Rarara Doctorate Degree: Bastardisation Of Honorary Degrees

By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi

I am sure many people who have also heard of the story, or those who will read of it here, will agree that Nigeria has descended to as low as it could ever be by the conferment of a honorary degree on Dauda Kahutu, alias Rarara, and the bizarre congratulatory messages he is getting from the high and mighty of the present regime. This represents the bastardisation of Honorary Doctorate Degrees in Nigeria.

But, as is with most things about the present regime, there is a controversy about the genuineness of the conferment, as an alleged ‘disclaimer’ from the European-American University, Commonwealth of the Dominican Republic, has emerged saying that the ‘Convocation’, where Dauda Kahutu was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree ‘was Fake’.

While the controversy rages, we have to acknowledge the fact that Dauda Kahutu is not the first Hausa singer to be conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree. The late illustrious and famous Alhaji Mamman Shata, also from Katsina State, was conferred with a Honorary Doctorate Degree by the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1988.

Alhaji Mamman Shata’s honour was well deserved, because he was a creative singer whose genre of music is for all times. Additionally, his countless songs are not limited to animate objects, even inanimate ones had his singing spotlight shone on them. Besides, he sung for the rich and famous as he did for the poor and downtrodden, for the prince as he did the pauper, for the living as well as for the dead.

Moreover, all of his songs were ad libbed on the spot, not prepared in advance, and more importantly, his songs are not of the political praise genre, where only those in power enjoyed the privilege of being sung for. And he did not depend on the aid of modern musical instruments to make his songs, he depended on humans all the time.

Even such unsung heroes of the Hausa music, such as Maidaji Sabon Birni, Na Rambada, Dan Kwairo and Dan Maraya of Jos, among many past Hausa singers, merited the honour more than the ‘Shiekh’. Their songs were rich, while his were monotonous.

Dr. Dauda Kahutu is reported to have claimed that he did not give “one kobo to the university before I am awarded the Degree”. He may not have, but someone must have taken care of the European-American third-rate University from the third-rate country of the Commonwealth of Dominican Republic of Panama. Nothing comes for nothing under the present regime of President Tinubu.

In any case, the cunning animal (fox) when invited by the hunters to come to them “as there is no hole”, retorted by asking the hunters “what brings the talk of a hole, if there is no hole?” So we humans will like to know “what brings the talk of giving one kobo, if money did not exchange hands between the conferee and the conferrer of the Honorary Degree”?

An illiterate in Islamic and Western scholarships to the core, the ‘gifted’ Hausa political singer knows next to nothing beside being an uneducated sycophant, who sings only for the rich, and does all his ‘good deeds’ not for the sake of God, but for the world to know that he is a ‘good man’ who ‘donates’ to the less-privileged.

He once attempted to interpret some Holy Quranic verses beamed by the klieg lights but the effort ended disastrously for him, because he turned what was said by God ‘upside down’. He was forced to stop the charade due to the negative response (backlash) he received from the watchers.

At another time, Dr. Rarara, the ‘foreign affairs expert’, called on Nigerians to embrace France with open arms, saying that doing so is in Nigeria’s interest because it is the best and quickest way to development, and that failing in that direction would spell doom for the country.

‘Professor’ or ‘Shiekh’ Rarara, as he is referred to by his equally illiterate supporters, ought know that France did and still does not want a united Nigeria. During the Nigerian 30-month long Civil War, the European country sided actively with the rebels, and is today an unapologetic enemy of Islam, as well as a staunch ally, supporter and friend of any nation that opposes and oppresses Muslims. And this explains the romance between President Tinubu and French President, Emmanuel Macron.

The ‘Foreign Affairs’ expert should tell the Nigerian citizens why France was ignominiously dismissed (wharts and all) by most of its former African colonies if progress was what the European country wanted for them.

For the information of Dr. Dauda Kahutu, Nigeria cannot be in more doom than it already is, courtesy of the regime’s inept stewardship with which it leads the country, encouraged by the likes of him. Nothing more can be expected from a nation captured by illiterates as is presently the case in Nigeria.

After all the razzmatazz about the degree awarded to the Hausa political singer, the brutal truth is that the ‘conferment’ is tantamount to rewarding, and therefore encouraging the genre of praise singing (sycophancy), which has the potential of imbibing in the young ones the culture of indolence and the love of easy-to-make wealth.

May God relieve Nigeria from the present culture of godliness which is threatening to destroy the country of about 230 million people.

Malumfashi writes from Katsina