Daba: Cock Crow at Dawn

Daba: Cock Crow at Dawn

Thursday, March 4, 2021 1:48 pm


Sadiq Daba in October 

By Andrew Agbese

In all the episodes of the long 1980 soap opera, Cock Crow At Dawn, that I’ve watched, I can’t remember a single episode or scene with either a shrine, visit to babalawo or recourse to some bunkum spiritualism as a solution to any problem.

When the character, Bello (George Menta), lost his job in the city, life became very difficult for him and his family.

He had a teenage daughter, Larai, (Tola Awobode) who was in secondary school and was on the verge of being exposed to what city life entails to a young girl like her.

In one of the episodes, Larai’s close friend and school mate, took her to the house of her boyfriend and was enticed to take a sip from a glass of whisky and to take a pull at a cigarette.

Bitrus, (Sadiq Daba) her elder brother was also facing a similar situation. With nothing to do, he was being lured into crime by friends.

Bello saw that he could not cope with the demands of the city and decided to relocate to the village and go into farming., With little or no resources, he went into farming and later took a bank loan and expanded the business.

No rituals, no sacrifice, yet the man was able to succeed.

This reflected the struggles and patience of yesteryear.

But today, you can hardly find a good soap not replete with scenes that promote rituals and some voodoo enchantment.

These also reflect the lack of patience and propensity for instant wealth at all cost of today.

Kai, we’ve really lost it over the years.

May Sadiq’s soul rest in peace.

-Andrew Agbese, a journalist, writes from Abuja


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