23th Dec 14 will forever remain one of the sadest and unforgettable days to the students of Hausa literature like myself, as we lost a famous poet Malam Abubakar Ladan Zaria. A patriotic but not a chauvinist, was born in 1935 at Anguwar kwarbai of ancient Zaria city. He went makarantar allo to acquired quranic knowledge before proceeding to elementary sch zaria and finished in 1950. Thereafter, he moved to middle sch zaria now known as Alhuda-huda college. After graduating from middle sch in 1954, late Abubakar Ladan took up public service appointment in Malamfashi. He served as hide and skin inspector at kano and also worked as veterinary officer. He worked at publishing companies as distribution assistant. Late Abubakar Ladan Zaria started developing interest in poetry through reading poems of peots like Muazu Hadejia, saadu zungur, Malam Mudi spikin, Dr Aliyu namangi and a sudanese poet Abdulkarim Alkabirun. When OAU was newly formed in 1963, Late Abubakar Ladan patriotically composed a pan-Afican poem of Allah ya Allah ya Allah hada kanmu Afrika muso juna, his bakandamiya that later brought him to limelight. While some writers like Yakubu Musa were on the opinion of adopting wakar Afrika as OAU anthem, others like me argued that wakar Afrika would have competed with Micheal Jacksons they dont care about us and even be among the top 20 on Rolling stone magazines 500 greatest albums of all time, had it been it was in US. Very few knew that he was the one that composed wakar Azizu dan makaranta and handed over the manual script to late Zabiya Uwani Zakirai to decorate it with her golden voice. Malam Abubakar Ladan Zaria has been to all but only six african countries. Interestingly, he composed poems for all the local govts,places and countries he visited but unfortunately he could get the recognition he deserved even from Zaria city, let alone the entire Africa. Even though he was conferred with MON during the administration of Alh Shehu Shagari but that was not enough for late Malam Abubakar Ladan who was reported to have been going round places begging for what to table to his family. I nearly shed tears when i read an interview he granted and published on sundaytrust of 25th oct 2009. Hear him Honestly, i am in critical condition, you could image that somebody of my age has to be going round the place begging. At a time i cannot move round, you could image what would happen. My major problem now in life is what to put on the table with my family. If go to some people i get what to eat if not i have to die in hunger Alas! Hunger is part of everyday life. He was a patriotic, a true African who was always urging the fellow Africans to unite and love each other. He was endowed with intelligence, islamic knowledge and versed knowledge in the fields of politics, economy, social and Geography of Africa. Late Abubakar Ladan will go in the history as a great statesman. Allah ya yafe masa kura-kuren sa yasa aljanna ce makomarsa!
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 17:00:06 +0000
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