Author: Mualimu,
H. Al-Raheed Bello
Type: Prose,
a Novel
No. of Pages: 167
Year of Publication: 2014
Publisher: Gender and
Youth Development
Reviewed by: Professor
Sunday Ododo
Theatre Arts Department, University of
Maiduguri
A Better Nigeria is Still Possible
Preamble:
It is not the best of times for me to do an important public
presentation such as this.
I have actually in the last nine
weeks cancelled all public invitations with functional roles to continue to
mourn four of my friends and colleagues of the Department of Theatre and
Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, who died in auto-crash on the
7th February, 2014 on Abuja – Zaria road. We were told that the
accident occurred while the driver of the bus conveying them tried to avoid
running into an Achaba motorcyclist
who suddenly rode unto his path. In trying to save a life, we lost four – two
Professors, one Ph.D Senior Lecturer and a female postgraduate student. In
comparative judgment, it would have been better to lose one and save four, but
who can tell that is the way it would end. I believe the natural instinct in
man not to kill took the better judgment of the driver to risk the life of over
ten other passengers in order to secure the life of one motorcyclist. One of
the lessons here is that the worth of every human life before God is beyond
human judgment. In our limited understanding, one would have thought it better
to save the lives of these intellectuals instead of the Achaba cyclist. Unfortunately, our ways are not God’s ways; our
perception of situations is not also the way God does. Painful as the careless
accident that claimed the lives of my colleagues is, one cannot help but
continue to marvel at God’s wondrous ways and the finite nature of human
existence. If all appreciate these facts, I believe as humans who never know
what exactly lay ahead, we would spend more time doing well for the benefit of
humanity than destroying the human essence in us. Our political leaders
especially should be conscious of these facts and think more of developmental
legacies that would signpost their eras than regressive political man oeuvres
that do no one any good.
My presence here today is
essentially out of respect and honour for the author of Sacred Pond and the presentation committee members who kept
consoling me and passionately reminding me about this event. Beyond this, the
novel I am here to review has message for the Nigerian nation and especially
Ebira people, and as I have been chosen to be one of the organs of
disseminating that message, I can therefore not refuse because to refuse is to
refute the better humanity we all clamour for. It is also instructive that my
colleagues died after a workshop they organized on good governance and better society
in Nigeria. As wish to dedicate this review of Sacred Pond to their affectionate memory please let me crave your
indulgence to rise and observe a minute silence in honour of Prof. Jenks
Okwori, Prof Samuel Kafewo, Dr. Matins Ayegba and Miss Nana Aisha Ali.
The Sacred Pond
Literature and society have had
symbiotic relationships from time. As literature feeds from the society to
thrive so the society benefits from literature to survive. In literature
plausible human situations are created to redirect our attention to that which
is not here with us but could be expected. It is in this guise that the
prophetic function of literature lies. Literature can also record a people’s
culture, philosophy, social ethos and history using entertainment narratives to
engage the reader/audience. Our moonlight storytelling sessions in Ebiraland
and most African communities explicate this reality because in this literary
orality pedagogical lessons are taught and our children are taught early in
life to know their environment well, the world view of their people, dignify of
labour, love and kindness, respect for fellow mankind, the value of team work,
giving honour to whom honour is due, reverence for elders and hierarchical
order, veneration of our extant traditions and acknowledgment of the existence
of Almighty God, Ochiji Omokareyi,
Ogodogodo Onumoza emetu.
A society that is literary minded
is often a well organized society because through literature so much
information is available to shape the thought and conduct of a people for
larger societal good. We today live in an age where oral literature that helped
so much to instill social cohesion and cultural symmetry has lost its pristine
place. The written literature is less patronized. This inept literary condition
perhaps lagerly accounts for our lost values and a huge lacuna of knowledge gap
that stands between the old and the new generation of our people. This
disconnection is inimical to healthy societal growth. Many of our children
today do not know their genealogy, their histories, their culture, their
environment, indeed their root of existence. Without the tap root, can a tree
stand? I doubt it. Also, perhaps some of the socio-political trauma the Ebira
society experienced not too long ago is a result of this socio-cultural
anomaly. There must be a connection of the past to the present before the path
to the future can be correctly defined. No house can stand without a solid
foundation. Our past is our foundation; the present is the wall and our future
the roof.
When I got a copy of this novel
to review, my little daughter, lsooyiza-an avid reader of literature was the
first to read it. She summarized Sacred
Pond this way:
The book Sacred Pond is one that portrays the
tradition of the indigenous Ebira people before the advent of the colonial
master and the change their coming brought upon the people. It is very
descriptive and can almost be considered as an exposition to Ebira tradition,
significant terms and items used by the Ebira people. However, the conveyance
of the story I not very impressive and it portrays no exact message.
