[b]I was reading a thread earlier reminiscing with great pleasure when I received the shock of the year. The thread was hosted by the supermod himself Ishilove www.nairaland.com/3228867/nairalanders-how-many-remember-these the thread was about classic novels written in English language.
What caught my attention was the book titled African Night's Entertainment'. Having read both the Hausa and the English versions, I never paid attention to the discrepancy in the names of the authors until I saw it on the thread. I zoomed in the picture of the book to make sure I saw the name of the author correctly. I quickly googled and I was shocked to find out that while the Hausa version 'Jiki Magayi' was authored by John Tafida Umaru and co-authored by popular Hausa writer Rupert East, the English version was claimed to be written by Cyprian Ekwensi!
I simply added John Tafida in the search and I came through this article written by one Ibrahim Musa. I searched further but couldn't find any tangible action taken against this greatest plagiarism of all times in Africa, in fact in the world of literature.
PS for those who can read Hausa if you haven't read the Tafida's version try to do and compare.
When Jiki Magayi was first authored, Cyprian Ekwensi was twelve years old![/b]

In the literary world, Cyprian Ekwensi is a
household name. This holds true particularly
for the volume of work he churned out within
the corpus of African literature. He was a very
good story teller, especially of the urban tale,
that many people see him as a better story
teller than the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka or
even the more famous novelist, Chinua Achebe.
In stark contrast, John Tafida can be
considered a nonentity. He is not even popular
in the region (Northern Nigeria) where he was
born and bred, and where Hausa, the language
he wrote in is the unofficial lingua franca. The
world knows very little about Tafida, who lived
in the obscure Wusasa quarters in Zaria and
wrote, perhaps, only one book in a vernacular.
All these disadvantages robbed him of a
chance to popularity and even a recognition for
Pulitzer or Booker Prize, or some other award.
In another contrast, the two did not even write
in the same medium (language), and there was
no clear evidence their paths ever crossed.
Why am I interested in these novelists despite
that my background has nothing to do with
literature? As a physician, I should be seen
writing about diseases and cure, or on great
personalities in Medicine. For obvious reasons,
I have scant interest in reading novels. My little
passion for it died with my teenage. However,
from the few I have read, I am left with a puzzle
that refused to get solved despite my curiosity
and nagging. I learned how to read in Hausa
language first before I could read in English.
So, it was natural that most of the books I came
across early in my life were authored in Hausa.
I must confess that very few of those books left
a mark on me since the vast majority had a
pattern of telling stories on a romance with a
happy ending. Scholars of Hausa literature even
tagged them as Kano market literature;
apparently a pejorative term signifying poor
writing quality, juvenile treatment of the
subjects and limited creativity. However, there
was a generation of creative works before the
advent of Kano market literature which was
outstanding. I can still remember passages and
snippets from Abubakar Imam’s Ruwan Bagaja,
Tafawa Balewa’s Shaihu Umar, John Tafida’s
Jiki Magayi, Gwarzo Muhammad’s Idon
Matambayi, and Bello Kagara’s Gandoki. These
five novels were authored decades before I was
born and they remain classics. They emerged
out of a literary competition organized by the
then head of the Translation Bureau in Zaria,
Mr. Rupert East, in 1933. Incidentally, Mr. East
himself is the co-author of Jiki Magayi. The
main drive behind that award was to stimulate
the culture of creative writing in Hausa
language. The overall winner, Imam, went on to
become well established as an author whose
other books like Magana Jari Ce, Karamin Sani,
and Tafiya Mabudin Ilmi became must read for
every pupil passing through formal school in
northern Nigeria.
[b]It was not until 1955 when John Tafida’s Jiki
Magayi was published. This notwithstanding
that it won an award in 1933. By 1962, Cyprian
Ekwensi also published his novel titled An
African Night Entertainment. These two books,
by commission or omission, happened to be an
exact replica of each other. They only differed
in a way that one was written in Hausa and the
other in English. From the first sentence to the
last paragraph, Ekwensi appeared to have lifted
and translated verbatim the work of John
Tafida. I tried to find out whether Tafida’s
consent was sought before his work was copy-
pasted? I could not get a definitive answer to
this query. What is apparent to me is that there
is no acknowledgment or reference anywhere to
Jiki Magayi as the original idea which Ekwensi
stole and appropriated the whole credit for
himself. Nothing like that appeared in the
preface or foreword of Ekwensi’s plagiarized
book.
In the Encyclopedia Britannica entry page,
Ekwensi; an Igbo man, was said to have been
born on September 26, 1921, in Minna (present
capital of Niger state). By implication, he was
barely 12 years when Tafida authored Jiki
Magayi. This evidence is a pointer that Tafida
wrote his book at the time Ekwensi could not
have dreamt of becoming a novelist. Ironically,
it appears that there is a grand design to lend
this issue a fig leaf. This is a clear case of
literary fraud that should not be let to go
without correcting the wicked wrongdoing.[/b]
It is not uncommon in the literary world to see
prominent personalities involved in giraffing
other people’s work without proper attribution.
Even Martin Luther of saintly projection was
found to have plagiarized some sections of his
dissertation. His famous speech titled “I Have a
Dream” was also a subject of contention. Yet
no single case to my knowledge is as worst as
Ekwensi’s, not even Johnny Cash’s case of
absorbing Gordon Jenkin’s lyrics in his song
titled “Folsom Prison Blues” could parallel the
injustice done to Tafida by Ekwensi.
Finally, I crave the indulgence of the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and
National Copyright Commission to institute a
joint probe that would unravel the mystery
behind this serious distortion of literary history,
or what I choose to call literary fraud of the
millennium. We owe it to John Tafida to ensure
that justice is done him and his remaining
family. If it is discovered that his work was
lifted without consent or compensation, every
penny derived from that work should be given
to his family. The fact that none of them came
forward to sue Ekwensi for stealing their work
is a signal that they may not be in the right
frame of social standing to warrant such. They
need this compensation to pay school fees to
train more Tafidas. I also expect the federal
government of Nigeria to withdraw the national
honor awarded to Ekwensi. We have seen in
Germany where two ministers (defense and
education) were stripped of their Ph.D. honors
after it was discovered that they had
extensively plagiarized their work.
Ibrahim Musa is a graduate student in
Epidemiology at Texas A&M University. He can
be reached on muazamusa@yahoo.com

