Jakadiya

Jakadiya is a 2017 drama by Nigerian playwright Ahmed Yerima. Published by Kraft Books Ltd, the play is set in Northern Nigeria and examines patriarchy, gender dynamics, and cultural identity within a royal caliphate.[1]

Plot

Hajiya Bilikisu, enslaved at age five, was a consort to the late emir, Sarkin Abdul Gafar, who promised to elevate her from Jakadiya (head of female slaves) to Magajiya (head of women in the kingdom). The promise remains unfulfilled for 45 years and is denied after emir’s death by Madawaki, a senior chief. Bilikisu bore the late emir a son, but the child was secretly exchanged with the queen’s stillborn child to prevent a slave-born heir. A blind soldier reveals the secret to Bilkisu. When her biological son becomes the new emir, Bilkisu sacrifices her life to perform the required mother’s blessing, without which the emir would die.[1][2]

Themes

The central themes include royal patriarchy, female enslavement and objectification, intra-gender conspiracy, dehumanization of subaltern groups, and the transformation of a victim into an agent through secret knowledge.[3][1]

Reception and critical analysis

Ruth Etuwe Epochi-Olise examines Jakadiya as a symbol of intersectional oppression, arguing that female characters are reduced to "booties of war" —commoditized objects whose primary purpose is to satisfy male sexual pleasure and serve as "baby factories."[4] Olagoke Olorunleke Ifatimehin and Joseph Ali Dameh analyze Jakadiya as a subject caught in a "matrix of slavery" who simultaneously serves and seeks to escape a patriarchal system, engaging in intra-gender oppression while redefining her identity as a human being.[5] Emmanuel T. Gana and Abu-Ubaida Malik analyze Jakadiya as a central conveyor of Hausa cultural codes, representing patriarchal order through verbal and non-verbal signs.[6] Peter Omoko and Chukwuwa Anyanwu argue that the play critiques the inordinate quest for power and explores the dehumanization of subaltern groups, presenting the palace as a site of ludicrous intrigue and a reflection of broader failures in African political stability.[7] Abidemi Olufemi Adebayo describes Hajiya Bilikisu as a victim of lifelong slavery, intra-gender conspiracy, and “dewomanization” within a rigid patriarchal system, highlighting her transformation from passive victim to an active agent using secrets about the royal lineage.[3] Adeleke Adegboyega posits that Yerima uses the work to lament the objectification of women in royal circles, where women often aid in the dehumanization of fellow women.[1] Shamsuddeen evaluates how the main character, Bilikisu, actively utilizes internal factional greed, bribery, and competing ambition among the court’s royal elite to negotiate for her own social elevation as a form of restitution for decades of servitude.[8] Peter Omoko and Chukwuwa Anyanwu states that the play functions as an intentional macro-allegory for leadership failures and broader political instability across modern African states.[9] Isonguyo Akpan observes the binary divisions of gender oppression in the play. He tracks the process of female “thingification”—the systematic reduction of female characters to functional objects within the patriarchal structure.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Adegboyega, A. (23 November 2021). A Critical Analysis of Feminist Aesthetics in Selected Plays of Ahmed Yerima (M.A. thesis). Kwara State University. SSRN 5138817.
  2. ↑ Yerima, A. (2017). Jakadiya. Kraft Books Ltd.
  3. 1 2 Adebayo, A. O. (2020). "Royal patriarchy and intra-gender conspiracy in Africa's age of globalization: the dramatist's reflections in Ahmed Yerima's Jakadiya". African Study Monographs. 40 (4): 133–147.
  4. ↑ Epochi-Olise, R. (2022). "Booties of War: Minority Subjugation in Ahmed Yerima's Jakadiya". c s c a n a d a: 32–40. doi:10.3968/12783.
  5. ↑ Ifatimehin, O. O.; Dameh, J. A. (2024). "Innuendoes of Slavery, Identity and Social Dis/Connections in Ahmed Yerima's Jakadiya and Tess Onwueme's Tell it to Women". Afa'-Zinan: Journal of Theatre and Media Studies. 2 (1): 307–326.
  6. ↑ Gana, E. T.; Malik, A. (2018). "Synergising Dialogue and Stage Directions: A Semiotic Reading of Ahmed Yerima's Jakadiya". International Journal of Current Research in the Humanities (22): 98–112. eISSN 2773-837X. ISSN 0855-9740. ResearchGate 355713574. Archived from the original on 2023-05-31.
  7. ↑ Omoko, P. E.; Anyanwu, C. (2025). "Palace coups: Ambitions and retributions in Ahmed Yerima's Kadenge and Jakadiya". Nigeria Theatre Journal: A Journal of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists. 25 (2): 125–137. doi:10.4314/ntj.v25i2.1. ISSN 2971-6748.
  8. ↑ Shamsuddeen, B. (2020). "Ruptures from Within: A Review of Ahmed Yerima's Jakadiya"". Retrieved 2026-08-20.
  9. ↑ Omoko, P.; Anyanwu, C. "Palace coups: Ambitions and retributions in Ahmed Yerima's Kadenge and Jakadiya". www.semanticscholar.org. Retrieved 2026-08-20.
  10. ↑ Akpan, I. "Rethinking Gender, Patriarchy and Female 'Thingification' in Ahmed Yerima's Jakadiya". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2026-08-20.
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