“We’re Staging ‘The Village and the Vigilante’ In Five Northern States To Inspire Communities To Action Against Insecurity” – Sen Shehu Sani

Author and ex-lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, held a public presentation of his books, ‘The Perilous Path to Europe: The Sahara Odyssey’, and ‘The Village and the Vigilante’, with the latter staged publicly at the Mamman Jiya Vatsa Writer’s Village in Abuja.

The prolific author said the adaptation of the play ‘The Village and the Vigilante’ to the stage is aimed at inspiring northern communities to united action against bandits and terrorists, who have held them captive in fear for over a decade, and to conscientize the families of those bandits and terrorists.

Set in the fictional town of Ramdagi, the play focuses on how a small farming community was able to shake off the fearful grip of terrorists, which had nearly destroyed their lives and livelihoods, when they, the women, youths, and leader, village chief, and vigilante, in united action, overcame their tormentors.

“For over fifteen years, villages and towns in northern Nigeria have been besieged by bandits and terrorists, threatening their lives and survival as a people. Efforts made to foster security in that part of the country have not yielded much fruit. Today, we have ISIS, Boko Haram, Ansaru, and now the Mambudawa and Lakurawa operating as insurgency groups in northern Nigeria. This was not our life 20 years ago.”

He noted that while government support of the affected communities will go a long way to achieving peace and security in northern Nigeria, there is more that the people can do when they organise themselves and stand up to their tormentors.

“I can assure you that if people are united, enlightened, and supported by the state apparatus, they can defeat these terrorists and bandits, who feel they can use force/arms to subdue others.

“No foreign power will free us from this problem. America will not solve our problems. We have to solve our problems ourselves. And Nigeria has the capacity to do so, given our history of military foreign intervention through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the UN Mission across Africa.

“The Village and the Vigilante’, dramatises the typical situation in a northern Nigerian village or town. It explores the role every stakeholder, from the traditional ruler to community leaders, to the citizens, and even the vigilantes who take up arms to defend the dignity of life and the living, in a terror-afflicted community, can play to overturn insecurity.”

“It is meant to inspire and encourage communities under the siege of banditry and terrorism, not to lose hope but to stand firm, organise themselves, and confront the reality and danger that threatens their lives and survival as a people.”

Sani said that the play will tour four other terrorism-afflicted states in the north – including Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, and Kaduna. And is alongside ‘The Perilous Path to Europe: The Sahara Odyssey’, part of many of his publications set to be released monthly from January to June.

To achieve the million-naira stage production, Sani consulted Orpheus Literary Foundation, which engaged the play’s director and the cast, the latter of whom are graduates of the Theatre Arts Department, Nasarawa State University.

Established in 2019 by poet, playwright, and former director of NCAC, Mallam Denja Abdullahi, the foundation is focused on promoting literature, authors, and writers. And has in the past adapted Abdulahi’s plays ‘Chants in A Cemetery’ and ‘Mamman Jiya Vatsa’ for the stage.

Director Jibril Ahmed adapted the play for the stage and re-adjusted the dialogue to suit the language of the specific location.

“We tried to mix the dialogues – English, Pidgin, and vernacular languages because of the diverse audience in Abuja. However, the cast are versed in different languages, and we will adopt at each location during the tour, the language they best understand.”

resented to the public is Sani’s ‘The Perilous Path to Europe: The Sahara Odyssey’, which centres on the costs of illegal migration to Europe by Nigerian youths seeking greener pastures abroad.

Sani said many Nigerian youths in search of a better life abroad fall victim to human traffickers who take them via the Sahara Desert to Libya, where they end up as slaves, before making the perilous journey through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

“There are no dreams to realise in Europe. You can realise your dreams here in Nigeria. This book holds lessons that will help reduce this form of irregular and illegal migration.”

Written in a third-person and omniscient point of view, ‘The Perilous Path to Europe’ reads more like a textbook slash manual on the issue.

It is not an emotional, first-person narrative. Instead, it is summarised in five parts: the history, root causes, and implications of African youths’ migration to Europe via the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. What it does bring to the discussion is the compilation of a list of means by which young Nigerians can legally migrate to Europe and other continents of the world through work and education. He also stressed the need to highlight the successes of young Nigerians who stayed back home and their methods for achieving success, the role Africans in Diaspora can play in this, and a call to action to end the desperate act of illegal migration.