Literature
Title: Hoodlums
Author: Sumaila Umaisha
Publisher: Hybun Publication International
Year of Publication: 2010
No. of pages: 110
ISBN: 978-49181-2-1
Reviewer: Usho Smith Adawa
The spectrum of criminality in Nigeria cut across all facets of life. Violent crimes have become a brand in virtually every aspect of life, incited and perpetuated by hoodlums. Hoodlums, a collection of short stories, focuses on various spheres of existence and how it is desecrated by hoodlums. The hoodlums under the guise of ?freedom fighters?, the hoodlums in security uniform, the hoodlums in the name of Godfathers, the hoodlums in government offices, the hoodlums that feast on the spoils of the society ? contractors, the hoodlums at check points and the hoodlums in politics. These are strata through which violent crimes are inflicted on innocent members of the Nigerian society.
The collection is written against the background of certain violent incidents in Nigeria?s immediate past. The collection is a panoramic survey of crises between 2000 to date.
Thematically, Hoodlums deals with: Criminality, Philosophy, Illusions, Love, Deceit and Faith. A reading of the collection would automatically group the stories according to the following order: Criminality; ?Militants?, ?The Godfather?, ?The Riot?, ?Roadblock?, and ?Do or Die?. Philosophy; ?After the Riot?, ?The King Himself?, ?The Forbidden Path?, and ?Seat of Power?. Illusions; ?The Black Cat? and ?The President?s Portrait?. Love; ?The Last Hiding Place?, ?The Outcast? and ?Soul-mate?. Deceit; ?The Honourable Minister?. Faith; ?The Magic?. ?Hoodlums?, the title story, combines the theme of love, philosophy and criminality.
From these arrays of themes, the collection inferred perfect images of hoodlums, comic relief provided by love, deep cogitation and absolute trust in divine guidance.
A random synoptic analysis would show that ?Militants? and ?After the Riot? deals with wanton destruction of lives and permanent psychological debasement of the survivors of the gory experiences. ?Hoodlums? dwells on individual determination and love, the inflammatory tendencies of negative journalism, subtle advocacy for religious tolerance and extra-judicial killings. ?The King Himself? is an examination of the irony called sanity or insanity. In this story, a presumed insane character is imbued with a superior mental state lacking in the assumed sane people. The multi-millionaire politician, businessman cum bureaucrat has a mental imbalance which ranks him lower than the insane king.
?The Seat of Power? is a departure from the central flow, it is a hallucinatory debunking of a ?millennium bug? which was rumoured as having the capacity to bring the world and existence to a standstill. Technology in this story became an invading threat to cosmic balance as a result of its usurpation of divinity and act of worship to the supreme deity. The story ended on a victorious note, the divine?s defeat of technological menace.
?The Godfather? is reflective of the degenerative effect of godfatherism and its truncation of service delivery to the electorates to whom the political class owe their allegiance. In like vein, ?The Honourable Minister? is a story that satirizes the political hypocrisy in Nigeria. It publicly showcases the failed but applauded projects and policies embarked upon by the power that be, which bears no correlation with the yearning and plight of the masses. The most outstanding idea in this story is the terroristic delight of public office holders in Nigeria. An excerpt from the story sums it up:
?Who says to be a Minister is a small thing??
?What is a masquerade without the mask??
?Without thunder and lightning, how can the mortals appreciate what goes into rainmaking?? (pg 88).
Another vital part of the story is the evasion of reality and a fake projection of the business of governance:
?Sir, this lingering crisis between the academic union of Universities and ??
?The issue has been addressed,? snapped the permanent secretary.
?The National Electric Power Authority??
?What about it?? The Minister was visibly running out of patience. (pg. 90).
This question and answer session stemming from the Minister?s address, ended with a practical demonstration of what the reality of the day was:
?? NEPA is no longer NEPA, but Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN! And it is now repositioned to?.?
The entire hall went blank?solid darkness. (pg. 91).
Here we have a critical positioning of fact; Power Holding Company of Nigeria is repositioned to ensure total and absolute darkness in Nigeria. It is also positioned to serve as a conduit pipe through which national resources will be ?legitimately? looted.
Amidst these tensed existence, the collection provide relief through the medium of love as can be seen in the relationship of Ben and Mairo, Prof. Ameh Den and Amelia, Bulus and Lilian and the relationship between Ilema and her mother.
As a collection of short stories, Hoodlums has succeeded in engaging implicit use of words to narrate series of events and incidents involving individual?s mental and physical activities. The immediacy achieved between the reader and the subject portrayed cannot be equaled to the immediacy found in other genre of fictional prose writing. Hoodlums is in complete compliance with Sir Hugh Walpole?s prescription that: ?a short story should be a story: a record of things happening, full of incidents and accidents, swift movement, unexpected development, leading through suspense to a climax and a satisfying denouement.? No single story in this collection fall short of Walpole?s extrapolations. Another credit of the collection is its brevity and straightforwardness.