I agree entirely with the first
part of her assessment but the second I disagreed with after reading the piece
myself. Her judgment is probably beclouded by the complex plot structure of the
work which is not linearly arranged with the lessons clearly spelt out as we
have in folktales. This for me is a pass mark for the author as a first timer.
Writing an open ended narrative in which the reader is burdened to decipher its
meaning and value is often the most difficult narrative style to achieve, but
one in which the reader is taken to task to internalize the story as partaker
in order to externalize the message. In other words, putting into actions the
message and lessons the narrative posits. Sacred
Pond surely is not for the simple minded but the profound.
In brief, Sacred Pond narrates the story of Abaukaka of Idomayi village but
focuses more on his son, ijeeji and his sterling qualities. Ijeeji is a twelve
and a half year old boy but has the physique and height for a seventeen year
old. This usually makes most of the people in his village, Idomayi, think more
of him. Though he is young, he understands very early in life the place of
family. He loves his parents so much that he would do anything to please them
so they can consider him worthy of their praise. He notices how much his
father, Abaukaka who has many wives, loves his mother, Eihuri, the most. Eihuri
is his last wife and very beautiful. She cooks most of her husband’s meals and
he enjoys it every single time.
On the occasion when his father,
Abaukaka is expecting visitors from a neighbouring village, Ijeeji sees the
need to provide more meat for his mother to cook with, so that his father’s
guests can be impressed. He goes out to fetch a grass cutter he hopes his trap
has caught. Though he is disappointed when he finds his trap empty, but he is
glad that his father’s trap at least caught a rabbit for the family.
Ijeeji thirsts to be in the
league of adults even if not in the eyes if anymore but his much reverenced
father. He does all he could to secure permission to work on the farm with his
father. The visitors being expected are to help his father in cultivating the
farm as the rains are already coming. He seizes the opportunity to ask to be
involved. He is thrilled to be one of the farmers and on the appointed day does
an impressive job with his ridges and the farm work in general. The many
compliments he gets from his father’s friends give him an ego boost. It however
doesn’t last long his father simply advises him not to move or act faster than
the should actually act.
Ijeeji is his father’s confidant
and favorite son. He is the first to know that his father is ill and would
probably die; a thought which he dreads. From the moment he finds out, he is
always on the lookout for his father; he checks on him regularly and makes sure
he is fine. His father does not make things difficult for him as he wants to
appear strong so his son will not constantly be worried about him. He still
goes out about his daily routine like he used to. On one occasion, he goes with
Ujeeji to check a trap which he had set deep in the forest. He doesn’t say a
word on their way there even when he trips and falls; this bothers his son who
doesn’t understand the silence. It is on this trap-checking-mission that he
finds a vulnerable anaconda; it is found feeding. Abaukaka kills the huge
serpent and drags it home. This act of valour awes every member of the village
especially since the snake very rare and deadly too. It is a large snake and so
its meat goes round the entire family even right to the extended families and
other members of the village with a few baskets of left-over.
Shortly after the anaconda
expedition, Abaukaka falls very ill, he grows weaker than he has ever been and
he descends into the land of his ancestors. His family is distraught especially
his youngest wife. Eihuri who is accused of causing her husband’s death being
that he died shortly after having her cooked meal. She is eventually found
innocent and she starts to dread the customary fact that she is to be inherited
by one of her husband’s relatives as was the tradition o the Idomayi people,
which they consider to be a huge favour to the widow and children by providing
a roof above their heads and food for them to eat. Her children are also going
to be inherited and she fears that they would be ill-treated by whoever
inherits them.
Ijeeji on the other hand knows
very well about this tradition and he decides to go with a more favorable
custom by going to his mother’s hometown to start a life after which he would
go for his brother. Shortly after he has gotten a little comfortable in his new
place of domiciles, Ahacheche, he receives a message that his brother is about
to be sold into slavery (Otumakere)
by his uncle that had inherited him. He goes back to Idomayi as quickly as he
could and with the help of one of his maternal uncles, saves his brother,
Adano, and he takes him along with him to Ahachehe.
They become established in a few
years and also become very popular for their farming and oracle consulting skills.
Though Adano’s primary business was trading,he still does a little farming with
his brother and could also decipher the oracle (opanache). They also married, have children and soon have a large
family just like their father did. They are very popular in Ahacheche and
diverse people employ their services.
They are very happy until the
oracle tells them about something strange that is coming into their village and
how it will change their lives forever. Shortly after this message, White
people arrive to settle amongst them and the people know they are going to be
around for a long time. The White men gradually take over control of
administration by assigning a general head for the people while making them
happy by giving them unsolicited and rare gifts not seen before. The people of
course are not used to this system of government as there are usually family
heads and not a common head. They however, have no choice but to submit.
