Shokorology: Definition, Theory and Practice

By

 Abubakar Sulaiman Muhd

26/03/2013

 Many sociologists, thinkers and philosophers have tried to capture and explain the concept of Shokorology. Shokorology as a social phenomenon is a topic that has direct relationship with the study of interaction and relationship between individuals on campus.

         

Shokorology, in general terms, means relaxation and enjoyment of life. Shokorology can also be defined as a way of academic life in which students on campus enjoy their life by  devoting much of their time and attention to the pleasurable activities rather than the studies itself. It is away of academic life whereby students engage in certain activities they can derive pleasure and comfort from, and by displaying certain fashionable characters and appearance that will impress others.

Students with the belief in shokorology must be attending every resting point, joints and other amusement parks on campus where male and female students gather to interact freely for the enjoyment of themselves without internal disturbances and interference from the school authority or other external forces like Hisbah.

However, students in shokoro can be attending all their necessary lectures but have nothing to do with library except in some special and emergency cases, i.e. when exam is around the corner or they are given assignment finding information in books that can only be found in the library. This does not necessarily mean that students practicing shokorology are not serious, smart, intelligent and obedient. Shokorologists are brilliant and obedient to the rules of the college. Only that they devote much of their time to shokorology during day time to the extent that they can’t have spare time to read their books while on in school but do reading their notes with much concentration  at home after school hours.

While at resting point, joint or park, a shokorologist can buy dish and refreshment to all fellow shokoroloigts when he or she has has money in their pocket. But in the case when a student is in broke, that is no story,  she  or he can enjoy in the pain of the pocket of their friends. In reciprocation, put differently, when their friends have no money they can buy them dish and refreshment in return of the gesture they did to them when they were in the same condition of financial break down.

When a group of friends is in short of money or have no money at all, they can still derive comfort while watching others enjoy, a kind of existential or notional shokorology. Another swap means of maximizing pleasure is that students can kill time by engaging with the opposite sex in animated conversation on various aspects of social life ranging from school life, hobby, favourite dish, colour, books, movies, TV show, travelling, and other life experience as well as sharing ideas and views about their individual perception on the concept of love. 

During time-out or free hours, students usually come to the centre passageway of the college to sit and watch the world go by as students move to and from all directions. For male students in such sitting, their discussion centers on assessing the most impressive and attractive lady. A lady who among all the girls, wears the most attractive and flattering clothes and knows how best to apply them to match on her body with an acute consciousness to catch the attention of the guys.  For a lady to be chosen as the most fashionable and attractive, she must be a girl with high-level passion and deep desire in make-up, using a lot of cosmetics such as talcum powder, creams, ring, earring, necklace, perfume and costume, all of them working together to bring the unity of her face.

In this assessment, the look of the face counts a little. The main consideration and criterion set as a standard to qualify a girl win the position of a Lady of the College,  is her matching appearance. A girl wearing a red clothes, blue headscarf, and black shoes will have little chances, or no chance at all, in winning the coveted post. A lady who wears purple dress, violet scarf and shoes and holds a matching bag can easily win the position especially if she knows how to swing her body while she walks and opens her cleavage and the beauty of her face for others to see and appreciate. Another considerable factor is the way and manner in which she controls her voice with tantalizing pauses and delay, and by way of putting sweet phrases here and there in her speech. Such lady is what the guys usually referred to as ‘Babbar yarinya.’

         

Female students on the other hand are not left behind. They also form their own group to discuss and assess the most handsome and attractive guy. Unlike guys, ladies usually consider some attributes with which they choose the Boy of the College. A boy chosen appears to be tall, mesomorph, light-complexioned, and a Fulani-like with smooth shiny hair who always happens to be clean even if he is not brilliant. One important thing is, he must be unserious, playful and full of humor or else he might end serving as academic bodyguard. The girls don’t like someone with hefty ideas and too formal and serious.

The belief is that a boy with smooth and shiny hair is a seed in their life that can make them yield babies especially girls that will grow to have long and smooth hair, as the penchant for long hair is always gaining ground in the society. It is value-adding to have a light-skinned friend if you are pitch black. Unless you are hopeless and resign that you will always be rejected, but even that you can  consider having an open hand and pretend to be gullible. Girls will troop to share in the spoil. Also pretend to not know any bad words they would say about you, they will abuse you behind your back.

         

Types of Shokorology

There are broadly two types of shokorology: absolute shokorology and limited shokorology.

Absolute Shokorology

This is a situation where students engage and submit  themselves absolutely  to shokorology, neck deep. Their life seems to be made for the purpose, having no other concern in their mind or subject of discussion than shokoro activities. In this type of shokorology, students ask around and ferret out, seeking out information on any event taking place or going to take place with full detail as to when where, who and who among the ladies and girls will attend the show.

Shokorologists  have an extreme desire for attending parties and are normally those who love taking pictures, are at all the time at the forefront of any social events if not organizers.

On the campus they don’t attend all their lectures that truly concern them. They rather perambulate, malinger and regurgitate lackadaisically around the spots where girls are known to be found, and vice versa. In case they attend a lecture, it can be in another department different from their own and definitely it must be to the accompaniment of watching ladies only to concentrate on their phones doing 2go, facebook, twitter, Whatsup, Nimbuz and BBM etc.  

They don’t come to school on the official hours and sometimes play the game of truancy unless if they have an appointment with a lady whom they really want to see and have to comply with her directives to hang around, killing time up till she finishes all her lectures of the day.

In many cases, they take long time without crossing the threshold the school gate and when they do, they don’t come with their bags or take some portion of their books or any other learning materials. Rather, they come single handedly. While at home after school they go clubbing instead of reading the poor lessons they receive from the school.

As to the ladies, they practice virtually all the habits of their male partners. The only difference is that such ladies come to school regularly and are coming to school even during holiday just to keep to some appointments they made with their guys. In schools  that offer hostel facilities, such students prefer to remain on campus during holiday to going to their homes.