In a nutshell, the collection attempts to portray the several dimensions of violence and crime in modern time Nigeria. The author however, was unconsciously impaired by absence of intense use of symbols and imagery in the process of composing the collection. This limitation may be assumed to be intentionally contrived in order to call the attention of the readers to the ugly realities of Nigerians. Hoodlums is a sure delight to short story enthusiasts and an immense contribution to the commonwealth of the short story as a sub-genre of prose fiction.
Usho, currently doing his Masters Degree programme in Literature at ABU, Zaria, is a member of Kaduna State chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA.
- Bound To Violence
Reviewed by Denja Abdullahi Hoodlums, a collection of 17 short stories of varying length, is a much awaited work from the author, Sumaila Umaisha. For well over a decade, his stories have been read on the literary pages of major Nigerian newspapers,...
- Gripping Tales Of Violence
Title: Hoodlums Reviewer: Uchechukwu Agodom Publisher: Hybun Publications International; Pages: 110 pages. A loud explosion desecrates the peaceful atmosphere of the six-year old Tene and her friends as they are going to a playground. Everybody...
- How Chris Ngige Inspired My New Book
In this interview with Henry Akubuiro, Sumaila Umaisha, literary editor of Nigerian Newspapers and two-time winner of Literary Journalist of the Year, awarded by Association of Nigerian Authors, speaks on his new book, HOODLUMS. Excerpts: What is your...
- Hoodlums: Portrait Of A Crisis-ridden Nation
Title of book: Hoodlums Author: Sumaila Umaisha Number of pages: 110 Publishers: Hybun Publication International Date of publication: 2010 Price: N500 Reviewer: Yahaya Ibrahim Over the years, protest writing has become the focal point for many Nigerian...
- Hoodlums: A Commentary On Society
Elizabeth Adeolu?s review of Hoodlums, a collection of short stories by Sumaila Umaisha, published by Hybun; pages ? 110 When one reads Sumaila Umaisha?s collection of short stories Hoodlums, one sees how the everyday mishaps, joys, and sheer insanity...
Literature
Umaisha?s Harvest of Crises
Title: Hoodlums
Author: Sumaila Umaisha
Publisher: Hybun Publication International
Year of Publication: 2010
No. of pages: 110
ISBN: 978-49181-2-1
Reviewer: Usho Smith Adawa
The spectrum of criminality in Nigeria cut across all facets of life. Violent crimes have become a brand in virtually every aspect of life, incited and perpetuated by hoodlums. Hoodlums, a collection of short stories, focuses on various spheres of existence and how it is desecrated by hoodlums. The hoodlums under the guise of ?freedom fighters?, the hoodlums in security uniform, the hoodlums in the name of Godfathers, the hoodlums in government offices, the hoodlums that feast on the spoils of the society ? contractors, the hoodlums at check points and the hoodlums in politics. These are strata through which violent crimes are inflicted on innocent members of the Nigerian society.
The collection is written against the background of certain violent incidents in Nigeria?s immediate past. The collection is a panoramic survey of crises between 2000 to date.
Thematically, Hoodlums deals with: Criminality, Philosophy, Illusions, Love, Deceit and Faith. A reading of the collection would automatically group the stories according to the following order: Criminality; ?Militants?, ?The Godfather?, ?The Riot?, ?Roadblock?, and ?Do or Die?. Philosophy; ?After the Riot?, ?The King Himself?, ?The Forbidden Path?, and ?Seat of Power?. Illusions; ?The Black Cat? and ?The President?s Portrait?. Love; ?The Last Hiding Place?, ?The Outcast? and ?Soul-mate?. Deceit; ?The Honourable Minister?. Faith; ?The Magic?. ?Hoodlums?, the title story, combines the theme of love, philosophy and criminality.
From these arrays of themes, the collection inferred perfect images of hoodlums, comic relief provided by love, deep cogitation and absolute trust in divine guidance.
A random synoptic analysis would show that ?Militants? and ?After the Riot? deals with wanton destruction of lives and permanent psychological debasement of the survivors of the gory experiences. ?Hoodlums? dwells on individual determination and love, the inflammatory tendencies of negative journalism, subtle advocacy for religious tolerance and extra-judicial killings. ?The King Himself? is an examination of the irony called sanity or insanity. In this story, a presumed insane character is imbued with a superior mental state lacking in the assumed sane people. The multi-millionaire politician, businessman cum bureaucrat has a mental imbalance which ranks him lower than the insane king.