Shortly after this turn of event,
the oracle reveals another disaster that is to happen in Ijeeji and Adano’s
family. It reveals that four of their children are going to die in one single
day. The heads in their sadness call the whole family together as they wait for
the huge tragedy to happen. After it happened the family moves on and returns
back to their homes.
Adano, on one of his trading
trips met a clergy person who introduced him to Islam and told him not to force
his brother’s conversion. His brother on the other hand has been told by the
oracle to accept the new religion, Islam, and asks to be buried. He tells his
brother about this; they obeyed and both get Muslim names and their family is
introduced to Islam. From then on, many of the people begin to practice Islam
and learn about it. Ijeeji and Adano are fervent personalities and laid good
examples for others to follow.
Ijeeji feels he is fading out so
he calls his family together and beseeches them to live in unity and speak in
one voice as this has been the way the family has grown. He refers to it as the
sacred dam and that anyone who ruins this dam would pay for it with his peace
of mind and prosperity. However, after the death of the brothers, the children
become greedy and fight over the property their parents left behind for them,
especially the mass piece of land that belong to their family. The sacred dam
had been polluted; they could not preserve its sanctity.
Simply put, Sacred Pond is a tapestry of Ebira identity, courage, lore and
mores, social ethos, love, respect and industry. It also in some respects
raises some national questions about leadership and family values. Today In
Ebira society and most Nigerian society, it very difficult to find the likes o
Ijeeji in good number. Ijeeji turns out so well because he reveres and respect
his father; he listens to him and goes extra miles to impress him while
resolving to be disciplined and stand above board all the time. His love for
family makes him dare all odds to return home to rescue his brother Adano from
being sold into slavery. All these are product of good and stern training he
received from his father. The message here is that fathers have role to play in
children upbringing and children have their too. If one fails, the other will
fail. Father/parents must lead by example. It is the industry of Abaukaka in farming
and hunting that Ijeeji imbibed and perfected. There is force of influence in
observation. It is observable that when children come together to play, their
plays replicate what they have watched their parents do. Perhaps Ijeeji and his
brother were too busy with their economic activities and had little or no time
for their own chidren’s training, and as such could sustain the family heritage
after them. It is instructive to note that it is the struggle for wealth
inheritance that breached the family unity and polluted their sacred dam of
peace. We have legion of similar living examples. In wealth then a curse? I
don’t wish to answer this question here but should be considered as food for
thought. The answer any of your may provide could just be a suitable one.
Ladies and gentlemen, the author
used sacred dam as a symbol of family peace and unity in the prose but titled
the work “Sacred Pond”. I tried to probe the connection between Dam and Pond
and why the author abandoned dam for pond on the front cover of the book. A dam
is a barrier created to control the flow of water while a a pond a small still
body of water formed naturally or created artificially, a common feature in a
garden. They key words for me here are “still body of water”. It invokes serenity,
calm and peace. In the Holy Bible, Psalms 23 vs 1-3 guide us too on this:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall
not want.
He maketh me lie down in green
pasture: he leadeth me beside the still
Water.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for his
Name sake.
The pond therefore represents
rest, satisfaction, energy, vision, righteousness, selflessness and life. These
are elements of peaceful coexistence and harmony. These are what the offspring
of Ijeeji and Adano lack that polluted the ‘sacred pond’ in my own opinion.
This is however a matter for the author to reconcile in the next reprint of the
work. I suggest that ‘dam’ inside the work be converted to ‘pond’ for
consistency sake and the more engaging meaning it represents for the prose.
Indeed, some other mechanical errors would have to be cleaned up too.
Mualimu H. Al-Rasheed Bello, the
author of Sacred Pond may not have
the narrative fluidity of Chinua Achebe and the electrical currency of Wole
Soyinka, but he has revolutionary creative instinct which is well demonstrated
in this novel. Al-Rasheed Bello is an author in a hurry to change our society
for good which is probably why the novel is jam-packed with a lot of issues to
contend with thematically in one single creative work. The important thing
however is that Al-Rasheed Bello has laid a solid creative foundation with Sacred Pond and it is likely to be the
feeder source of his subsequent creative efforts. I expect to see some of the
many themes in this work become independent creative engagement on their own.
As I congratulate the author for this wonderful addition to Nigerian
literature, nay Ebira literature, I also recommend the novel to every Ebira
indigene, for in it we stand to learn more about Ebira identity and cultural
values that many of our young ones are not just aware of and some of our old
ones have lost touch with. The general reading public, the world over, will
also find it a pleasurable reading while also finding answers to many
erroneously and socially promoted misconceptions about Ebira and her passions.
Finally, the overriding message
of Sacred Pond is that a better
Nigeria is still possible if we restore and respect family values and place
society above self interest. For a better Nigeria, we need many of Ijeeji and
Abaukaka. The charge is for all of us to return home to be good parents to our
children and I am confident that our children would respond well to be good and
dependable children too.
Thank you all for your kind
attention.
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