Why Did It Take IBB 32 Years To Write A Memoir?

Some of the people who have taken to book writing to present their own side of how well they managed Nigeria include Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, Muhammadu Buhari, Goodluck Jonathan, Abubakar Malami, SAN.

The latest recruit in the book writing business is Ibrahim Babangida, erstwhile military president of Nigeria and annuler-in-chief of an election in Nigeria considered the freest and fairest of all elections in Nigeria.

Whilst this book by IBB took about 32 years after he stepped aside to write, those by Osinbajo, and Buhari appeared parodies and adhoc, seeming to take the very shape of the 8 years that that fantastic duo spent running Nigeria.

For instance, there is strong evidence to indicate that the Osinbajo ‘book’ was written by more than 10 authors, who it seemed had an assignment to write what has now turned into some very nuanced and jaundiced perspectives.

There is also the idea that the Muhammadu Buhari ‘book’ may have been a good example of the less you look, the more you will see in the hand and handwriting of his media hirelings.

Even though I did not take any interest in the Goodluck Jonathan book, it too appeared to be something hurriedly knocked together to serve just one purpose – public relations and propaganda. I once took these gentlemen on, and urged them to leave our books out of their failures.

That advice was not one that came from frivolity and flippancy. In adducing that advice, I had observed that there was no evidence anywhere to indicate that these people who are narrating their experiences through books ever supported the book industry when they were lord and masters of the country. None – it was either that they were shutting down universities, or letting them slide, rot and dilapidate.

None of these people read books to children, or told anyone what books they had read or were reading, so as to promote the book reading culture in Nigeria.

Therefore, when we looked at some of the ‘books’ that Osinbajo, Jonathan and Buhari said that they wrote, most are replete with syntactic errors, typos, factual inaccuracies, lopsided narrative techniques, plot and themes turned upside down, and most importantly those ‘books’ miss one of the greatest considerations that any book worth its salt often has – the art and artistry involved in the creative process.

We know what writing a book means for people outside our shores. For a leader, a book is a rare opportunity to prepare the next generation of leaders, and help them launch into the future.

It is not an opportunity to micromanage or launder an imagery already etched in the souls of a hapless people.

That is why if you read books by Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela, Charles de Gaulle and Lee Kuan Yew, and juxtapose them against the ‘books’ purportedly being written by Nigeria’s former leaders, you come off with a strong feeling of exasperation and exhaustion. We have not read this ‘book’, A Journey in Service.

But if you are an editor or book reviewer, you begin to get an inkling of the innards of the book, not from its cover or the name of the author but from the title of the book. I may be mistaken but A Journey in Service, may probably be an attempt to exonerate self, to point fingers and to engage in PR.

But why did it take him nearly 40 years to write his book? Over the years, after he annulled an election considered the freest and fairest in Nigeria, Nigerians have sought closure and a need to know what happened.

They are eager to know the story behind the $12.5billion Gulf War windfall. Apart from a few newspaper interviews wherein he continued to dribble, he hasn’t said much.

So here we are at a crossroad between those who immediately wrote ‘books’ just after they left power, and one who waited nearly forty years to write one.

Whilst there is a temptation to assume that a book written after a forty-year span will be thorough as against those who rushed to knock something together after they left the corridors of power, that temptation may not stand.

After thirty-two years, I know IBB will not be able to remember things as clearly as he was when he was thirty-two years younger. It is hard to say if he wrote on a PC, or held a pen and wrote on a manuscript or that he dictated to someone.

Maybe the ‘book’ will answer some of those questions. We notice this ‘book’ has a N50,000.00 price tag. This is most unnecessary, considering that IBB will not be needing the money from sales of the ‘book’.

Nigerians are currently in dire straits, and are struggling very hard to cope with the taxes that Mr. Tinubu is imposing left, right and centre.

They have no money for books. Therefore, if indeed IBB has a genuine interest to help Nigerians understand something of what took place during his time, and if he truly wants to contribute to the development of Nigeria, he should mass produce that book and hand it free of charge to those interested in reading it.