In their talks with guys, obscene words and lewd statements dominate their conversation which more often leads to fondling, touching and the big enjoyment, you know. They are confident, upbeat and unpretentious, they aren’t shy of anybody. The less confident can use veil at night and invite a man into their Hijab.

Out of school environment, they maintain their relationship with their partners where they can meet at a rendezvous when they get titillated to exhaust their lust. This type of shokorology is meant for the class of students termed as “first class big boys and first class big.”

Limited Shokorology

In this type, students make the balance of shokorology and studies. Playing all the game of chatting, attending parties, gamboling around but careful of lectures and conscious of the purpose of their presence at school on the belief that without education all the pleasure of life will remain elusive. They attending all their lectures and take with them their books to read them at home. Students map their ways of deriving comfort and pleasure to some certain limits. They believe that school is a place of learning while home is a place for revising and duly studying what they take from the college.

Unlike students practicing absolute shokorology, this class of shokorologists doesn’t go clubbing and even on campus, they struggle to remain consistent with their religion and culture or attempt to reconcile the two with the social engagements. According to shokorogy theorist, students falling into this category are classified as social ustaz, very shy to do things freely because of the judgmental eyes and having lack immoral courage. The extreme of their decadency stops at the words of mouth where you can hear them say some phrases like ‘za ka ji dadinta. You will enjoy it. Za ka ci amfaninta. You will benefit from it.’ In as much as school hour is over they just abandon any shokoro activity.

These kinds of students are those who relax at school and study hard at home. Sometimes other students in the college look forward to their failure in the exam but strike their opponent with great surprise because after the result is released they emerge with flying colour and fascinating performance. This group of students is termed as “second class Big Boys and Girls.”

NB

Many young adults give the excuse that they enjoy their life in their young ages so as to avoid doing remedial of the shokoro in their their oldhood. It is equally important to know that, according to IBK, those who work hard and read a great deal of books are rewarded with important positions in the society. So the more effort you made the more reward you receive. As the same case with farmer, the more committed and dedicated he becomes to his farm the more and better yield he would cultivate. But no matter the amount of rain and fertilizer, he would not harvest the good yield if he is reneged to his farming responsibility.    

      

Factors Determining Shokorology

There are factors that determine the involvement of students into shokorology among which include:

1.     Financial status:- Income position of a student determines his/her behaviour to accept or reject shokorology. A student with high income status tends to incline to shokorology more than a student with meager income though some students endure to indulge in shokorology despite their financial strain.

2.     Family background: - Most of students who come from the hygienic family usually engage in shokoro activities as they appear always clean, than those who come from lesser hygienic background since the solid foundation upon which the concept stands is cuteness and smartness.

3.     Impression and personal interest:- A student who prior to his/her presence on  campus who may have no interest in shokorology can now develop the it especially if they find those pals  who are practicing it so impressively attractive. Or in many cases, students doing shokorology have already planned in their mind while they are at home before getting admission that they  engage in shokoro when they come on campus.

4.     Peer group:- The type of the associates a student meets in the school will greatly influence their  conduct. A student can be financially and comfortably off and might even come from hygienic family but may not have the pulse in shokoro. But if s/he meets friends who cherish the idea of shokorology s/he can be gradually influenced to buy the idea of the concept and develop the habit in their mind and later on to begin to demonstrate it physically.

5.     Level of socialization:- Students who already have the opportunity to socialize with others in the past or having past experience of associating with different people even with  their relatives at home, have the tendency to continue in the same line which they have become familiar with. Such students are usually gregarious who always want to share their world with others and do exhibit the habit of confidently socialization with the opposite sex.

Advantage

1.    One of the advantages of shokorology is that it gives pleasure, merriment, jollification and comfort.

2.    It is nourishing and refreshing.

3.    It does away with physical and mental stress since different sexes involve in mingling and interaction through the course of conversation and discussion.

4.    It promotes amity between male and female students hence socialization exists without gender discrimination.

5.    It is educative since the persons involved share views and ideas about social issues and other life experiences.

6.    It refreshes students’ brains to allow them comprehend the lectures clearly than those who do not participate in shokoro since the old saying ‘always work and no play made jack a dull boy.

7.    It encourages the performance of hygiene among students

Disadvantages

Every advantage has its disadvantage, shokorology as a social phenomenon has its own side effects.

1.    It encourages extravagant and imprudent spending of resources.

2.    It serves as a cult group.

3.     It encourages the spread of immoral activities such as homosexual, lesbianism, and fornication.

4.    It also promotes nefarious acts such as stealing and pilferage.

5.    Student may cheat their parent by increasing or claiming false academic expenses to supplement his/her shokoro expenditure.

6.    Students are likely to develop cavalier attitude or might forget the primary purpose of their presence in school especially if they become deeply involved in the art of shokorology.

7.    It is wasting time since the students must not meet again after leaving the college during the end of their programme.

8.    It creates nuisance e.g. music will be coming into the classrooms .

9.    There is a great risk of loss involved in attending party and other social event while lecture is in progress.

10.                        Shokorologists are seen in the society as defiants of the society if their activities deviate from the norms of the society which they belong to. For example it is deviation in Hausa community to intermingle between male and female overwhelmingly beyond plausible reason even among close relatives.

11.                       Shokorologist are very tricksters as they don’t tell heir friends that they read at home. This tricky attitude makes some members suffer a lot in the examination hall by looking at the ceiling or chewing the tail end of their pen since they don’t read and  know what to write on their answer sheet. The worst of it is that such students are always at the receiving end and are likely to face the hazard of withdrawal for poor performance in the exams or caught attempting exam malpractice.

