NURI

BEYOND FAIRY TALES Some men inherit thrones. Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman inherited one and walked away from it to stand in front of a classroom. Born into Katsina royalty, he chose the harder crown: pursuing truth. What followed was a life spent tearing down the comfortable myths — the "fairy tales" — that colonial and elite historiography had told about Africa, and replacing them with something far more powerful: a history rooted in evidence, in the voices of ordinary people, and in the conviction that Africans were never bystanders in their own story. This collection gathers the sharpest of his writings — essays that refuse to separate the past from the present, scholarship from struggle, or intellect from integrity. Usman believed history was not a museum piece but a weapon for justice, a lens for understanding the forces still shaping nations today. He trained a generation of scholars, challenged presidents and professors alike, and never once let privilege dull his loyalty to the people. Beyond Fairy Tales is more than a tribute to a brilliant historian; it is an invitation. An invitation to question inherited narratives, to dig for the real story beneath the myth, and to believe, as Usman did, that understanding our history is the first act of building our future. For students, scholars, and anyone who has ever wondered what the truth costs — and what it's worth. PRICE: 3000 NGN 📌