AbdulAzeez Hassan aka A.O. Hassan is an Officer of the Nigerian Prisons Service and a prolific writer. He is the author of many books of fiction, among which are The Short Route, A Night of Patriotism, The Patriot, The Innavator's Paradise, and Hidden Angle. In this interview with ABDULHAFEEZ T. OYEWOLE,  he delves into books, his journey into writing and his dream for an upright Nigeria.

☆ Who are you and what's your growing up like?

My name is Hassan Abdulazeez. My penname is  A.O. Hassan. My parents are retired teachers. My dad retired as a school Principal while my my mum retired as an Assistant Headmistress. I am the first born of my parent's three children.

I spent most of my childhood periods in Kwara State. Though, I was born in Lokoja which was part of Kwara State as of the time of my birth. My dad was later transferred to Omu-Aran Teacher's College; he was transferred to Offa Teacher's College in 1986 and we relocated to Offa with him.

Six months later, he was transferred to Government Day Secondary, Rore, a village that was few kilometers from Omu-Aran. He decided to settle us in Offa while he used to come home on weekend basis. I did both my primary and secondary education in Offa. 

After spending about sixteen years in Offa, we moved to Ilorin in the year 2000.

☆Can you give a brief about your educational background and your work experience?

I am Superintendent of Prisons working with Nigerian Prisons Service. I joined the service in 2006. I have served in different capacities since then.

I was a Special Assistant to the Controller of Prisons, Borstal Training Institution, from 2013 till 2017. I was also the Founding Editor of Changing For the Best, a publication of Borstal Training Institution. 

For my tertiary education, I have both my first and second degrees in Sociology from University of Ilorin. At Masters Degree level, I specialized on Criminology and Penology, I also possess a Post Graduate Diploma in Education from National Teachers' Institute, Kaduna.

I am at present a Ph.D student at the University of Ilorin, also in the Department of Sociology.

☆ How did you you venture into writing?

I discovered my writing career immediately I completed my secondary school, I was just sixteen years old as of that time. 

The title of the manuscript was Act of Revenge; however, unfortunately, my dad though very educated did not support my writing career, he believed it was going to distract me from pursuing my tertiary education; again he did not see writing as a career that could put food on the table.

Nevertheless, as a person with choleric personality, I was undeterred. I wrote two other manuscripts in 1998, The Revolution  and Red Diana. 

We grew up during military regimes and the era had influence on our perspectives and inspirations. Also, kudos must be given to my dad because the library he had then exposed me to reading and improved my horizon in the aspect of knowledge. In the same vein, the secondary school I attended had a standard library where I had the opportunity of reading books like Coral Island, Treasure Island, A to to Arere. 

In my father's library, I read books like Christmas in the City, Akpan and the Smugglers, Agbalagba Akan by Oladejo Okediji, Aja Lo Leru also by Oladejo Okediji. 

When we were growing up, there was no social media, so I had enough time to read.

☆ Which books have you published and are you working on new ones?

I publishedThe Reward for Hardwork in 2002, Shun Cultism & Crimes in 2004, The Short Route in 2005, Once Upon a Time on a Dangerous Path in 2007, The Innovators' Paradise and A Night of Gallantry in 2011.

The Hidden Betrayer, The Patriot, My Adventure with The Kidnapers, Leopard Can Never Change its Spots, The Crime Fighter were all published in 2016.

I have also published many of them as ebooks on Kindle.

☆ Are your books' characters real or fictitious?

They are both real and fictitious. I try to use imaginary characters and names that have no affiliation with any religion because of the heterogeneous nature of the Nigeria society.

☆ Are your books products of real life occurrences or  from imagined plots?

Some of my books are products of real life experiences. I use to convert my real life experiences to imagination and simultaneously to plots.

☆ What's The Hidden Betrayer about  and how were you inspired to write the book?

The book The Hidden Betrayer discussed many themes such as: marital challenges, corruption, smuggling activities, hard work. 

Akin, the protagonist in the book is a university graduate who was almost killed by hired assassins in the early part of the book. Who wanted Akin dead? 

The book reveals the level of moral decadence in our society; or how would some group saddled themselves with the task of collecting money to kill human beings like themselves? 

Akin was betrayed by the least expected person, the reason for the title The Hidden Betrayer. 

The idea to write the book came in 2013 due to the prevalence of corrupt practices and other social vices in the society.

☆ What are takeaways from The Hidden Betrayer, especially from the worthy significant angles of Atinuke and Banke's roles in the book?

In- laws should leave couples to enjoy their marriages! I worked in a Borstal Training Institutions for about ten years and during the period, I was able to discover that most marriages crashed because of external influences, especially from mother-in- law and sister- In- laws. The aftermath effects of single parent family is breeding of juvenile delinquents and it is the juvenile delinquents that usually graduates into adult hardened criminals. 

Family life is not basically about money but love and understanding, once the couples understand themselves, other things will set in. Take the case of Akin for instance, though the beginning was very tough, through perseverance and determination, he rose to join the upper class in the social ladder.