By and large, due to the nature of shokorology as to its advantage and disadvantage, it is some times good and up to the student to make a careful consideration of the factors surrounding him or her, be ready to take responsibility of the consequence of their action, in making decision as to accept or reject shokorology practice or making the balance of the two. But all is depending upon the circumstances of economic and mindset of an individual.     

Social Media in Our Environment

 

Social Media in Our Environment

By

Abubakar Sulaiman Muhd

24/03/2013

After a long-haul period of transformation from age to age and from generation to generation and from century to century, modern scientific innovation and technological advancement have now catapulted us into the world of information age. The existence of social networking sites such as You Tube, My Space, Blog, Yahoo, Twitter, and Facebook etcetera, is playing a vital role in the act of collecting and disseminating information around the world.

          The decorum and decoration of events, the memory and memorization of occurrences, the growth and development   of economy, the history and literature of a society are all now within the spectrum of capturing events, through writing ordinarily or in journalistic form or rather in collecting them and sharing them with others in whatever form  through mass medium, and in this case social media since it is the easiest means that we have greater access to interact with others in distant places from our environment.

          The existence of modern means of communication devices capable of working multimedia application such as smart phones allows us chance much more than using only social media to interact with others but also making media houses to redirect to adaptation of participatory media system via creation of some special programmes that accommodate call-in from the people at home, receiving instant messages and eye-witness account of event to ease collecting and disseminating news around the universe.

          Audience participatory media or street journalism such as user’s comment attached to news, personal blog, photo or video footage from mobile phone or camera or local news written by a local resident of a particular community is all the integral part of the imperative factors that play in shrinking the world to a global village in terms of sharing information in a great velocity from different angles of the world. A person can snap a photo of newsworthy event happening in local area or videotape or missiving it and post it in online sites for others to read them and form their views about them.

          In 2004 when the 9.1 magnitude underwater earthquake caused a huge tsunami in Indonesia, news and footages of the event came from street journalists. During 9/11 attack, eye-witness account of the event was gathered from social media. During the recent and going-on Arab spring that ousted some rulers, the heavy crackdown and brutality against humanity and other war crimes committed were widely broadcast through social media. Likewise the coverage of the shameful irregularities committed during 2011 Nigerian election was culled from social media. A study conducted in the UK and the USA explored that by the year 2021 50% of news will be coming from social media.

           Not only news sharing, social media safeguards the rights of the citizens since miscreant security agents are afraid of  publicity, even though the persons working in the field might not necessarily be professional practitioners. But still being them not professional is not a ground to condemn them for they are helpful and principle of human right protection welcomes them. Here are some instances that I will raise later to auger right my argument.

          State enacts labyrinth of laws to suit the interest of specific people, like law of sedition which tends to restrict the right of a journalist to talk about some issues pertaining public affairs capable of generating protest or hatred against the government.  No matter how officials mismanage the affairs; the law prevents any person from questioning the reason why the public matters appear to be wrongly treated. For instance, here in Nigeria the law prohibits any person to tell the citizens that officials stole money from the state Foreign Reserved Account during 2011 election, and to enlighten people to protect their vote during election. Because it happened that government officials accused Buhari and his associates like Buba Galadima of being rubble-rousers - of their statements that say ‘cast your votes, protect it and fight for it when it is denied’; which according to the officials’ misconception, their words calculated to be sedition in humbug and dirty political language of ignorant politicians; caused the post election violence in some states in northern part of the country.

           To neutralize this self-protecting law that immunes the national rats to continue with impunity stealing the countries’ resources silently or in what Sam Nda-Isaiah calls as turn-to-turn stealing of the state’s resources, social media limits the scope of the law itself. Its strength is invincible, it protests against such laws that aim at curtailing freedom of expression against the undoings of kleptomaniac public office holders. Users of social media express whatever opinion they have about the public affairs of their society no matter how it would turn out to be to the officials. Backing them is the identity protection they enjoy guaranteed by the cyberspace. In fact social journalism tends to provide a flow of news and stories that are crude and unedited, unlike in formal media organizations where news has to undergo a series of editing. In case of any news that might appear to be bitter to the government, it has to be edited to sugar the bitterness or be penalbeat to suit the government bidding, or at worst if this proves abortive, deliberate omissioning of the story. Editing story in social media is subject to the user’s discretion.

          Some people show high interest in unedited news and live-on-the-spot reports, which is why when we hear stories on media we immediately refer back to social media to contact our friends who are acting as our reporters in their locales to confirm what we heard. Though news coming from social media is usually exaggerated, inaccurate, imbalanced and unascertained. But the belief is that ‘just tell us the story we the readers or audience will use our sensibility to separate the wheat from the chaff. Not only social media is value-laden for there are many of a formal media organizations that play the same game as social journalism does, they report only what pleases them and tallies with the mission and interest of the owners. An instance to prove this is during Fuel Subsidy Removal struggle in Nigeria. Western international media could hardly broadcast the protest incidence on media so frequently than they did, and do, to the protest in the then Libya and now Syria. Train of thanks to the technology the mother of social media, for we the international social journalists reporting our local happenings to our distant friends gave to the incidence full coverage and wide broadcast. We also used a lot of propaganda and exaggeration as many media organizations do to achieve their goals through the process of disseminating information.