www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/art-ideas/ekwensi-s-an-african-night-entertainment-and-john-tafida-s-jiki-magayi/130379.html

Maka obu onye igbo? Ndi ara.

*Modified
I have sent an email inquiry about the issue to the original writer of the article Ibrahim Musa and the publishers of the two versions.
It's sad we don't have any Avenue to either independently investigate or an authority that can do that.
But I Assure you I would never see a wrong doing and do nothing about it.
Thanks to those who have read the two versions and have confirmed their undoubted similarity.
Also those optimistic Ekwensi might obtain some covert license to translate the book without acknowledging the original writer, I will try to find that out too.
***REMODIFIED
I received two emails moments ago from the initial investigator of the case Dr. Ibrahim Musa this is what the mail read. " From the little I could glean from my sources, the then northern Nigeria regional government actually sued Ekwensi for plagiarism. Unfortunately, civil war broke when the case was incubating and everything halted as a result. By the time the war was over, there was no more regional governments. The system became unitary with emergence of states. Thus, nobody was interested in revisiting that 'inconsequential' issue. Justice Mamman Nasir can shed light on this."
Cc emonkey nwaanambra1 sparkle777 shizzle111 Angelsss nonjebose zaboy gaddafithe2nd Ishilove redoil phi001 fujirice Okudiover Nickydrake ihuomadinihu kindness4life adexsimply ideykwum ......
Thank you all for making the thread lively. I guess the above information should have been the first on this thread which would have made things clear in the onset. Nevertheless, I believe we all learn something new today.
We have resolved to do our best to reopen the case and pursue it to a logical conclusion. I am directed to contact Justice Mamman Nasir for further information and guidance about the case. It baffles how and why they allow the issue to rest over all these years.

Interesting

You can help him go to Court

This doesn't put food in ma plate..next topic pls!