In- laws should stop seeing their son-in- laws as oil well that should be providing money for them. It is a wrong mentality. People should work and save towards their old age. In- laws should understand that the husbands of their daughters have a lot of responsibilities, he will pay house rents, take care of their daughters and their own children.

Love should be natural and it should not be on the basis of what spouses stand to get. Some things should be rechecked in our culture. Also, efforts should be made to unravel many mysterious deaths; most of the deaths in our climes are not ordinary.

☆ How do you jostle between work, family and writing?

It is basically about time management. A man that wants to succeed in life has to learn time management. I have a wonderful family that understands the need for me to pursue my literary career and public career.

As a paramilitary officer, my call to duty is twenty-fours in a day. This implies that I can be called upon to serve anytime. I always move around with my laptop and once I get inspiration to write, I put my laptop or writing materials to use. As soon as I am free at work, the next place I rush to is home to be with my family.

☆ It seems that the larger crops of your published books came out in 2016, how did you make this happen?

Manuscripts like The Hidden Betrayer, The Crime Fighter, Leopard cannot Change its Spots, Once Upon An Evening, and At The Professional Hotel were written in 2013. I wrote the Crime Fighter when I was in 200L. However, The Patriot was written towards the tail end of 2015. The opportunity to publish all of them came in 2016.

☆ To what extent is the corrupt practices in the Custom Service in Golas, the Federal Republic of Togogia, relatable in our country's military and paramilitary make up?

In Nigeria, it is not uncommon to see civil servants living flamboyant life styles that do not correlate with their incomes. We heard and read stories of how custom officers confiscate goods from business men, only to convert it to their personal uses. For instance, the Comptroller General of Customs has been remitting trillion of naira, what was happening to the money made by his predecessors?

Look at the JAMB for instance, where has Prof. Oloyede been able to generate seven billion naira? What happened to the previous funds generated by his predecessors? 

And as pointed out in The Hidden Betrayer, the members of the society are not helping matters, they expect public office holders to use their positions to steal public funds and come and dash it out to them. 

The reason Banke was advising Akin to use his custom service to make money. We are getting a lot of things wrong in this country. Public positions are to serve humanity and not to amass wealth. I have been a victim of this erroneous belief. I have been told by some neighbours and relations that I am not "sharp" that my standard of living should be higher than it is. One of such people even confronted me that I should now have opportunity to collect bribes but I was quick to rebuke like Akin, that my God given position is to serve humanity and not to exploit the less privileged of the society.

☆ What draws you to experimenting more on crime-fiction?

My background in Sociology. I earlier on mentioned that I studied Criminology and Penology at my Masters Degree level. Also I may attribute it to my career in the Nigerian Prisons Service.

☆ How did you get to publish your first book and how do you see publishing industry in Nigeria?

At this juncture, I will like to thank Abiodun Kolapo, alias NUDOIB, and Agoola Abdulqadir. These were my friends that provided money for me to publish my first two books. They were God sent: God used them to bring a turning point to my literary career.  

Publishing Industry in Nigeria is just like a microsom of the larger society where "man knows man" plays a significant role in getting your book published. most Nigeria publishers are not interested in assisting budding authors; most of them are only interested in publishing the work of renowned authors. The reason many authors have decided to embrace self publishing. The birth of many online publishing platforms has also assisted tremendously to help writers publish their works.

Many Nigeria publishers have a style of collecting your manuscripts and keeping it for a long period of time, only for them to return it after it has stayed for years with them.

At least the notable publishing industries are doing well in the aspect of reaching out to a large audience, they have large marketing network.

However, many of them still need to embrace online publishing. Likewise, concerted efforts should be made to assist oncoming writers.

☆ To what extent have your books mirror life, security situations/challenges in and out of the country's military and para military services?

The Hidden Betrayer discussed smuggling activities, The Patriot discussed the challenges of insurgency and how it can be tackled, The Crime Fighter discusses violence and organized crimes and law enforcement officers need to wake up to their responsibilities. From my own view, I will say my works has to a large extent unveils our life denials, the obvious security challenges in the Nigeria society. 

Adventure With The Kidnappers depicts ritual killings in the Nigeria society, Once Upon An Evening at The Professional Hotel exposes the challenges of fighting white collar crimes. So, I think my book to a large extent mirrors our day to day activities, challenges and situations. It is only for the concerned people and bodies to take the bull by the horn.

In military and paramilitary services, you cannot take a lone decision, your decisions are subjected to your superior approvals. Unfortunately, in "Togogia Republic", the people at the corridors of power usually align with the criminals to truncate the jobs of military and paramilitary personnel as depicted when Akin was ordered to release the smugglers he risked his life to arrest by his boss, CP Mufos.

☆ How can writing be used to positively influence the society, using your books as examples?