          Here are some instances regarding the argument I mentioned to raise earlier on, the issue of social media aptly safeguarding the rights of individuals. I could remember during the onset of the protest in Kano, my friend and I publicized the demonstration and the venue where it took place on Facebook. On the evening of the very first day the turns out that showed off doubled the number of the people in the morning threefold at least. People converged on the square from all direction, and most of them heard the news through the publicity we made on facebook. The account of a friend on that same very day of the protest, which in the course of covering the event videotaped footage of a person sleeping on the ground. He used the picture of the sleeping man to propagate that it was a dead body shot by the security. The speculation, on the first day of the protest, which circulated that Yoruba, Igbo and other tribes attending the square gave protection to Muslims during time for prayer against security harassment while Muslims did the same in turn to the fellow Christians to also perform their service, was just a propaganda, a purported claim orchestrated by the masterminded people among us to use it in achieving our aims. And of course it functioned well because I even heard it on media, and most important of all was that it fetched some semblance of unity and integrity, sense of belonging to one mother country among Nigerians and feeling of solidarity to fight a common enemy. The oppressors. I could also remember the event of the other day at Silver Jubilee square when security started shooting in the air after they left from Government House where they shot people with live ammunition who attempted to force their way straight into the House. When people dispersed away from the square following an attack by the security, I happened to be among the few who remained amidst of soldiers. To protect myself, I quickly brought out my phone as a bulwark against any possible security harassment and pretended making phone call to somebody likely to be outside the country, as my manner indicated, that the security were shooting and killing people indiscriminately. Quickly a soldier drew my attention, ‘please my friend show where we kill anybody, show me a dead body here that we killed. Please tell truth my friend.’ He exhorted. Without social media the security men might kill persons at the scene in addition to the ones they killed in the vicinity of Government House. They might likely have feared seeing people carrying phones and other quick service system devices of disseminating information. Another issue is when I called in on a radio programme hosting lawyers to discuss legal matters. I told them that a working committee was set with the responsible for preparing evidences of snaps and footages of crackdown and other war crimes  committed against humanity by the state security, and the committee had already liaised with other international  human right societies to assist us file the case before the ICC. These I believed had instilled fear in the mind of state officials. That would be the most likely reason why the government ran headlong in perspiration to pay the damages of a bus that belonged to BUK students and agreed without hesitation to pay compensation of any loss or damages of lives and property wrought by the state security and free medical treatment for the injured. You see ba, street journalists are gadflies and upholders of right protection. Thank you social journalism, the desired result was achieved.

Back to the Track

         

          The problem with social media particularly in the north is that people that will be contributing inputs to the media especially the youths concentrate with their phones much on listening music and watching obscene videos, and pictures   and other lewd materials. While there are many programmes nationally and internationally that people from the region don’t bother to listen and therefore to contribute. People from the north are usually excluded for we only listen without feeding the media with our feedback. Listening is fortunate to the very few who could endure it for there are those that could never do so. 

          When listening to an international programme, the BBC’s Focus on Africa or the VOA’s Day Break Africa, the messages and opinions that come from Nigeria emanate from the southern part of the country. To cap it all, even the text messages and opinions about public issues that are published in national dailies, Hausa dailies exclusive, you can hardly find a very substantial number presented from the north, only a very paltry. Why are such inputs not from the north? It might be because we lack training and skills on how to operate modern sophisticated devices and the human resources to guide us working such equipments. Or in other words our aversion to knowing things about the world, or in a simple language our laziness to engage our brain functioning. This aspect of producing news and stories is not a surgery task for we can share with the world our literary production, our culture, and our Durbar festival.

           

          In the national level when scouring for a particular piece or an article about the life history of the country, governmental information or academic sources; the larger percentage of the result will appear to be coming from the posts made by the southerners. Here I have a strong concern about our exclusion in mingling ourselves with others for we will either end up degraded or falsely projected by others who engaged themselves in sharing things with the world. For I was one day browsing information about Nigeria just then I encountered an article claiming that Lagos state is the most populated state in Nigeria which is wrong. According to information from the National Bureau de Statistics confirms that Kano is the most populated state in the country. Accounts of the 2006 national census conducted by the National Census Commission also confirm this. We will also lack representation in the world platform for expressing our views. The consequence with our remiss is that we will end up docile and the icy reality of our life culminating domicile, unknown. As one adage says ‘goods locked in the store are hardly sold quickly.’

          John Campbell a former US ambassador to Nigeria in his article Mapping Violence in Nigeria says, “of course its analytical value is equally limited. Dependence on published reports means that incidents will be missed or reported inaccurately. This is particularly relevance in Nigeria where media is often concentrated in the south and important events in the north may not receive the coverage they should.” Considering his wordings it means that there is need of our engagement in media and the world affairs.

          We shouldn’t be reticent to the world about ourselves while the world is awaiting with insatiable curiosity to know things about us since we are in the midst vortex of  happenings, occurrences,  events about our culture and our environment, in politics , economy, security, disaster, justice and injustice, insecurity, crimes, and solidarity of great men and heroes. To make ourselves known to the world we must change from the taciturn manner and the sole aim of carrying devices for fashion, impression and materialistic ostentation. We must enfold the norms of contributing inputs to the media by expressing our opinion and concern so that we will not continue to be lagging behind, and start to compete with our fellow contemporaries anywhere in the world.

          To arrest the disheartening turn of event we must infest in media participation, sending our comments, posting our literary productions, sharing our views, expressing our feeling and concern as well as local happenings in our environment in an effort to make ourselves known to the world in the international stardom in order to build social civilization and collective globalization which in every now and then continues to turn the world in to a small village or a hamlet even.

Ode to Maryam

Ode to Maryam

By
Abubakar Sulaiman Muhd
06/03/2013

Gay and cute all is she
White dove in white bath
Showering in her wafting scent
Flowing in her Arab smell
Poshy in her colour dress

A seraph's song her voice is
Solace to a disturbing heart
Singing cool
In rhythmic tone
Sending soul to sleeping bed

In nature, blest is she
In her deeds
Finess, and decent norms
A sowing good her mouth is
A bunch of wax in all her thoughts

A sweet smelling-rose
Revealing a smiling face
In the hour of nighting moon
Glistering in sleeping sea
Colourful to an exciting scene
Maryam ode a fine seed

KWANKWASO ANACHRONISM

With Abubakar Sulaiman Muhd

4th Feb., 2013

alfalancy@yahoo.com

The twin killings of the two parliamentarians representing Garko and Gaya necessitated the conduct of bye-election to replace those dead persons. (May their souls rest in peace), if they did well accordingly when they were alive! Since their demise, the world remained awaited to see the day of the bye-election, and it came and passed as the law of nature had it: when date is fixed the day must come.

