Waiting for their memoirs (2)

A lot of presidential memoirs, they say, are dull and self-serving.
I hope mine is interesting and self-serving – Bill Clinton

When you write, you can never know how it is going to touch people and where it is going to reach. Last week when I wrote here about memoirs and how our political leaders should take a second look at their times in office and offer insights into how some crucial decisions were taken while in office, I never knew it was going to generate so much reactions and responses that I got from readers of this column.

As early as when the newspapers hit the newsstand and online, I began to receive text messages, emails and some calls either lauding the piece or asking and adding to the list of leaders whose memoirs the readers said they are waiting for. I agree that the list could not have been exhaustive, but I was impressed by the level of responses I got and the list reeled out by readers who asked why I failed to mention some names. A long list signifying diverse interests was given to me. A few told me that they are aware some of the past leaders have written theirs but copies of such are not found in any of our reputable bookshops across the country.

In fact, a few told me about some that I never even knew had written theirs. A few asked me where they could get copies of some of the ones that have been published. The one that moved me most was someone who said he is a postgraduate student of literature and that he is doing his thesis on selected memoirs and biographies of some past leaders. He wanted to know where he could get a copy of the memoir of the late President Shehu Shagari’s memoir titled Beckoned To Serve. He wanted to know if I have a copy. I’d to tell him that I’ve also looked for where to buy it without success.

Another reader who expressed cynicism about reading memoirs written by Nigerian political leaders dismissed it as reading of “vainglorious hagiography dressed in a toga of a memoir by leaders who lie through their teeth.” He specifically mentioned a book written by a former minister who is now a governor. According to him, the governor in writing about his tenure as a minister pilloried everyone he had any dealings with and dressed them all in devilish robes but gave no hint of any decision he took then and with hindsight which he now considers bad and regrettable.  He added that the former minister who is known to be a terrible lickspittle justified himself and his positions throughout his memoir. Finally, he asked me, “Is it possible to hold such a position and not make a mistake?” I replied him thus “If you ask me, who I go ask?” apologies to Omawumi, the songstress.

Now, back to the list given to me by a few of my readers: someone asked that I omitted that of former Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State adding that Speaker Yakubu Dogara recently published his own to mark his 50th birthday. It was written by Dele Momodu, Ovation magazine publisher.

To those that are still being expected, I have this from a reader, “I would have requested that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu should also document his politics from when he started as a senator and the NADECO days till now for many of us to further understand the man reputed to be South West’s biggest political player after Chief Obafemi Awolowo. His would even interest me more than some Nigerian leaders’. Thank you for calling them out.”

I agreed with this person that the Jagaban’s memoir is perhaps the most awaited from any political leader. It would be interesting for him to document how he was able to weather the cyclone of the Obasanjo era which uprooted all the other governors of the South West living him as a lone ranger who came back from behind to build an enduring and phenomenal political structure.

The reader concluded his treatise by saying, “The president; when he is done needs to be documented. He has so much goodwill but disappointing performance. We should lay side by side the place of integrity and competence in years to come. Memoirs remain the closest a reader can get in understanding an icon of interest.”

I cannot agree less. However, I hope the presidential memoir would not end with what Christopher Buckley, a former aide of President George Bush calls, “I read a lot of White House memoirs. They all have two themes: ‘It Wasn’t My Fault’ and ‘It Would Have Been Much Worse if I Hadn’t Been There.’