?The Seat of Power? is a departure from the central flow, it is a hallucinatory debunking of a ?millennium bug? which was rumoured as having the capacity to bring the world and existence to a standstill. Technology in this story became an invading threat to cosmic balance as a result of its usurpation of divinity and act of worship to the supreme deity. The story ended on a victorious note, the divine?s defeat of technological menace.
?The Godfather? is reflective of the degenerative effect of godfatherism and its truncation of service delivery to the electorates to whom the political class owe their allegiance. In like vein, ?The Honourable Minister? is a story that satirizes the political hypocrisy in Nigeria. It publicly showcases the failed but applauded projects and policies embarked upon by the power that be, which bears no correlation with the yearning and plight of the masses. The most outstanding idea in this story is the terroristic delight of public office holders in Nigeria. An excerpt from the story sums it up:
?Who says to be a Minister is a small thing??
?What is a masquerade without the mask??
?Without thunder and lightning, how can the mortals appreciate what goes into rainmaking?? (pg 88).
Another vital part of the story is the evasion of reality and a fake projection of the business of governance:
?Sir, this lingering crisis between the academic union of Universities and ??
?The issue has been addressed,? snapped the permanent secretary.
?The National Electric Power Authority??
?What about it?? The Minister was visibly running out of patience. (pg. 90).
This question and answer session stemming from the Minister?s address, ended with a practical demonstration of what the reality of the day was:
?? NEPA is no longer NEPA, but Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN! And it is now repositioned to?.?
The entire hall went blank?solid darkness. (pg. 91).
Here we have a critical positioning of fact; Power Holding Company of Nigeria is repositioned to ensure total and absolute darkness in Nigeria. It is also positioned to serve as a conduit pipe through which national resources will be ?legitimately? looted.
Amidst these tensed existence, the collection provide relief through the medium of love as can be seen in the relationship of Ben and Mairo, Prof. Ameh Den and Amelia, Bulus and Lilian and the relationship between Ilema and her mother.
As a collection of short stories, Hoodlums has succeeded in engaging implicit use of words to narrate series of events and incidents involving individual?s mental and physical activities. The immediacy achieved between the reader and the subject portrayed cannot be equaled to the immediacy found in other genre of fictional prose writing. Hoodlums is in complete compliance with Sir Hugh Walpole?s prescription that: ?a short story should be a story: a record of things happening, full of incidents and accidents, swift movement, unexpected development, leading through suspense to a climax and a satisfying denouement.? No single story in this collection fall short of Walpole?s extrapolations. Another credit of the collection is its brevity and straightforwardness.
In a nutshell, the collection attempts to portray the several dimensions of violence and crime in modern time Nigeria. The author however, was unconsciously impaired by absence of intense use of symbols and imagery in the process of composing the collection. This limitation may be assumed to be intentionally contrived in order to call the attention of the readers to the ugly realities of Nigerians. Hoodlums is a sure delight to short story enthusiasts and an immense contribution to the commonwealth of the short story as a sub-genre of prose fiction.
Usho, currently doing his Masters Degree programme in Literature at ABU, Zaria, is a member of Kaduna State chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA.
- Bound To Violence
Reviewed by Denja Abdullahi Hoodlums, a collection of 17 short stories of varying length, is a much awaited work from the author, Sumaila Umaisha. For well over a decade, his stories have been read on the literary pages of major Nigerian newspapers,...
- Gripping Tales Of Violence
Title: Hoodlums Reviewer: Uchechukwu Agodom Publisher: Hybun Publications International; Pages: 110 pages. A loud explosion desecrates the peaceful atmosphere of the six-year old Tene and her friends as they are going to a playground. Everybody...
- How Chris Ngige Inspired My New Book
In this interview with Henry Akubuiro, Sumaila Umaisha, literary editor of Nigerian Newspapers and two-time winner of Literary Journalist of the Year, awarded by Association of Nigerian Authors, speaks on his new book, HOODLUMS. Excerpts: What is your...
- Hoodlums: Portrait Of A Crisis-ridden Nation
Title of book: Hoodlums Author: Sumaila Umaisha Number of pages: 110 Publishers: Hybun Publication International Date of publication: 2010 Price: N500 Reviewer: Yahaya Ibrahim Over the years, protest writing has become the focal point for many Nigerian...
- Hoodlums: A Commentary On Society
Elizabeth Adeolu?s review of Hoodlums, a collection of short stories by Sumaila Umaisha, published by Hybun; pages ? 110 When one reads Sumaila Umaisha?s collection of short stories Hoodlums, one sees how the everyday mishaps, joys, and sheer insanity...