The election seemed to be retrogressive, retrograde, anti-forward, antiquated, and counter-clockwise; dragging us back into the dark ages, when human being lived more or less like animal in brutish, nasty and anarchical state. In the state where man has no intelligence that distinguished him from other beings. This is the state we witnessed on the Election Day, the 22^nd Feb., 2013 in Kano.   

Just a day before the election, the governor and his boys because no any of the party or cabinet member has the privilege of being a colleague to the governor other than being his steward or marshal, pulled combine  resources and deployed them to Garko and Gaya local governments where the elections were to be conducted. Thousands of persons-laden cars were seen going there. According to some accounts every local government of the state minus the two, that is 42 L.Gs contributed 5 buses full of hoodlums to go and ensure the supremacy of the almighty ruling party. How would the party show its power? By arming hoodlums to the teeth with ganja, drugs, intoxicants and deadly weapons; on the instruction of the regime officials to finish any opponent of the Poverty Development Party (PDP). When just you saw the processions you would think that a gruesome violent clash was underway in the barbaric community of the unrefined thick forest of the Stone Age.

 Members of the big contender among the opposition parties foresaw the scenario of the election and voiced their fear that the election would be highly rigged. For it is the common practice in Nigeria where there is an incumbent regime, the government uses all the means of rigging at her disposal to win election. Politicians resort to economic use, military forces, such as the police the most brutal and barbaric creatures on earth God has ever created, soldiers the most cruel brutes and autarkieted  animals, and other parochial institutions like Karota, a bundle-wagon of violent ignorant human beings. The process of mutilating the figures or inflating it is all in account. Deliberately committing irregularities with the hope of influencing the result to the favour of one party over the other, delay in distributing electoral materials to the designated and strategic polling units, use of unregistered voters, underage voting, multiple vote by single voter, snatching electoral materials, stealing of votes, destruction of ballot box, violence in the polling unit and other Machiavellian principles in connivance with security personnel and INEC officials in support of one party to win election at all cost.

In the 21^st century, the era of enlightment, education, and civilization; I think the idea of massive rigging, political wrangling, tinkering and chickenery, and violent malpractice, glaring distortion, security and official connivance, politicking, scheming, plotting, intriguing, maneuvering, conspiracy, intricks are all fecund, ante diluvian, extinct, old-fashioned and anachronic and completely defiant of civilized norms and are barbaric in toto, especially when people are fully conscious and aware of the happenings in their environment. I thought the governor would look forward towards the development of the state rather than casting a backward glance to evoke the odd sipirit of the past. But this administration deployed the above mechanisms to rig and manipulate the election. To my expectation government will in the campaign brag its projects and constructions to woo the vote of the electorates not resorting to the illegal channels if truelly the regime believes in what it’s saying about works and projects and its policies to the people.

So, when just the indigenous electorates in Garko and Gaya found the faces of total strangers scattered in the towns, dominating the polling units in heavy arms, they all went to their farms business. The total strangers, according to some accounts; cast the total votes and allocated a very mean figures to the opposition parties. I thought in the process the governor would rig and wrangle but within the confine of belief and acceptance. But he rigged unbelievably, to the extent that not every ignorant human being will believe in the announced figures; because even some of the party members when I spoke to them that ‘your party wins the election’, they kept silent in shame and embarrassment. When journalists contacted the officials that the total strangers cast the vote, the presiding officer contradicted the allegation saying that whoever cast the vote most definitely be an indigene of either Garko or Gaya. Officials forgot that we are now free to choose what news or information we feel comfortable to read because we are in the era where everybody can share his local happenings to the world, we are no longer relying on the information that comes from the government’s media and its officials that are strictly under its dictates, bidding and extreme censor. Thus officials are claiming ignorance of what is common knowledge. Stupidity.

Shamelessly, the returning officer mustered the courage to face the public and announced the massively rigged election. If I were him, I would just issue my resignation if I were to remain the only person to announce the highly and massively rigged election. If I were him I would feel please and contented with the little I have rather than bringing shame and disgrace to my long building reputation. May Allah let me feel that the little I have be more valuable than stolen and ill-gotten billons Naira.

After the election, there in Abuja you will hear INEC chairman on the TV screen saying ‘democracy is working in Nigeria and we are now taking measures to improve the next election and it will be conducted with computer’. Prof na lie o. Brazenly likewise, the governor will appear on the media to say the election is free and fair; not even an insect was killed and then would issue his message of thanks  to the  people for voting his party and claiming their support and consent. While in himself, his Excellency knows he is a liar and his mind will be telling him that ‘your Excellency you are lying it is not free and fair and in no way peaceful and the vote is not the consent of the masses it is just outmaneuvering and total malpractice, then four hoodlums died in a fatal accident and many were injured’. While we members of the public listening to him will say ‘his Excellency na liar and mumu, he no know de true matter’. If the governor is wise enough he would make the gap to a manageable proportion, believable to ears. And here we learn a lesson; the hoodlums should know that their souls are not in the officials’ count. The four hooligans that died, I believe God is fair; will judge them according to their course of intention.

 Money was extravagantly wasted in the course of supplying these gangs to the two L.Gs, their foods, their shelter and the pittance wage for their barbaric services. I will not digress to talk about the expenses of supplying the hoodlums and the cost of their catering, for this I believe will be in the pain of public treasury. As I have mentioned earlier on, a report said that 42 L.Gs gave 5 gangs-laden buses; each gang would be paid 1000 Naira. So 5 times 2 = 10 since the election was in two local governments. Now we say 10 times 1000 = 10, 000, the money that each hooligan would collect, then times the total vote cast in both the two local governments. That is in Garko 53000 and Gaya 52000 = 105,000, (the figures are just approximation). Thus you say 105,000 times 10,000 = 1050,000,000. Now it is up to you to calculate the money that INEC officials, security operatives and party agents would collect and the way those who put their share will collect their dividends.

