Biography/Autobiography
My odyssey: An Autobiography By Nnamdi Azikiwe
Nnamdi Azikiwe, a well-known African elder statesman, for many years played a prominent role in the fight for the emancipation of Black Africa from colonial rule. A key figure among West African nationalists who envisaged a united Ibo people, he was the first and only President of independent Nigeria before the coup in 1966. His autobiography covers his formative years up to 1947, when, at the age of forty-five, he entered politics as the President of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, the majority party of the Eastern region.
His odyssey begins with his boyhood in Onitsha, where he dreamed of owning a printing press, and he describes in fascinating detail his genealogy, his family background, and the traditions in which he was raised as an Ibo. He describes his early religious indoctrination in the Christian schools of Lagos and Calabar, where he first became aware of the anomalies of the colonial African societies in which an alien ruling elite imposed racial discrimination on Africans. During his secondary education, he was introduced to the writings of Marcus Garvey, the sermons of Dr. Kweygir Aggrey, and a biography of President Garfield. The messages of these men-Garvey's call for the liberation of Africa from the colonial governments, Dr. Aggrey's hope for a social rebirth and a new spiritual outlook among and toward Africans, and President Garfield's frontier spirit and willpower in the face of poverty-inspired Zik to pursue his university education in the United States in the hope that it would prepare him for leadership of the Nigerian independence movement.
His odyssey begins with his boyhood in Onitsha, where he dreamed of owning a printing press, and he describes in fascinating detail his genealogy, his family background, and the traditions in which he was raised as an Ibo. He describes his early religious indoctrination in the Christian schools of Lagos and Calabar, where he first became aware of the anomalies of the colonial African societies in which an alien ruling elite imposed racial discrimination on Africans. During his secondary education, he was introduced to the writings of Marcus Garvey, the sermons of Dr. Kweygir Aggrey, and a biography of President Garfield. The messages of these men-Garvey's call for the liberation of Africa from the colonial governments, Dr. Aggrey's hope for a social rebirth and a new spiritual outlook among and toward Africans, and President Garfield's frontier spirit and willpower in the face of poverty-inspired Zik to pursue his university education in the United States in the hope that it would prepare him for leadership of the Nigerian independence movement.
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YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DAWN: A MEMOIR by Wole Soyinka
Mr. Soyinka, masterfully uses his life as a running commentary for the state of political affairs in Nigeria since 1960. While the book does speak on a lot of serious issues there are many moments of hilarity such as when W.H Auden passes him off as an African Prince and the quest to recover an acient mask that led Mr. Soyinka to Brazil.
You Must Set Forth at Dawn is a book full of revelations, which in actuality brings into public glare the political animal in Soyinka and the extent to which he was steeped in national politics, which may led some political leaders to see him as meddlesome. While his dalliance with Biafra earned him a prison term and resulted in his book, The Man Died” he maintained some questionable affinity to General Babangida and loathed General Abacha. Indeed, it was said, that it was Soyinka who gave Gen. Abacha the moniker “deaf and dumb.”
Mr. Soyinka's style tends to be a little heavy on grammar but overall it is a great book, one that you will love to have bought.
You Must Set Forth at Dawn is a book full of revelations, which in actuality brings into public glare the political animal in Soyinka and the extent to which he was steeped in national politics, which may led some political leaders to see him as meddlesome. While his dalliance with Biafra earned him a prison term and resulted in his book, The Man Died” he maintained some questionable affinity to General Babangida and loathed General Abacha. Indeed, it was said, that it was Soyinka who gave Gen. Abacha the moniker “deaf and dumb.”
Mr. Soyinka's style tends to be a little heavy on grammar but overall it is a great book, one that you will love to have bought.
Alibaba The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
An engrossing, insider’s account of how a teacher built one of the world’s most valuable companies—rivaling Walmart & Amazon—and forever reshaped the global economy.
In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world’s largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and Presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China’s booming private sector and the gatekeeper to hundreds of millions of middle class consumers.
Duncan Clark first met Jack in 1999 in the small apartment where Jack founded Alibaba. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own experience as an early advisor to Alibaba and two decades in China chronicling the Internet’s impact on the country to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of Alibaba’s rise.
How did Jack overcome his humble origins and early failures to achieve massive success with Alibaba? How did he outsmart rival entrepreneurs from China and Silicon Valley? Can Alibaba maintain its 80% market share? As it forges ahead into finance and entertainment, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions? How does the Chinese government view its rise? Will Alibaba expand further overseas, including in the U.S.?