Hokay.... Next please

*Grabs popcorn*

why u complaining na, are you the author? the author didn't complain for a reason.

[size=28pt]Yes[/size]


Same way PSquare plagiarizes other artists.

These people sha. Their "business" is importing fake china goods. Why won't anything else be copy copy with them?

Maybe he took permission

tryna make more money abeg

hmm...

Yes

HalfTruth:
[size=28pt]Yes[/size]


Same way PSquare plagiarizes other artists.

These people sha. Their "business" is importing fake china goods. Why won't anything else be copy copy with them?

it's not a tribal bashing thread pls

na wa o. everybody just dey copy

@Op,can u provide us with excerpts from John Tafida's book,thanks.

Food for name checkers... Make una wake up. Let the war begin

Behold, another word has just been added to the list of Corrupt Practices in nairaland, it is called........ Plagiarize...........




What is yours is yours and what is not yours can never ever be yours, I rest my case..... Courrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt

Please where can I get e-book of Africa Night of Entertainment...

This na serious issue o. But Cyrian Ekwensi should av acknowledged him one way or the other. unless it is part of their agreement. for CE not to do so.

Let me chk Oba's Palace Library o. I might just see the Bini version of 'For a Roll of Parchment' or 'Drummer boy' written in 1914..

Cyprian was a great writer....buh let me ask u...y are u crying more than d bereaved??

Well this sure is interesting! Cypril was born in the north too, so might have come across the book at some point. I'm not an expert in such issues, but if it turns out true, I think the originals authors family should take up the case, as it might fetch them some cash

For ya'll playing the tribal card up there, ya'll need to grow the fcvk up!!! Like how do you still behave this way in this time and age... pfff

"Taking panadol for another person's headache ".

And it didn't occur to the OP that there probably must have been some kind of understanding between Cyprian Ekwensi and the original owner of the literary material?

Some people sha...

Hmmm...interesting. .

ipledge10:
Please where can I get e-book of Africa Night of Entertainment...

Na now u wan read am. na now d thing dey hungry u. where u dey since?

emalek86:
why u complaining na, are you the author? the author didn't complain for a reason.

LikeJesus:
"Taking panadol for another person's headache ".

And it didn't occur to the OP that there probably must have been some kind of understanding between Cyprian Ekwensi and the original owner of the literary material?

Some people sha...presuming they are all knowing, Berthe read a book
"Taking panadol for another person's headache ".

And it didn't occur to the OP that there probably must have been some kind of understanding between Cyprian Ekwensi and the original owner of the literary material?

Some people sha...presuming they are all knowing, Berthe read a book

Why do you people support anything criminal in nature?

imagine, just look at people's comments. anyway I was privileged to read the book "an African nights entertainment " and it left a mark on me though I would love to read it again ( read it only once) . however, if Mr. ekwensi made such a large scale "shoplifting" of another man's idea without properly referencing him there's no two names for it. I hope the truth is found out (and I really hope uncle Cyprian took permission). my best of his books remain trouble in form six.

he did and he should be sued if he doesnt acknowledge d real source

LikeJesus:
"Taking panadol for another person's headache ".
And it didn't occur to the OP that there probably must have been some kind of understanding between Cyprian Ekwensi and the original owner of the literary material?
Some people sha...presuming they are all knowing, Berthe read a book
"Taking panadol for another person's headache ".
And it didn't occur to the OP that there probably must have been some kind of understanding between Cyprian Ekwensi and the original owner of the literary material?
Some people sha...presuming they are all knowing, Berthe read a book

You are a shame to Nigeria, your ethnic group, your family, and to the whole world.

This case should be properly investigated just like Philip emeagwali was busted for his lies. Bunch of buttwipes !

There is copyright in the translated version of a literary work. Most times the original author may assign that right to another person with an understanding. Nevertheless, even if permission was not obtained, Cyprain will still have copyright in the translated version because it satisfies the originality and fixation requirement albeit he might have infringed the original author's own copyright as well. This is not about plagiarism, he put efforts into translating it and the law recognizes that. It would be plagiarism if he reproduced it in Hausa.

I can decide to translate Shakespeare's works into Yoruba and make money off it and nobody will come after me.