Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-rufai, has said that his wife, Hadiza, will take the literary world by storm with the advent of her literary work, displacing prominent writers such as 1986’s noble laureate, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, especially in northern Nigeria.
El-rufai, who revealed this at the launch of Hadiza Isma’s ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’ yesterday, in Abuja, she is multi-talented and with the right atmosphere can do great things.
‘Hadiza is multi-talented, creative and hard working. I do not doubt her competence – that is why I married her.
“When you give her a task [you can] be sure that the work would be done. For us it is a great feat she has achieved,” the proud governor commended the first lady of Kaduna.
Speaking on the book, the former minister charged writers to engage in literary works that have the potential to change the world, considering the powerful tool of words.
“Writers must begin to write creatively in solving societal problems. We can not undermine the power of literature.
“Also, Nigerians should cultivate the culture of reading. Because through reading, ignorance disappears, mystical things are unraveled.” El-rufai advised.
Discussing the book, Isma said she got motivated following the exile of her husband in 2008 and the travails the family went through after political enemies tried to undermine the governor as a result of his doggedness and resoluteness in office.
“It was when my family was almost torn apart that I realized that I had always wanted to write. The situation opened me the more to the literary world and this is the product of my thought.”
Isma also said that her readers should expect more because more of her work would hit book stands.
Hadiza Isma said the work portrays the travails a woman, Tambaya, encountered at the hands of her in-laws, especially her brother in-law, who made sexual advances towards her in the absence of her husband.