Trust and Nigerian politics in Segun Adeniyi’s Power, Politics and Death
Additionally, too, the book has underscored the ugly nature of politics of godfatherism, just as it exposes how politicians are bent on putting their stooges in power so as to do their bidding. Any one who has read the book with utmost caution and deep comprehension will, no doubt, benefit from the content. As a […]
Additionally, too, the book has underscored the ugly nature of politics of godfatherism, just as it exposes how politicians are bent on putting their stooges in power so as to do their bidding.
Any one who has read the book with utmost caution and deep comprehension will, no doubt, benefit from the content. As a matter of fact, a keen reader of the book will be exposed to how facts are distorted in such a way that unsuspecting readers will assume them to be truth. Through the book, one will see how people succeed even with double loyalty. As a matter of fact, the author in the said book strives to show that he tried all he could to avert some the mistakes of the Yar’adua administration, suggesting that there were mistakes, they were because government failed to heed his advice.
Segun portrays President Jonathan as someone who was victimised in the Yar’adua era, but showed patience to a fault. In Segun’s book, we are told that the former boss of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was associated with former President George Bush of America so much so that as Segun reveals in his book, Bush felt a little short of pleading with late President Yar’adua to allow Ribadu continue as the chairman of EFCC.
Segun in a chapter on Corruption and Ibori saga reveals how the American government supported Nuhu Ribadu on his chairmanship of the anti-graft agency and how the American government turned its back on the agency when Ribadu was sacked (pages 17 to 42). In this chapter, the writer eulogized Ribadu, just the way and manner America eulogized him. He stated explicitly, the role he played in ensuring that Ribadu was not sacked or sent to NIPSS. All through the book, nobody is praised as Ribadu.
On the reform in the banking sector, the author says Yar’adua did not know the Central Bank governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi until he (President Yar’adua) asked him (Segun) how he perceived Sanusi, and, whether he saw Sanusi as someone who could be trusted. When the author said he (Sanusi) was given the job. [Pages 91 to 101]
When I read what Adeniyi wrote about Umar Mutallab saga and the killing of Mohammad Yusuf book but was silent on one important issue, I couldn’t help but baffled. Another important issue on which Adeniyi was silent about was an attempt to kill Sheik Ibrahim El Zak Zaky during the reign of Yar’adua.
The Sheikh had said during a Ramadan preaching that there were plans to murder him. At the said preaching, he gave a detailed account of the plan and called on the government to appreciate the fact that he was living in his own house with his aged mother and children and that the government should know that he was living among people.
He appealed that whatever happens, those innocent citizens who lived around him should not be affected. Virtually all the national dailies in this country reported the matter. Why was Adeniyi silent on this matter and couldn’t reflect it in his book?
Who hatched that plan? Who gave the directive? Who were those who wanted to execute it? Why was the plan not executed? Everybody knows who Shiekh Ibrahim El Zak Zaky is and his significance in the country. Why did Adeniyi speak on the issue of Boko Haram and Mutallab but was silent on the murder plan?
In the part two of the book where the author wrote on the illness and death [pages 157 to 286] Segun said General Ali Gusau was among those who took the responsibility of the next of kin of the late president Yar’adua at a German hospital. He noted that the late president was taken from a German hospital to Saudi Arabia because of the fear of the West.
He said he learnt of the return of the late president Yar’adua to Nigeria from Saudi Arabia from the publisher of Sahara Reporter, who had phoned him before he confirmed from other sources. He averred that even when the late president arrived, he could not see him until he threatened to resign his appointment before he was granted access to see the ailing president.
This book by Segun can be given different interpretation, including, the theme of breach of trust. In the book, tales were justapoxed with truth and the author was inexplicably silent on some important issues. All we can say is that we have heard Segun’s account. Now, we await another book on other perspectives to the Yar’adua administration.
Danjuma Katsina is the Public Relations Officer of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Katsina State Chapter. He can be reached via [email protected]