Clark tells Alibaba’s tale in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world’s largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and Presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China’s booming private sector and the gatekeeper to hundreds of millions of middle class consumers.
Duncan Clark first met Jack in 1999 in the small apartment where Jack founded Alibaba. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own experience as an early advisor to Alibaba and two decades in China chronicling the Internet’s impact on the country to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of Alibaba’s rise.
How did Jack overcome his humble origins and early failures to achieve massive success with Alibaba? How did he outsmart rival entrepreneurs from China and Silicon Valley? Can Alibaba maintain its 80% market share? As it forges ahead into finance and entertainment, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions? How does the Chinese government view its rise? Will Alibaba expand further overseas, including in the U.S.?
Clark tells Alibaba’s tale in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
Memoir of Mixed Blessings By Theophilus Oluwole Akindele - HardBack
The memoirs of Theophilus Oluwole Akindele tell the story of a man whose life took many interesting twists and turns to bring him to the pinnacle of the telecommunication industry in Nigeria. …he joined the Colonial Civil Service as a principal telecommunications engineer in charge of the Lagos territory. He rose through the ranks to become Director-General of Communications. Akindele’s account of key events in the political history of Nigeria, being close friends with Ademulegun, Ironsi, and Ogundipe in particular, bring new insights to the turbulent events of the first republic and the subsequent military regimes (Aguyi-Ironsi, Gowon and Murtala Mohammed’s). His role in telecommunication during the civil war gives us fresh insight into important events of that period. Most interesting, however, was the battle of wills that occurred, when he was pitted against Murtala Mohammed, over the signing of the ITT/Radio Corporation of Nigeria contract. This saga eventually cost him his job and could be said to be one of the factors that precipitated the coup of 1976.
AWO – The Autobiography Of Chief Obafemi Awolowo
Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987) was the leader of Nigeria's Action Group party and the first indigenous Premier of Western Nigeria. He campaigned heavily for developmental change and implemented free primary education and child healthcare policies across the Western Region. Awolowo began work on this autobiography in 1957, at a time when Nigeria's request for self-government had been refused. The work was completed in 1960, the year Nigeria gained its long-awaited independence. Accordingly, this autobiography is dedicated to a 'new and free Nigeria', with the trust that its people will enjoy 'a more abundant life'. This determined, self-made leader here describes his youth, education and politics. He writes of his hope that this tale of stubborn perseverance can become 'a source of inspiration' in itself, and indeed, this account will fascinate anyone with an interest in Africa, the history and politics of Western Nigeria, or a love of insightful political autobiography.
Ajayi Crowther: The Triumphs and Travails of a Legend By Femi Osofisan
SAMUEL AJAYI CROWTHER was born in 1809 in the little village of Osogun, now in the southwestern state of Oyo in Nigeria. Captured by slave-raiders in 1821, he was freed by British war ships and settled in Freetown. There, he became educated, was baptized, and the first student enrolled at the famous Fourah Bay College. He became a priest of the Anglican Church, was posted to Abeokuta along with others to start the mission there and, having participated in some expeditions up the Niger River, was eventually appointed as the first black Bishop for West Africa...Ajayi Crowther was initially commissioned by The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Nigeria, City of David Parish, and is one of Osofisan’s most recent plays
My Dialogue With Nigeria By Alani Akinrinade
Alani Akinriade: My Dialogue With Nigeria pulls together the innermost thoughts and view of Lieutenant General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, former Chief of Defence Staff and pro-democracy activist, on True Federalism in Nigeria and how to archive unity that is equitable and beneficial to all Nigerians.
Who Really Is General Muhammadu Buhari? By Professor Tam David-West
I have over time written a lot about General Buhari. This includes two formal works: “Who Really Is General Muhammadu Buhari?” and “The Sixteen ‘Sins’ of General Muhammadu Buhari.” The first was launched publicly at The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island on March 9, 2009. The second book was launched in Kaduna (29 July, 2010) and Port Harcourt (14 March, 2011). Both events were crowd-pullers. I must mention that General Buhari was kept in the dark about both projects. I only informed him some two weeks to the launching. I don’t have to consult him to tell the truth about him.
