A mother of two, who is a student of Biology at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Kano, has been announced winner of the maiden edition of the Aminiya-Trust Short Story Writing Contest.
Rufaida Umar Ibrahim won the contest with her story, “Dimokuradiyyar Talaka” (The Poor man’s Democracy).
Born in Kano in 1995, Rufaida took her writing career to the public domain in 2014 when she started publishing her work on social media.
“I was inspired to start writing by love for reading”, she said, adding, “Initially, I was writing on paper but, in 2014, I published my story “Mahaifiya” (Mother) in a Facebook group”.
The winning story
“Dimokuradiyyar Talaka” is the story of a young man, Rabiu, who, against the wise advice of his elders, abandons everything and joins the campaign train of a candidate whose promises encourage him to start dreaming big.
After the gruelling campaign, which pit Rabiu against many people because they are opposed to his party, his candidate is declared winner.
However, instead of seeing the paradise on earth he has promised his mother, Rabiu gets jailed at the instance of Alhaji Nababa Jatau, the new local government chairman.
And on his release, he arrives home to witness the funeral prayer of his mother.
The runners-up
The second prize went to Mubarak Idris Abubakar, with his story, “Tufka da Warwara” (The Contradiction).
A student of the Katsina State College of Health Sciences and Technology, Kankia, Mubarak started writing in 2010 when he was in JSS 3.
And the story that came third is “Ranar Kin Dillanci” written by Ubaida Usman.