Let me here trot out the consequence that the election will wrought upon the people of Garko and Gaya. The two parliamentarians that are recently elected will not forever can wear a bold face to confront the governor on any matter affecting their people such as social, security and education and the entire social issues affecting their lives and their children’s children, even if this may mean exploiting them, their suffering, the wreck of their farming or even their death. Kawankawso is the sole proprietor of the state machineries because of the factors we detected from the activities of the government officials. For instance after the ban of riding motorcycle maximum one person, on the preceding Sunday, 27^th Jan., 2013 ; Press Assistant to the governor made slips of the tongue in an interview on Freedom Radio’s Hausa version of  Global News, Mu Leka Mu Gano. If we go by the Sigmund Freud Theory of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic approach to psychology, in what is commonly known as Freudian slip; which emphasizes on the influence of unconscious mind on behaviour; we will get to know that slip of the tongue is not just like something nothingness from nothingness; it has to do with inner thought.  The two parliamentarians will remain in the firm control of the executive. Even in the parliamentary proceedings they will remain silent and backbenchers. ‘Yan dumama kujera, ‘yan amshin shata. Even those that were already elected during the general election, they end up acting to the bidding of the executive. The setting arrangement of the state House proves this. The crucial issue of Ramadan and Rago bonus arose, the governor stood against it and defeated the House despite the fact that the matter has reached to the second reading in the legislature, which is unconstitutional for a bill to pass through the second reading and failed to materialize as a law. In a place where politics is seen as a profiteering investment where one is expected to maximize profit, as sensible men if we do justice to ourselves; how can we expect those people will not identify with profit in the face of truth, honest and public interest? But we can forgive Garko and Gaya for the tragedy is not self-inflicting, it is wrought by the ignorant hooligans.

In any setting whether religious or secularist, we all believe that cheating and stealing are crime and most of our politicians are having religious belief, so do they think that when they cheat in election all they money they get is lawful? They should know that since they cheated at the first place all the money they get along the line is also going to be unlawful and accountable to God.

Sadly enough, this type of election with massive rigging is the one conducted by the INEC itself not the state election commission. In the last few days his Excellency appointed members of the Kano State Election Commission (KANSEC) who are affiliated to a particular political interest which is violation of the constitutional provision  and alas!, the opposition parties and pro-democracy folded their arms to watch the coffin of their burial being constructed without kicking against the trope. How would they expect the result of the election will turn out under the judge who is inclined to a particular interest in comparison with the result we witnessed in the bye-election organized and conducted by In-dependent National Election Commission?

Lastly, I hope my criticism will serve as functional and constructive to both the government and other parties towards putting things in to order for the state progress.    As one great scholar says ‘the most dangerous threat to freedom is lack of criticism’ and where there is no criticism and penalbiting, we will continue to sink into the dark tunnel. As exactly with a blind man walking in the street; as he tumbles into something and gets pain; that pain will make him go back to the right path, so when somebody gets tumbled into something wrong  my pen is pain. And the pain will, I hope put him back into the right path.

The Irony of Christabel

The Irony of Christabel

 ‘The story of Christabel concerns a central female character of the same name and her encounter with a stranger called Geraldine, who claims to have been abducted from her home by a band of rough men. Christabel goes in the woods to pray to the large oak tree, where she hears a strange noise. Upon looking behind the tree, she finds Geraldine, who says that she had been abducted from her home by men on horseback. Christabel pities her and takes her home with her; supernatural signs (a dog barking, a mysterious flame on a dead fire) seem to indicate that not all is well. Her father, Sir Leoline, becomes enchanted with Geraldine, ordering a grand procession to announce her rescue. The unfinished poem ends here.’

A recurring motif throughout Coleridge’s poem is the power of dreams and of the imagination, such as in “Frost at Midnight,” “Kubla Khan,” “Dejection: An Ode,” and “Christabel” is no exception.

While some modern critics focus upon lesbian and feminist readings of the poem, another interesting interpretation is the one that explores the complex relationship between Coleridge and Wordsworth. And the paper will rotate on the axis of Coleridge’s supposition on one hand and its irony on the other.

Coleridge’s Christabel is a poem seen by many critics as autobiographical confession because it mirrors into his own personal fears and desires in the course of a relation to his fellow poet. The relation is ideally meant to be symbiotic if at least Coleridge does not appear to be beneficent to Wordsworth. For he feels that he is a victim of Wordsworth’s ascension. Yet Coleridge has said it many times about the awesome feeling and respect he has to Wordsworth. Along this line, the esteem respect reflects in the poem where Geraldine (Wordsworth) asks Christabel (Coleridge) to undress and lie with her. To this end, one can deduce how inferior he feels to Wordsworth and how influential he is to Coleridge. And if that’s the case why  does he not estrange himself from the relation since at the first place  of the poem the encounter seems to be a vampiric relation as with the case between Christabel (the host) and Geraldine (the guest).

If we believe that Coleridge is Christabel and Geraldine Wordsworth, who is sucking him his poetic bliss and creativity to make him to become an English poet laureate, then it augurs to show that it is Coleridge who gives him a niche in the art of poetry making. There is no surprise when Christabel assits her guest cross into the room and at the end the help turns against her.

        The lady sank, belike through pain

        And Christabel with might and main

        Lifted her up, a weary weight

The attitude of Christabel’s father’s admiration towards Geraldine could be interpreted to mean that initially it is Coleridge who helps Wordsworth and latter turns out to be at the receiving end.

