Misbahu El-Hamza

Sammani, his teacher and father Is there a habit, like procrastination, lying, selfishness that you’re struggling hard to resign from? Have you ever taken a moment to think through how or where you possibly gotten that habit(s)? Does it ever occurred to you, if there’re certain habits that are there to remain with us for as long as we live? Sammani’s Exit SAMMANI was a teenage Almajiri school boy in the (in)famous fictional drama series, “Dadin Kowa”, aired weekly on Arewa 24 and YouTube. In the drama, the boy was fortunate to be brought to Almajiri school which stands out from the rest in the district of Dadin Kowa. The teacher, Mallam Hassan, is kind and well learned that even the district head consults him for advice on certain issues; he look after his students fatherly and allow no student to go begging for food let alone ware ragged clothes. M. Na Ta'ala, M. Hassan & Sammani Unlike his colleagues, Sammani was a hook on the neck for the teacher. He skips classes to go beg...

Few days ago, we had a meeting with one of our mentors in Kano, the learned Dr. Bala Muhammad of Daily Trust . As always, we were warmly received. Of course, I can't take you into details of our discussion (you wouldn't care, perhaps). But I will tell you two things you might find interesting; one of Dr. Bala and the other of myself. Anytime I get the privilege to have time with learned people like Dr. Bala, in my humble and meek ways, I naturally become very observant of what they say and do during the little time we spend. I even observe the environment we spend the time (if it's theirs, not a hotel or someplace like that). By any means, I want to learn and take something home. That's the (silly?) thing about me. The thing with Dr. Bala, which is why I wrote this, was: after he led us in Magrib Salat (evening prayer) which marked the end of our meeting, we shook hands and rise to say goodbye. While my friends were simultaneously but independently saying "thank yo...

Yesterday I got this book, “ Tuesday with Morrie ” from a friend and I gave him Okonjo Iwela’s “ Fighting Corruption is Dangerous ” in exchange. The last time he visited, in the second quarter of 2018, he brought back my Obama’s “ Dreams from My Father ”, thanked me and dropped Khaled Hussain’s “ The Kite Runner ”. A novel I so much enjoyed to the last word. Almost anytime we meet it’s about books, friendship and we share experiences. Yesterday was no different. As we sip the hot tea my wife prepared for us, we dwelt into different topics of importance. My friend did his Youth Service in Gombe state. He told me how he wished Kano state gov’t copied and implement what he called “technical skills empowerment” Gombe state government did in recent past. He seems not quite okay with some of Kwankwaso’s policies when he was governor the second time. I was convinced with some of his points and vicariously impressed with what he said he saw in Gombe state. In discussing the international affai...