About the Book
Drama, 2019
A Cobbler’s Travail, “stages the difficulties of a multi-tiered, multifaceted society faced with the most serious challenges. The play aptly draws the line between the most dignified, peacefully Islamic religion and its preposterous posture of ideological terrorists. Using satire as its weapon the drama exposes societal ills and shows how unanswered economic and administrative issues lead destitute individuals to fall prey to shameless extremists. The play may act as a catharsis to purge a country – Nigeria from the evil rampant on its territory.
The Play “A Cobbler’s Travail” beams a searchlight on religious extremism, and its contemporary resonance in the exploration of what it means to be a Muslim. It explores the powerlessness of those drawn into terrorists movements in a world of inequality, destitution, corruption and oppression.
Prolog (Fragments)
" ... Hussein and Ahmed get frustrated as cobblers who had no shoes to mend all through the day’s work. Ahmed, day dreams of visiting big cities to mend shoes for big Alhajis like Dangote. He has a dream of working in Dangote’s big company someday. This dream is somewhat short-lived when he meets a strange man who invites him to meet with Muguu Mutum. Muguu Mutum promises to make Ahmed richer than the rich Alhajis he wishes to meet in the big city only if he follows the higher pathway. Ahmed is cajoled into believing that the task that awaits him is for the defense of Prophet Mohammed. He is given a certain sum usually given to set the minds of this new acolytes mind at rest, in Ahmed case he sends to his family and friends ... "