Alhaji Garba ShuâÂÂaibu Gashuwa (born 1957) is a contemporary Nigerian Hausa poet.
Alhaji Garba ShuâÂÂaibu Gashua, who is popularly known as "Garba Gashuwa", is a contemporary Nigerian Hausa poet, businessman, politician and a retired civil servant, born in Gasamu, in present-day Jakusko Local Government Area of Yobe State, North-Eastern Nigeria in 1957, to his father SÃÂlisu and mother SalÃÂmatu. GashuwaâÂÂs father was a native of Badawa (Bade) and had four children, namely SaâÂÂidu, Isa, Garba (the third), and Musa. Today, Garba Gashuwa resides in Kano with his family and has many children; among them is Musa Garba Gashuwa, a talented and popular composer.
In conformity with the general practice among Muslims communities in Hausaland, GashuwaâÂÂs education started at the age of two when he attended a traditional Qur'anic school in Gasamu. On graduating he moved to Gashuwa, where he studied hadith, fiqh and other subjects related to Islamic knowledge. Gashuwa did not enroll in any formal Western school, but learnt from friends how to read and write in the Roman script. Gashuwa is also a polyglot.
After completing his studies, the young Gashuwa, started a business in Bade town selling Islamic books such as QawaâÂÂidi, Yasin Arashada, Iza-waqa, Ahalari and DalaâÂÂilul Khairati. Apart from being a book vendor, he was also at one time a shoe vendor and a mai dinkin hula (a Hausa traditional cap-stitcher). He lived in Lagos for many years in pursuit of these entrepreneurial ventures.
GashuwaâÂÂs civil service career began when he eventually relocated and settled in Kano at the request of the late Malam Aminu Kano. His first appointment by the Kano State Government was at CTV-67's Cultural Section, during the administration of Alhaji Aliyu Sabo Bakin Zuwo. He worked there until 1989, when the State's military administrator Colonel Idris Garba, requested his transfer to the Kano State History and Culture Bureau , where he served as an adviser. He worked at the Bureau until he rose to the position of a member of its Board of Directors, a position he held from 1989 to 1995. He retired from service in 1995 and devoted his life to composing Hausa poems in Ajami script.
Gashuwa was inspired by Abdu Nguru, a poet of his acquaintance, and later started on Islamic subjects such as IsraâÂÂi & MiâÂÂiraj, and the miracles and death (wafaat) of Muhammad. His works are normally penned in the Hausa Ajami script.
He started writing political poems during the 1978 campaign tour of National President of the People's Redemption Party, Malam Aminu Kano, held in Gashua and its environs. As a result, Aminu Kano invited Garba Gashuwa to reside in Kano, for him to continue making his contribution to political developments of the time. Whenever Gashuwa chanted his political poems, his audiences would chant the chorus, clapping their hands. Besides religion and politics, Gashuwa wrote on other subjects and, so far, has more than 1,000 Hausa Ajami poems to his name.
Initially, Hausa poets used (and still use) the sixteen Arabic metres adopted from Arabic prosody in their composition. Today, some poets choose styles and themes that are modern, although the influence of Arabic poetry is still visible. Gashuwa bases most of his poetry on the rhythms of legendary Hausa singer and musician, Dr. Mamman Shata of Katsina, with themes including religion, politics, social issues, education, and traditional culture.
In the use of language and poetic devices, "the language of his poems is simple and apt to be understood by the average Hausa". He also make use of Arabic and English loanwords, dialect, proverbs and innuendo to express his points. Above all, Gashuwa always opens and closes his poem with a doxology, no matter the motif. Sometimes his poems are to be accompanied by hand clapping. For Gashuwa "an effective political poem should be chanted in a pleasant voice, accompanied by hand clapping, and should contain proverbs"; he holds that this will surely attract an audienceâÂÂs attention. Below is an example of proverb in his poem named ÃÂan Hakin da ka Raina, "The Little Grass That You Despise". This poem is in ÃÂwar biyar, pentastich form, with âÂÂbÃÂÃÂâ as the external rhyme.
This stanza echoes a proverb in Hausa which states:
Garba Gashuwa has published Fasahar Garba Gashuwa, "The Poems of Garba Gashuwa" (a transliteration from Ajami to Boko script), an Anthology, which includes a collection of 30 out of his many poems, edited by Professor AbdulÃÂadir ÃÂangambo of Bayero University, Kano (2008), and published in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
There is a bachelors dissertation (in Hausa language) on his contributions to Hausa literature, written in 1990 by Amina Tijjani of Bayero University. There is a whole chapter in Abdullahi BirniwaâÂÂs doctoral thesis, 1987, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria, which analyses ÃÂan Hakin da ka Raina, cited above. Another doctoral thesis by Jibril Shu'aibu Adamu of University of Warsaw, Poland, uses his poems as part of materials being studied.
ÃÂan Hakin da ka Raina... (The little grass that you despise...)
Aminu Nuruz Zamá¾±ni (Eulogy to Malam Aminu Kano)
A Jihar Kano mun sam Nasara (We won the victory in Kano State)
MuâÂÂaujizar Manzon Allah (S. A. W) (The Miracles of the Prophet (P.B.U.H)
Aikin Hajji (Pilgrimage)
TaâÂÂaziyyar Tsohon Gwamnan Kano Alhaji Aliyu Sabo Bakin Zuwa (The Poem for Mourning the Late Kano State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Sabo Bakin Zuwo)
TaâÂÂaziyar Tsohon Shugaban ÃÂasar Najeriya Janaral Sani Abacha (The Poem for Mourning the Former Head of State General Sani Abacha.
Rabu da FaÃÂin Mutum (Let them say)
Cin Hanci Haramun ne (Bribery is an Unlawful Act)
Tsafta Cikon Addini ce (Cleanness is the Completeness of Religion)
âÂÂYan Tagwayen JamâÂÂiyyu (The Twin Political Parties S. D. P. & N. R. C.)
Ilimi Garkuwa ÃÂanâÂÂadam (Knowledge, the Shield of Human Being)
Ilimi Makamin Bawa (Knowledge, the Weapon of the Slave)
Ilimi Cikar ÃÂanâÂÂadam (Knowledge, the Completeness of the Human Being)
Munafurcin Karen Ruwa JamâÂÂiyyar A. P. P. (The Hypocrisy of the Ottur, A. P. P. Party)
Mashaya Giya (Drunkards)
Halayen Wasu Mata da Maza (The Behaviour of Some Women and Men)
Matan Aure Hattara Dai! ( Housewives be careful)