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Title: Editor-in-Chief of the Ordinary Savior: Richard Ali and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
Publishers: Parresia Pages: 107 Reviewer: Nathaniel Bivan
"Ordinary Savior", a collection of 11 short stories from northeastern Nigeria, is a product of North East Intellectual Entrepreneurship Fellowship (NEIEF), a project of the Northeast Regional Initiative (NERI), a project of four years in the region. funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It is very commendable that the NEIEF aims to limit the spaces where extremism tries to gain ground, such as Adamaoua, Borno and Yobe, from which the authors of this anthology originate. Moreover, these NEIEF Fellows represent the diversity of cultures, ethnicities, tribes and religious plurality.
In "Ordinary Savior", edited by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (award-winning author of "Season of Crimson Blossoms" and "The Whispering Trees") and Richard Ali (co-editor of Parresia and author of "City of Memories" (11 authors) (The members of NEIEF) offer readers a window on the lives of the people of the Northeast, especially those marked by the activities of the insurgent group " Boko Haram ".
The title story, 'Ordinary Savior' by Suzanne Wonokuli Myada, has a humorous beginning. But make no mistake, when our central character leaves the bus, there will be absolutely nothing to smile. She comes from a region ravaged by terrorism and is looking for her aunt in Yola, Adamawa State. However, she knows almost nothing about how to find her. The driver becomes worried and feels responsible for it. How can she not have an address or usable landmark? By the time they decide to return to her previous location, Mrs. Rosa, owner of a car park restaurant, saves the day.
But it is not only the terrorists and their weapons who have driven our central character from our home. That was what they had managed to do with his company. With the death of her parents, her uncle, now a guardian, was trying to marry her and this case had to be quickly abandoned after two sacks of rice and two gallons of cooking oil marked "Not for Sale, NEMA" were dropped. at his feet. . This is the era of war, after all, food is everything. This is a subtle indication of how those "in charge" of aid tend to divert what is meant for the displaced.
The stories in this anthology remind us that people affected by the insurgency have had a life in every sense of the word. They also had dreams and aspirations that were broken. There are those who wanted to be doctors or lawyers and a lot of other things. In "The Aftermath" by Nafisa Daniel Mshelbila, the young Kamal is a painter before being uprooted from his home and his society, and banging! he became a terrorist.
There have been reports and analyzes of military activities in the northeast. Some good, some not so good. Kamal quickly reminds us how many innocent people from Yobe, Adamaoua and Borno States are kidnapped and forced to kill by Boko Haram. Kamal, unlike many others, is able to rebuild his life, but how many have a second chance?
Through fiction, these NEIEF Fellows recreate tragic and even inspiring stories. According to media reports, Boko Haram (founded by Mohammed Yusuf) comes from a non-violent religious group that seeks to "purify Islam" to become an organized terrorist organization. In the film "Being Human" by Mohammed Maina Modu, a gang led by Yassir ibn Ubay threatens the people of a community to submit. This led to the death of the police chief's daughter, because the doctors, according to the gang's orders, were afraid to take care of the sick child.
Chief of Police, ASP Mohammedali, vowed to avenge the death of his daughter. He does, but things get out of control, establishing a line of battle between the authorities and the future official terrorist group. This story illustrates the humanity of these men in uniform and how they can also cross borders.
Boko Haram is known to have used a particular strategy, the abduction of schoolgirls, to exercise negotiating powers against the Nigerian government. What happens before Dapchi schoolgirls, then some of the Chiboks, are released, is not entirely clear. But one thing is certain, many of their female victims are healed. This is what Chabiyada Eli ("Lost Identity") and Ba'aba Aliyu Ibrahim (In Nature) explore in their stories. In the first case, a young girl returns pregnant for her captivity for an insurgent, while the central character of this last story, Zulai, is shaped by her experience during captivity. Although she is now free and married, Zulai has a mistrust of men that threatens to tear up her marriage.
In a Daily Trust article published on May 22, 2014, Defense Headquarters denied any involvement in alleged mass killings of civilians in the state of Borno. This was after charges of extrajudicial killings by the Nigerian army. H.K. The Tijjani Close Call reminds you of the situation of the people in the north-east, especially at the beginning of the uprising, when Boko Haram members may have lived among them. Part of page 60 is a typical example when a young man is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He remains hidden, convinced that he would become a goat for the frustrations of the army after a Boko Haram attack:
The soldiers! They would not listen to me. All the evidence showed me, and maybe Hassan Keke's runner if they had it. Giwa's barracks were a horror that lingered in the corners of my mind. The things people said about the place made me fear to see things for me. The captives taken there have hardly ever returned.
Has the army blamed residents for their lack of success? And has this frustration led to the death of innocent citizens? "Close Call" shows how a young man is running in the opposite direction (a previous experience where he was attacked and treated like a criminal by the army still fresh in his mind), instead of attacking a massacre again fresh. led by terrorists.
Each character in this book reflects one aspect of what North-East Nigerians suffer. Their society is fractured, where what was once beautiful is broken and left to rot. Slowly, some parts where peace returns are piecemeal, piece by piece, but what is the guarantee that it will not be torn apart?
This collection is filled with fairy tales. If only the death of insurrection in the region could also be so.
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