Shop

Obari Gomba employs tropes of satire and social commentary, pyrotechnics of wit, beauty of language, diversity of style, force of imagination and experimentation, and first-person point of view to give immediacy to his context and content. The essays risk everything, through a blend of aesthetics and insightfulness, to compel us to pay attention to the intractable problems of existence. It is an intense examination of our culture, a critique of our social structures, a show of irreverence towards abusive authority, and a resistance against the normalisation of evil.

This novel explores life, love, friendship, loss and the effects of extremist politics and religion on everyday life in Northern Nigeria.

Dantala lives in Bayan Layi, Nigeria and studies in a Sufi Quranic school. By chance he meets gang leader Banda, a nominal Muslim. Dantala is thrust into a world with fluid rules and casual violence. In the aftermath of presidential elections he runs away and ends up living in a Salafi mosque. Slowly and through the hurdles of adolescence, he embraces Salafism as preached by his new benefactor, Sheikh Jamal. Dantala falls in love with Sheikh’s daughter, Aisha, and tries to court her within the acceptable limits of a conservative setting. All the while, Sheikh struggles to deal with growing jihadist extremism within his own ranks.