At the early stage of this interview, I revealed how my exposure to some books imbibed the culture of honesty and industry into me. For instance, a book like Atoto Arere unveiled the evil of broken home to me. It went further to teach me the need to embrace patience and perseverance. 

In most of my books, the protagonists are usually confronted with a myriad of challenges but, they usually remained undeterred and as a result gets to their goals. For instance, in a Night of Gallantry, Iroko suffered a broken heart from his girlfriend, his parents were not fantastically rich. However, he remained steadfast in the pursuits of his goals following the conformity path and with God on his side, he reached an enviable position in  the society.

Though the reading culture has drastically dropped and this development can be attributed to numerous reasons, the revolution of social media, the evolution of music industry,  the present youngsters unlike during our periods are now married to Facebook, Instagram and other forms of social media.

When we were growing up, we had books like My Father's Daughter, Sweet Mother, Raymond Marshall's titles to read and all those books contributed to what we are today. 

Most of my books if embraced at the right quarters will go a long way to instill moral uprightness into our youths. However, this era of internet has its own advantages too. As an author, I have used the platform of Kindle to publish many of my books. And I will advise people to visit and read some of my books. Some readers have called on the phones and some met me physically to thank me for the positive influence my work has exerted on their lives. For instance, sometimes last year, I met a student of Muhydeen College of Education who told me that my book Shun Cultism & Crimes discouraged him from joining a cult group. 

A policeman once told me that my book The Reward For Hardwork gave him courage and halted him from committing suicide. The list of people that have been positively influenced by my books and other authors' books is inexhaustible.

☆ Who are your role models in your line of duty and in the writing world and what have they inspired you to realise in your journey in both worlds?

First of all, I am most grateful to God Almighty, the Only Helper I had when everyone and everything deserted me. Nobody can survive as an island, of course some people were used by Almighty God for me to get to where I am today. 

My first parents were my first mentors, I learnt the culture of industry from my father and generosity from my mother. 

In the Nigerian Prisons Service, Alhaji Ahmed Jafa'ru, the Controller General of Prisons has through his leadership style imbibed the culture of astuteness into me.

One of such again is the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alhaji M.D. Abubakar, whose high level of discipline combined with generosity and humility is worth emulating. This was obvious with the way he stopped road blocks during his tenure as the IGP.

Similarly, Controller of Prisons (retd),  Alhaji A.S. Kastina, who used his good office to recruit me into the Nigerian Prisons Service, is one of my role models. He is a detribalized Nigerian. I wish to tow his path in discharging my duties in the service. The opportunity he gave to me opened many doors of opportunities for me.

There is also Superintendent Solagberu Hussein Saliman who assisted in many ways to become what I am in the service. The former Director of Students Services, Kwara State Polytechnic,  Mr Noah Zubair, who approved the adoption of my book Shun Cultism & Crimes  in the year 2004, a step that took me many miles forward in my life. 

Prof. Noah Yusuf whose words of encouragements  has kept me going.

CP Bimbola Jemilehin, CP Olumide Tinuoye, CP Lawal Gusau, CP Adebanjo Adefunke, DCP Atoyebi Ganiyu (rtd), DCP Oduntan Seye, and late DCP Ganiyat Lawal. All the aforementioned people have contributed tremendously to my growth in the Nigeria Prisons Service.

Dr. A.Y. Muhammad, Dr Remi Opayemi, Dr.Olatunji Ganiyu, Dr. (Mrs.) Adekeye and Dr. Abdulateef Raji are the scholars I looked to be like in the field of social sciences. 

Mr. Femi Oderinde, Hajia Goroso Limota, Hajia Belgore of National Teachers' Institute taught me to assist people even if I don't know them from Adam.

In the writing, I pray to be famous like James Hadley Chase, Charles Dickens, Chinua Achebe and Prof. Wole Soyinka.

☆ What will you say is your greatest lesson as a writer and prisons officer?

Hmm, I have just learnt that nobody can escape the consequence of his actions.  I have learnt that irrespective of how long it takes, you will get rewarded or punished for your actions. Crime does not pay.

It is better to be poor than to be rich and damage the reputation of your family. My book Diary of An Inmate talks more on this. I have already submitted the manuscript to Rasmed Publications.

☆ What's your biggest dream for yourself and Nigeria?

I want to become a famous and renowned author that his works will be appreciated all over the world. 

My dream in respect of Nigeria is to see a Nigeria where all citizens will have equal opportunities irrespective of their backgrounds. I want the type of Nigeria that produced Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chief Obasanjo, President Muhammad Buhari. 

I want to see a Nigeria where there will be equal distribution of resources to all citizens.

I want a Nigeria that will give equal opportunities to all citizens to tap their potentials irrespective of one's family backgrounds. The type of Nigeria that gave opportunities to Danjuma, Obasanjo, Murtala, Soyinka, Chinua Achebe.

I want a Nigeria where all citizens will have access to education and health care facilities notwithstanding their family, tribal and religious affiliations.

Abridged version first appeared on Blueprint Newspaper, Abuja, Nigeria.