union meeting held, and again where Sumayya mistakenly stumbled on someone, and the person insulted her. No university on earth will accommodate that just because his father is a donor.

Notwithstanding, other characters in the story like Laila, the daughter of a Minister of Petroleum is overrated and is seen with her female friends moving around in an abominable way. Even though she loves Mahmud so much that she wants to woo him by all means, Arewa ladies don't really have a taste for sport, not even snooker which is not a major one in the region. It seems the ladies in the story know the game so well and adore it, that is why Laila wanted to organize a competition by the help of Mahmud and Excellency. It would have been better if it were another game which fascinates most of the students and is well known even amongst the females students.

In another scene, Excellency enters a class where the lecturer sent away Sumayya for coming to the class late and begs the lecturer on her behalf. Tough lecturer like that cannot be easily convinced by an ordinary dream guy like Excellency in just few sentences; Nigerian lecturers will surely relate on this. How English language is handled should also be given concentration; many English words are pronounced in a laughable way, with the bi-libial and labio-dental phonetic mispronunciations of "f"-"p" which teachers have been battling with the students against.

The storyline about how the university or any tertiary institution is should be well checked and have proper consultation before making it on the screen. In a period where the north is battling to match with the other part of the country on education and increase rapidly on girl child education, presentation like this will surely discourage many parents. Movies as part of literature is a representation of reality, unless it is a fairy tale or science fiction. And most of the Kannywood movies I watched present tertiary institution in a contrary way it is, with so much amoral behaviours and actions that are not true to the fact. May be, it's a direct reflection on the southern Indian movies where violence is championed even at academic environ.

The reason I write on this topic is because of the outcome or result of interview I held with some parents who have zero knowledge about tertiary education and have negative view about it base on the Hausa movies they have watched. Many parents, specifically women who watch Hausa movies well panic to allow their daughters attend any tertiary institution, thinking that it is another unstable way of desolating their traditional and religious upbringing.

Thus, apart from the few hitches I have mentioned above, the series is well articulated and presented and I hope the Producer[s], Director and the production crew will consider constructive criticism. Literature shapes the way people think and it is a mirror of life, reflecting how exactly a situation is. It is a new day for the Hausa movie industry to match up with other movie industries and bring something new for the viewers.