And sure ‘I have sinned’ would mean that Coleridge’s opium addiction could be the cause of his failure. ‘Woe is me’, from another prism can corroborate the above perception that opium addiction is the consequence that ruins his success and hampers him to accentuate his aspiration, not Wordsworth. In his poem The Pain of Sleep, Coleridge himself exposes the torment and dreadful impact, caused by opium on his life.      

In conclusion, if we believe that Wordsworth is exploiting Coleridge to become an English poet laureate; we cannot deny him because we see how Geraldine takes advantage of Christabel in the poem. But the irony of Christabel is that, while Coleridge is feeling being exploited; we can say that Coleridge should not be envious of Wordsworth because his opium addiction is what blocks his way. 

AN INVITATION TO DISASTER !

AN INVITATION TO DISASTER !

By

Abubakar Sulaiman Muhd

24^th Jan., 2013

alfalancy@yahoo.com 

It was just on 22^nd January, 2013 that Kano state government announced the ban of riding motorcycles with more than one person. This decision is as a result of frequent attacks of Boko Haram sect on security personnel, government agencies and other buildings as well as the recent attack on the Kano emir on his way back from Qur’anic graduation ceremony, on 20^th January, 2013. Before the ban came to my notice I was strong and confident, in a high sipirit and excitement despite the fact of the trouble that lies at the back of my mind, that of insecurity and insurgency that disturbs the psyche of many people as we always sleep and wake up with the matter burning in our mind. I take my pen to write my untold agony, though I believe many people share the same fate with me.

It was unprecedented before this   time to find men in Kano especially those in the markets retiring to home since before the sun finishes wearing its gold glowing attire. The issue of Boko Haram is like a tree with many branches and a concept with many phyla that it becomes a mysterious affair to relate any criminal act to a particular group. For many people disguise under its banner to perpetrate their criminality. The original Boko Haram was fighting with heart and might towards its mission but weakened after the extra judicious killing of its ringleaders. Then quickly chipped in armed robbers as the second branch, kidnappers, politicians killing their opponents and the big Boko Haram who maintains the mission to loot and continue looting the gullible masses that are desperate for peace. Yes government the big Boko Haram, for is it not the government that jeopardizes the system of education and made it an issue of monopoly, brand, patent and copy right to a particular class?  Any social evil in the society is associated to government’s inability, renege nonchalance and indulgence to secure the well being of its citizens and Boko Haram is no exception because the role of government is not adequately played in shaping the society to good order.

 My concern here is to look at the irrational decision taken by the boorish irrational and dullard officials in Africa house. Since the start of the insurgency mysterious cloud bolted the light of veracity so that when something of any criminal acts happen, nobody with systematic accuracy   could tell about who is behind it and how come it happens; only that all the blame is to go directly to a particular group.  For example the killing of Muhammad Shuwa which is still unjustifiable despite the hard security guard in his compound, the attacks on commercial banks by army robbers and the killing of politicians by politicians, all these instances are cases related to a group which later, time proved the blame contrary.  All I ’m trying to do is build my argument on premise that we cannot believe that if it was really Boko Haram that attacked the emir of which as a result caused the irrational decision. For there are many factors to prove this point. One is that there is internal family crisis and vendetta among the emir’s sons over who is to inherit the throne. Some among his sons have the belief that in as much as the emir is alive, they will never be the king. And others have the view that if the emir is alive he can abdicate the throne to one of them. So we can not justify if the attack was not a ploy from a group of the emir’s son.  For that, taking such a stupid decision without much rumination is nonsensical. The second point is that government officials might wish to maintain the situation so as to continue milking the state dry to their own benefit. The third point is the policy of western civilization that our officials are pursuing ignorantly. That idea of urbanization, of cleaning the cities off the dirty and menial jobs, in officials’ view. We hear officials on many occasions speaking about this policy of   removing buildings that are beside the road, containers, benches of roadside oil sellers, Achaba riding and other activities that government considers unfitting in cities like Kano. Out of ignomable ignorance, Nigerian officials are trying to change the country overnight, trying to parallel different people that have different cultural and social configuration setting; forgetting that in developed countries they have no thieving leaders as we have here, no corruption as we have here, no illiteracy as we have here and that these developed countries have passed through ages before they came to where they are now. If at least we want be like these countries, our leaders must first of all eliminate these vices of which that same leaders are the leading forerunners, before dragging us into the world of civilization with a string of poverty and illiteracy round our neck. The blame should not go to the masses that are always at the receiving end of all the consequence. In this regard, from all angles one can conclude that Kano state officials want to just maintain the situation to loot the state as the case at federal level or they want to urbanize the city so that they hide under the emir’s attack to get their mission accomplished.  It also seems like Kano state is welcoming the suffering of the people by dragging it nearer because the time is not yet due that the government will inflict such hardship on its own masses. Many many souls have passed through this course one of which Sheik Jaafar Mahmud Adam’s, a diligent teacher whose soul according to religion is far important than the souls of hundred illiterate people but his death did not bring such bar. Here the shock not the death of one person will cause the suffering of thousands and thousands of good innocent people and will render them jobless. Remember we are in democracy, the system of governing base on the will of the majority and popular support, where the saying goes; majority carries the vote. All people are equal but some are more equal than others, here we are.

The banning of motorcycle riding, one person maximum; is unwise, illogical and it is an invitation to disasters and more social evils. Social evils stem from unemployment and especially northern state are concomitantly in this ditch. “There is no danger for any community, state or country, bigger than an illiterate youth wallowing in unemployment and abject poverty. The biggest enemies to any society are poverty, diseases, illiteracy and joblessness. These four evils widely prevail in virtually all the Northern states and a few in the south. Social anomies such as these do breed a terrible anger that leads to violence, envy, frustration, drug addiction and other vices that can easily unsettle any society.” Bashir Tofa, (post election violence speech).

