For centuries, one of the most effective weapons of political combat, especially in very hierarchical societies, has been the deployment of invective. Recipients feel devalued, ridiculed and humiliated. Issues are evacuated and emotive responses takeover the political terrain. Sir Louis Phillip Odumegwu Ojukwu, OBE (1909 – 1966), Nigeria’s first billionaire who lent his car for the use of Queen Elizabeth, abandoned politics the day a “common thug” abused him at an NCNC meeting. Sanusi Dantata also abandoned politics when a thug insulted him while he was presiding over the inaugural meeting of the Kano branch of the National Party of Nigeria in 1978. Political actors have always known it; vituperations lubricate political machines assembled to exclude or drive out opponents. Of course, the use of vile language does not succeed in driving out hardcore politicians because they know the game and respond with the same tactic. This is the problem we are facing today.
During election periods, professional purveyors of vile language, musicians for the most part, are at the top of their game as they receive huge monetary rewards for insulting the opponents of their patrons. This point was well made in the essay “Rarara’s invective barbs: Innuendoes, body shaming and Kano politics”, by Prof Abdalla Uba Adamu. The artist Dauda Adamu Abdullahi Kahutu, with the stage name of Rarara, has been seen for a long time as the master in the genre of the invective song in Hausa. Professor Adamu defines it as a literary device in which one attacks or insults a person or thing through the use of abusive language and tone. The objective is to generate negative emotions against a targeted person. Since 2010, Rarara has been a master of popular Hausa invective oral poetry. For a good price, he uses his skills to abuse, insult and body-shame anyone he is paid to insult. Including, of course, former masters and associates.
Adamu recalls that one of Rarara’s earliest non-invective songs was “Saraki Sai Allah” (in honour of then Governor Ibrahim Shekarau’s turbanning as Sardaunan Kano in 2010 by the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero). In 2011 – barely a year later – when Shekarau failed to anoint Rarara’s new ‘master’, Deputy Governor Abdullahi T. Gwarzo, to succeed him, Rarara became ballistically invective – and established a career in body shaming, abuses and innuendoes against various previous masters. Shekarau bore the brunt of abuses – often a case of the kettle calling the pot black. No one was spared his invective barbs. Deeply cut. Insulting. Spread over 39 songs, from 2014’s “Malam Ya Yi Rawa Da Alkyabba”, to 2023’s “Tangal-Tangal.” He concludes: “Show him more money, and he will insult the same friend he praised, and heap praises on the enemy he insulted.”
Rarara rose to fame on the basis of praising Muhammadu Buhari and attacking his opponents. However, shortly after Buhari left office in 2023 and President Tinubu assumed power, Rarara surprised many Nigerians by releasing songs sharply criticising the Buhari administration over economic hardship, inflation, and the rising cost of living. He had moved on and became the defender of President Bola Tinubu. Besides Messrs Buhari and Tinubu, the singer at different times publicly supported or worked alongside influential northern politicians, including former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, former Kano Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Kano Governor Ibrahim Shekarau and Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin.
The gubernatorial politics in Gombe State has offered an incredible stage for invective of the Rarara tradition to thrive. For more than two years, Isa Pantami, the former Minister of Communications, has openly signalled his intention to contest the governorship of Gombe State. The Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, had promised a level playing field for the primaries. Pantami has been furious that the promise by the APC leadership was not kept. In a famous BBC Hausa interview, Pantami promised to lead a campaign for justice at his exclusion, it would be the type of battle that no one has seen previously, he promised. Rarara entered the field of play. He did not merely criticise Pantami. He accused him of drug addiction, massive corruption, and issued thinly veiled threats of referral to anti-corruption agencies. He then, in the same breath, lavished praise on Jamilu Gwamna, the APC governorship candidate. The war has deepened and spread as politicians, religious leaders, lawyers, civil society actors, and social media users debate whether the singer crossed the line between political criticism and personal attack. Although Mr Rarara never mentions Isa Pantami by name, the song’s references leave little doubt among political observers about its target. Within hours of its release, the song had spread across Facebook, X, TikTok, WhatsApp, and YouTube, generating millions of views and becoming one of the most discussed political subjects in northern Nigeria. The debate is about where political expression ends, and character assassination begins.
Part of the debate is that Rarara and several Hausa social influencers, such as Danbilki Kommander, openly flaunt the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and his principal, Bola Tinubu, as their godfathers. They believe they can attack anyone with impunity. The other issue is that Isa Pantami is a well-known Islamic scholar in addition to being a politician. The religion-politics divide has inflamed a lot of the discussion. Several musicians have emerged and produced lyrics defending Pantami’s religious and political credentials.
Rarara rose to national prominence as one of the strongest cultural voices supporting former President Buhari and the APC. His campaign songs became an integral part of the late Buhari’s electoral brand and were regularly played during political rallies across northern Nigeria. Rarara’s massive personal wealth has become legendary. He has defined a path to success that many young upcoming musicians are copying today. Unfortunately, they are evacuating civil language from political discourse, and vile language versus vile language is the new discursive mode. This is unfortunate, as no one is talking about the manifesto of candidates. Emotional decisions are being made on the basis of how impressed people are with the invective content of popular narratives. It is a disturbing situation.
