Abdulsalami Tells His Own Story

Last weekend, former military Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar released his autobiography, A Call To Duty, at the State House in Abuja, as part of a ceremony marking his 84th birthday.

Abdulsalami has had a remarkable life, and the most enduring chapter of that life was his recognition of the moment and place he held in history after he accidentally became Head of State upon the death of Sani Abacha.

When other lesser mortals would have succumbed to the seduction of presidential power and the prestige of office, Abdulsalami had the courage and foresight to relinquish power and save Nigeria from a dark path.

He now follows the example of former leaders Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, who, in recent years, released autobiographies.

And in all these memoirs, some controversial aspects and narrations come across as attempts to rewrite history. From snippets of Abdulsalami’s book, there are plenty of such narrations.

Obasanjo paints the third-term agenda as fiction. Babangida threw Abacha under the bus. Gowon portrays Ojukwu as having violated the terms of the Aburi Accord and Murtala Mohammad as backstabbing.

Babagana Kingibe, an ex-diplomat and intelligence officer who was recently recognised as a former Vice President, will be 81 in a few days. Maybe he will finally write a memoir and tell his side of the story about 12 June and Sani Abacha.