In city like Kano where more than two millions people earn their living through Achaba, how can a logical, sensible man will arrive at this wrong conclusion? This will render many people jobless and will later breed all these evils above.

What those rendered jobless will do? Government should ask itself this question first. We know every human being must survive and in search of means of survival, a man can involve in any act just to feed himself, at least. If government is saying she is taking measures to curb the attacks in the state, government should know that its decision is not helping matter. For those who are rendered jobless must survive and along the line; they are likely to involve in any means. The ends justify the means. Government is making things worse, for those rendered jobless are likely to join other groups if only they can get their means of survival. This means that instead of weakening the opponent, government is now strengthening the base of its enemy by giving them a room to accommodate more members.  

Hooliganism or Daba came to an end in Kano when Achaba riding flourished. Reason, was that most of those Achaba riders were hooligans who left their former business. Some even used their brains to go to other states to provide their service since people there needed their service but, hapless the government of these states looked at it with envious eyes and made it prohibited in their states since it was not their men that were to the job. Achaba riders     from those states flowed to their homeland and since then social vices began to resurface in the north and flourishes and fruits it evil deeds. And now if Achaba riders are rejected in their home then where will they go? The northern states will certainly continue to sink into social and economic dilapidation.

                                                                                                   

Economically speaking, the ban of riding motorcycles is stupidity. Every economy on earth no matter how developed, is believed to hinge upon the petty jobs. Let solve this equation, if you say that motorcycle will not carry more than one person, then you are saying ‘no’ to Achaba indirectly for no way an Achaba rider can work without    passenger. And when Achaba doesn’t work mechanics will not work and if they do they will only earn very frugal amount and low income + low saving + low investment = vicious circle of poverty which amounts to additional of societal probs. Next a victim is vulcanizer because his clients are not on the road. Then roadside oil sellers, followed by spare parts sellers. Even those who sell eatables on the road like fried egg and yams will lose their job because most of the buyers of such food are Achaba riders. Many of these petty workers are the ones whose blood is serving as steam in making the economic engine moves.

Socially speaking, Kano is not like other states. It has many clusters of houses to such extent that there are many places that car could  not get access in. on many occasion where there is an ailing somebody, usually motorcycle is used to bring the patient to the hospital. Many pregnant women, their lives are saved through motorcycle. With only this, if government is doing for the people, as it’s claiming women’ health first; should change her mind.                                                                                                                    Let’s learn from example and experience. Many bomb-affected states in the north have adopted this tactics of Achaba bar but still we continue to hear bad story here and there, to this end the application of this unwise decision would, I think not bring any change but will rather push  people against the wall. When US were attacked on 9/11, officials did not ban flight from any country into its territory because of the fear more attacks will come. What the US official did? They took precludive measures and sensitive scrutiny before any flight lands on its ground. For banning a flight even from Afghanistan or Pakistan will cause more havoc than did the attack. Many of its citizens would lose their jobs and then government would lose its revenue generated from the flights companies and also from the people that will come for their business, so equally to the Kano state government, it will lose its revenue and its citizens will lose their jobs grossly.

 Somebody might ask what next after the ban and attack continues? This, we don’t hope. Because even before the ban some attacks were carried out by car. So will government put bar on cars? The answer is simple, government will not bar cars because its officials are using cars and what business have they to do with motorcycle that they will not bar it. That is why I am skeptical if government is not intending to drag us into the world of civilization with string of poverty and illiteracy round our neck thus disguising under Boko Haram.

Are northern states not dancing to the tune of their enemy in contributing towards destroying the region?

Since the start of the insurgency many brains and critical minds have been suggesting ways on how to go about the situation but the officials turn deafening ears. For example after Kano have received its 9/11 version, many calls were put forward i.e. Weep Not, Kano by Dr. Aliyu Tilde on how officials in Kano will face the challenge. He says that official must not depend on federal government security strategy to combat the crisis because the government is not willing to bring an end the situation. The fear is that government will scatter its mad dogs around the city to be killing the innocent citizens, make women widow, rape the chaste ladies and make the children orphans. Many are of the view that the president is nursing bitter grudge against the region and he is restless searching with vigilant eyes for an avenue that will give him a room to devastate the region. At first I have a   belief in not this view and rejected this interpretation of event, but for now I am cleared off doubt. First to support my argument is his Excellency’s refusal to take any civilized step of security restoration measure. If he is ignorant about that why doesn’t he ask those who know? Wanton destruction of the north. Second, why the president will not reciprocate the gesture of amnesty to Boko Haram members as did his master president ‘Yar Adua to Niger/Delta terrorist groups. Lastly, I read somebody’s comment from the south saying that he wants to become a soldier just to retaliate what was done to his people during the civil war. That is why we are not surprised when we hear JTF kills innocent people in their homes, or on their way to markets in Kano. My belief is that anything other than civil way to combat the crisis is a coy to devastate the region. Because it will take you till the end of time killing fire by fire, but you can do so with water in a meek sprinkling shower.

And if officials are banning Achaba for civilization purpose or are copying their southern counterparts, then they are so doing devastating the region to the delight of their enemy. And if any of the northern governors wants to prove me wrong he should try banning prostitution or alcoholism in his state and see how the atmosphere will be boiling between north and south because their men will lose their jobs.

To save the sinking ship, officials must think twice before taking any decision and must consult the advice of experts outside government’s offices in order to avoid such unpopular policies. Even now it will not be a discovery made too late if Kano state government will backpedal to change her mind. We know the officials are human and human beings are to err. Fallible as we are infallible we can never be. And about the issue in general, officials must resort to thousands of advices given to them and listen to these good words for the goodness of all.  But otherwise this, northern officials will advertently or inadvertently continue to dance to the tune of their enemy in destroying the region economically, socially, politically, and educationally.