Texts for Buhari and APC

SIR: If you watch, men of power oftentimes contend with women, wine, property, vainglory and the inherent complexities of power-play, all of which contribute in very significant ways in massaging their ego. No doubt, a sure way to start dying! The exceptions to this rule are men of power who read.

I am, therefore, inclined to submit that the understandable triumphalism of the president and his party, APC, needs to be proactively moderated in order to avoid reaping unfavourable outcomes, given their understandable messianic mind-set. To forestall this predictable danger, Gen. Buhari is hereby respectfully requested to find time to read Mr. Martin Meredith’s States of Africa. Based on the very substance of the book, I challenge the president-elect to read the book and recommend same to his would-be teammates.

Mr. Meredith dealt extensively with the realities of the bridge of transition between change and post-change conditions within the context of evolutionary experience of political Africa. The book, aside from the impurities usually present in narratives about Africa by the West, presents a useful excursion into the repeated tragedies of post-colonial Africa owing to our leaders’ poor appreciation of the essence and dynamics of power and leaves its reader approaching public service with positive fear and trembling. Likewise, Prof. Niyi Osundare’s poem – They Too Are The Earth could be adopted as an official manual for the recently inaugurated APC-led government.

The president and APC should find the courage to compel key players in the new government to read Krishna Kripalani’s Gandhi: A Life. The book extols the virtues of Mahatma Gandhi and reinforces the supremacy of moral armament in the quest for nation-founding over emotional outpouring and good intentions.

Additionally, Plight of Honesty, an autobiographical work by Mr. G. Sundaram is a priceless book on unconditional patriotism and unrivaled passion for nation building. This, too, I recommend. In the same vein, it will be my pleasure to avail Mr. President and his team a few copies of my book titled: ‘Voluntary Union: A Centenary Imperative’. Mine, essentially, acknowledges in all humility that Nigeria is a man’s (Fredrick Lord Lugard) creation that can hardly thrive unless and until constituent parts ratify, of their individual volition, the forced union of January 1, 1914.

More importantly, my reasonable acquaintance with the Qur’an has convinced me that that book, when not read upside down, is not only holy but an incomparable compendium of precepts and instructions designed to guide humans daily. Buhari and his team should read it without ceasing. And the Bible – my Bible! It is the conclusion of the matter!! The president and his team are advised to borrow a leaf from the late Chief MKO Abiola who made the Bible his irreplaceable companion during his incarceration. They should drink, on daily basis, from that holy fountain – particularly the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. That they may read…live…and not start dying! So Nigeria won’t die!!

•Chuks Akamadu, Abuja, FCT