A five-volume book chronicling the eight years of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2023 will be unveiled to the public on Tuesday next week in Abuja.
Also, a book, “Working With Buhari: Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media, and Publicity (2015–2023),” the memoir of Chief Femi Adesina, would be simultaneously presented to the public at the ceremony to be chaired by General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s Head of State, 1966–1975, with President Bola Tinubu as Chief Guest.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, are also among the dignitaries expected at the occasion to be held at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.
Speaking at the pre-book launch media conference yesterday in Abuja, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the immediate past President, said the two publications would bring Buhari to Abuja for the first time since he exited office in May 2023.
He noted that his memoir, which he wrote dispassionately, would provide great insights into the life and leadership of the former president.
He noted that the groundbreaking five-volume historical compendium, “Muhammadu Buhari: The Nigerian Legacy (2015–2023),” edited by Dr. Udu Yakubu, is co-authored by over 100 Nigerian scholars.
The book, according to the authors, is “the authoritative, comprehensive, and most definitive story of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2023.”.
Recalling how he had to tender his resignation letter at the Sun Newspaper in order to “reluctantly” take up the appointment of Special Adviser, Media, and Publicity to the former president, Adesina said he cried on the fateful morning he was to sign his appointment letter because, according to him, he was stepping into unknown territory.
Adesina said he was, however, fulfilled that he was able to discharge his duties successfully and creditably and that he turned out to be the first spokesperson for a sitting president who has served in that capacity for eight years since the country’s return to democracy in 1999.
He insisted that Buhari was a true democrat and took certain decisions and actions during his administration in the interest of Nigerians, even though those he described as “wailers” did not see anything good during the eight years of the former president’s reign.
He said, “Why did I think I should write about the president I served for 8 years? I will say I knew Buhari long before I came to work for him as an adviser to the media. Before then, I hadn’t worked with the government and had no desire to work with it.
“But when the invitation came to work for him because he was a man I had admired since he was the military leader, I decided to take the appointment.
“So, when I was asked to come into government, though very reluctantly, you will read in the book how, in the morning I had to sign my appointment, I began to cry because I didn’t want it. I was going into what is called Terra incognita (unknown or unexplored territory), a terrain I didn’t know at all.
“So, I came for 8 years, which is unprecedented. No media adviser has served for 8 years in a democracy except the military regime,” he said.
He said the book is not about the hardware of governance—economic policy, monetary policy, foreign policy, and so on but rather about the software, the governance, and the man who headed that governance.