In Kano, ‘cornstalk’ durbar also pulls big crowd

For people in the area, Sallah festival celebration is unmatched by any form of celebration, especially the “Hawan Nassarawa Durbar”, when the Emir of Kano pays homage to the state governor and also rides round through the Government Reserved Area (GRA) which incidentally flanked Giginyu town.During such periods, young and the old, male and female […]

For people in the area, Sallah festival celebration is unmatched by any form of celebration, especially the “Hawan Nassarawa Durbar”, when the Emir of Kano pays homage to the state governor and also rides round through the Government Reserved Area (GRA) which incidentally flanked Giginyu town.
During such periods, young and the old, male and female gather along the roadside to pay their unalloyed homage to their Emir, as there is the belief that anyone who set eyes on the Emir during such festivity would live long. Such has been the trend for ages until when the Boko Haram insurgency crept into the country.
Though the people of Giginyu have become so obsessed with the durbar that even a 7-year-old child knews the rudiment of “Hawan Nassarawa” and therefore the cancellation of the celebration has put them in a dilemma, as they have no any other thing to replace the historic event with.
In 2012, a young man, Mubarak Idris Giginyu initiated a caricature of event to serve as a replacement of the cancelled durbar that year. Though it was durbar characterized by cornstalk decorated to serve as horses and what initially started as a mere satire turned out to receive a total accolade just like the original durbar in the town.
According to the initiator who also poses as the “emir” during the cornstalk durbar, the idea came to him at a time when the people of the area were missing the real durbar. He added that, the main aim was to ease their grief at the cancellation of the real durbar and to provide fun as well as entertain the community.
“When I was nursing the idea of initiating something similar to the durbar, I never knew it will become a yearly thing and also well accepted. My intention then was just to provide an avenue to drive away boredom and idleness during the Sallah festivities but I later came to realize that the whole thing goes beyond that and now for three years, we have been holding this cornstalk durbar festival consecutively. The good thing here is that even the community leaders and security operatives have come to approve the gesture as they have given us their blessings,” Mubarak said.
Infact, what really distinguishes the real durbar from the one we are having is the absence of live horses. The royal regalia, the royal songs and the colourful arrangement of participants give a true scenario of a real durbar. However, most of the participants are youths and also many of them are dressed in other tribal dresses to portry unity and prosperity.
It was also gathered that initially, the stalk durbar was not formally organized but it was later formalized under a constituted committee headed by the initiator. However, selected individuals from different streets in the area who were also members of the organizing committee were given the title of “district heads” of their streets and to represent their respective streets during the durbar.
The irony of it all is that even though the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II has restored the real Hawan Nassarawa this year; the stalk durbar still held in Giginyu town where hundreds of fun seekers stormed the area to catch instruments a glimpse of proceedings as it has become part of the community’s activities.
People from far and near throng the streets of Giginyu paying homage to the “Emir” as he goes round on a cornstalk fully adorned in royal regalia, as he and his streets “district heads”  go round amidst royal drumming through various musical stationed at strategic places.
According to Muhammad Sani Adamu, a hotelier in nearby Jigawa State and a native of Giginyu Town, he attended the last two stalk durbar. He said the durbar has been a source of unity and harmony among the youths in the area. “I could remember when we were growing up, as a way of keeping ourselves busy, during the Sallah festival; you can go to the football field where competitions were organized or be at the public children park.
“But today, there is no such thing, big mansions have now replaced the football fields; the public parks are the shadow of what they used to be. In such instances, during festivities, young people become idle and the introduction of the stalk durbar has saved the community from drugs and gangsterism.
“Therefore, when next you are in Nassarawa Local Government for the Sallah festival, don’t forget to visit Giginyu town for the stalk durbar festival,” Sani said.