A former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Femi Adesina, has explained why he wrote a memoir on his stewardship in the last administration.
Adesina, with another author of a book on the Buhari years in office, Udu Yakubu, spoke ahead of next Tuesday’s launch of their books by President Bola Tinubu.
The books are Working with Buhari: Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media, and Publicity (2015–2023) by Femi Adesina, and Muhammadu Buhari: The Nigerian Legacy (2015–2023), edited by Udu Yakubu.
The authors said the books were not written as public relations memoirs for the erstwhile President but to chronicle his administration’s policies and programmes for posterity.
Adesina, who described himself as a long-time admirer of the former President since his days as a military Head of State, said everything that needed to be known about the Buhari eight years, including his medical tourism, is included in the book.
“Why did I think it was necessary to write about Muhammadu Buhari in the saddle for eight years? I will say that I knew President Buhari long before I came to work with and for him as his adviser on media.
“Before then, I had not worked with him, and I had no desire to work with him. But when the invitation came to work for him—because he was a man I had admired since he was a military leader—I decided to take up the appointment. I also had a moral issue because I had supported him since 2003 when he ran; I did in 2007, 2011, until he won in 2015.”
“He had invited me to work with him, and I declined because I was the managing director of the Sun Newspapers and the president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE). I didn’t want to leave what I was doing because I was enjoying what I was doing then and wanted to possibly retire quietly.
“I, however, reluctantly accepted. I just reflected on the book: how I cried the day I resigned because I was stepping into what the military will call cover incognita, the place you don’t know at all.”
