08/11/2025
Usman Baba Pategi: Mutumin Da Ya Zama “Samanja”
An haifi Usman Baba Pategi a ranar 20 ga Mayu, 1942, a garin Pategi, Jihar Kwara. Shi ɗan gidan sarauta ne, amma ya zabi wata rawani daban — rawanin da aka samu ta hanyar fasaha da hazaka. Ɗan gidan sarautar Etsu Pategi ne, amma maimakon karɓar gadon sarautar kakanninsa, ya zaɓi bin sha’awar da ta sauya fasalin nishaɗin Arewa. Wannan sha’awa ce ta haifi “Samanja,” ɗaya daga cikin fitattun jarumai a tarihin talabijin na harshen Hausa.
Kafin shahara a talabijin, Pategi ya yi wa Najeriya hidima ta hanyoyi biyu masu ƙarfi — na farko a matsayin soja a lokacin Yaƙin Basasa, sannan daga baya a matsayin jakadan al’adu ta hanyar barkwanci. Kwarewarsa ta soja ce ta haifar da shirin Samanja Mazan Fama a tashar NTA, wanda ya nuna rayuwar sojoji cikin barkwanci da hikima. Wannan shiri ya yi fice sosai a shekarun 1980s da 1990s, inda aka haɗa Hausa, Turanci, da Pijin wajen ba da labarai masu ilmantarwa da nishaɗi.
Bayan ya yi ritaya daga rundunar soji a matsayin Sergeant Major a shekara ta 1985, ya shiga aikin gidan rediyo na Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) a Kaduna, inda ya ƙara zurfafa cikin harkar fasaha. Tare da fitattun abokan aikinsa irin su Yusuf Ladan da Mamman Ladan, Pategi ya taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen gina tubalin abin da daga baya ya zama Kannywood, masana’antar fina-finan Hausa.
Sunansa na fasaha, “Samanja” (taƙaitaccen suna na Sergeant Major), ya zama sananne a ko’ina — ba kawai suna ba, alama ce ta tsari, barkwanci, da kishin ƙasa. Ko a lokacin wasanni na ƙasa ko a lokacin daukar fim, kasancewarsa tana da ƙarfi, dariyarsa tana kwantar da hankali, kuma manufarsa ɗaya ce: ilimantarwa ta hanyar nishaɗi.
Ayyukansa sun sa aka girmama shi da dama, ciki har da lambar yabo ta Fellowship daga National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), da kuma girmamawar soja daga Rundunar Sojin Najeriya saboda yadda ya inganta darajar soji ta hanyar fasaha. Duk da matsalolin lafiya da ya fuskanta daga baya — ciki har da tiyata a zuciya a ƙasar India — har yanzu ana girmama shi sosai har zuwa rasuwarsa a ranar 12 ga Nuwamba, 2023, yana da shekaru 81.
Gadon Usman Baba Pategi yana ci gaba da rayuwa a zukatan waɗanda s**a kalli Samanja, s**a yi dariya da shi, s**a koya daga gare shi, kuma s**a gan shi a matsayin gada tsakanin al’ada, ladabi, da barkwanci.
