Why are Tricycles Known as Adaidaita in Kano?
Everywhere you go in Kano, you will find a sea of yellow painted tricycles. You will be tempted to call them Keke.
You will not be wrong.
You will not be entirely right either, for in this buzzing state where the finest of atampa are sold, where there’s someone richer than the rich and someone poorer than the poor, they are referred to as A dai daita
Why? let’s dig into it, shall we?
It all began in 2006. Well, 2003 actually.
When Shekarau became Governor of kano state in May of 2003, his government was met with a number of social ills; drug abuse, corruption, open defecation, children hawking wears on the streets of kano amongst the other 144 malaises he claimed to have identified.
Shekarau, via the help of his Special Adviser on Strategic Communications, Bala Muhammad, started a Reorientation Programme which campaigned against social ills.
I sat down with him to reminisce:
BALA: During 2004–2011, I was Special Adviser to Governor Shekarau on Strategic Communications and doubled as Director General of the State Societal Reorientation Programme which campaigned against social ills such as Almajiri, Girl-Child Hawking (Talla), Drugs Abuse, Corruption, Open Defecation, General Indiscipline (among 144 identified and enumerated malaises). In Hausa, the Societal Reorientation Programme was given the epithet A DAIDAITA SAHU, borrowing from the euphemism of STRAIGHTEN YOUR ROWS during the five daily prayers in the mosques. It caught on as a media frenzy.
When the Imam is ready to begin prayers, there’s often a call for the people in the mosque to stand up, get into rows and, to straighten their row. That, is what Adaiadaita sahu means. To straighten rows, to get in line, to be orderly.
What has this got to do with calling the tricycles Adaidata Sahu, you may ask?
Well, once upon a time, there were a lot of commercial motorcycles in Kano, too. They were called Acaba. Given the nature of a motorcycle, and because for some reason, motorcyclists everywhere believe they have nine lives, they would maneuver their ways into tight corners and dastardly accidents.
Rather than being a fast means of transportation as they were designed to be, they became a death sentence.
The Shekarau led government had no choice but to categorise it as well, a social ill leading one too many to their deaths. Acaba had to go.
BALA: Now, on the other side, accidents on ACABA (Okada) had become too rampant, especially affecting women and children. So a ban was contemplated, but we (my then office) suggested an alternative in procuring these tricycles ONLY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
Were commercial motorcyclists banned from operation then? Are commercial motorcyclists still banned? Eh, depends on where you and where you are heading. Let’s focus on how we got to adaidaita first, okay? Stay with me.
What the Reorientation team came to understand was that although the acaba was a menace, it also provided a source of livelihood for the youth who were riders. Depriving them of a source of income would prove even more disastrous for the State. That was when the idea of bringing in the three wheels came to life.
What if they could give the youth another vehicle that could serve, and yet would make it impossible for them to practice The Fast and The Furious on Kano roads?
Excellent!
After contemplating on a name, the team then decided to ride on the Adaidaita Sahu wave that the programme had been dubbed.
BALA: So, what do we call them — it was an overwhelming public opinion that they are called A DAIDAITA SAHU after the Programme that initiated them. It was 2006. So there!
Now, the three- legged adaidaita sahu has taken over Kano streets!
They have pushed buses and taxis out of business, shaking the whole state on days they go on strike- such is the impact of the kings of Kano roads.
Honorary note; Every car owner in Kano has a scratch with a ting of yellow on their car.
Kano, tumbin giwa. Ko da me ka zo, an fi ka