- Professor Tam David-West
- Professor Tam David-West
Telling It As It Is: The Autobiography of Chief Ayo Adebanjo
The 18-chapter autobiography, ‘Telling It As It Is’ is a compelling, frank narrative of politics and life spanning nine decades, seamlessly combining the author’s personal and political narrative in a very relatable, thoughtful, yet witty style.
How To Be A Nigerian By Peter Enahoro
This famous little book is one of the funniest to come out of Africa. First published in 1996, it continues to be in demand. The Nigerian author turns a humorous and ironic eye on his fellow compatriots. The book is described as a guide for Nigerians and expatriates on the conduct, deportment, comportment, bearing, deameanour, mien, carriage, actions, the misdoings, misconduct and misbehaviours of the Nigerian adult male and female. Sprinkled with anecdotes and cartoons, the book addresses the Nigerian essence.
A BREAK IN THE SILENCE : LT. COL. VICTOR ADEBUKUNOLA BANJO by F. Adetowun Ogunsheye
A Break in the Silence narrates the lifetime of one of Nigeria's foremost nationalists who never played to the gallery for sycophants to hail but was guided by personal convictions, patriotism, and intellectualism. The author chronicles late Lt. Col. Banjo's family setting; military career; involvement in the Nigerian Civil War; the terror unleashed on his family by the then ruling government; his trial by a Kangaroo tribunal and his spirited defense of himself and others; and his subsequent execution by lesser mortals than him.
The book, therefore, is aimed at 'breaking the enforced silence' imposed on the family by time, and deference to Victor's mother, who believed that her son was still alive and could not be so treacherously treated by those he pitched his tent with against all human calculations. Lt. Col. Victor Banjo's actions, which were thoroughly misunderstood especially the side he took during the Nigerian Civil War seem strange in history but his beliefs and speeches were like prophecies; they have come to pass and will continue to be relevant in Nigerian, African and world history. Though Lt. Col. Victor died unsung and unmourned, he is still remembered by those who knew him as a man without prejudices, who came to offer his outstanding conduct, the tenacity of purpose and enduring dreams to humanity.
About the Author, Professor Adetowun Ogunsheye hails from Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. She is the elder sister to late Col, Victor Adebukunola Banjo. She had her secondary education at Queen's College, Lagos and University education at the Cambridge. University, Great Britain, 1949-1952. She was the founding principal of St. Margaret Secondary School, Ilesha.
The author was the past president of the Nigerian Library Association, 1969-1971 and Nigerian Association of University Women, 1971-1975. Professor and Head of Department, Library Studies, University of Ibadan, 1972-1987 She is also the President of Ogunsheye Foundation. A geographer, educationist, and teacher, she is the first Nigerian Female Professor. A retired Professor has over fifty educational and professionalpublications to her credit. She also writes for children
The book, therefore, is aimed at 'breaking the enforced silence' imposed on the family by time, and deference to Victor's mother, who believed that her son was still alive and could not be so treacherously treated by those he pitched his tent with against all human calculations. Lt. Col. Victor Banjo's actions, which were thoroughly misunderstood especially the side he took during the Nigerian Civil War seem strange in history but his beliefs and speeches were like prophecies; they have come to pass and will continue to be relevant in Nigerian, African and world history. Though Lt. Col. Victor died unsung and unmourned, he is still remembered by those who knew him as a man without prejudices, who came to offer his outstanding conduct, the tenacity of purpose and enduring dreams to humanity.
About the Author, Professor Adetowun Ogunsheye hails from Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. She is the elder sister to late Col, Victor Adebukunola Banjo. She had her secondary education at Queen's College, Lagos and University education at the Cambridge. University, Great Britain, 1949-1952. She was the founding principal of St. Margaret Secondary School, Ilesha.
The author was the past president of the Nigerian Library Association, 1969-1971 and Nigerian Association of University Women, 1971-1975. Professor and Head of Department, Library Studies, University of Ibadan, 1972-1987 She is also the President of Ogunsheye Foundation. A geographer, educationist, and teacher, she is the first Nigerian Female Professor. A retired Professor has over fifty educational and professionalpublications to her credit. She also writes for children
JP CLARK - A VOYAGE By Femi Osofisan (Hardback)
The definitive biography of “the main animating force of African poetry”
JP Clark: A Voyage is the definitive biography of Clark by Femi Osofisan, himself one of Nigeria’s most accomplished playwrights. It chronicles the life and career of the man John Pepper Clark – Bekederemo, from his remarkable childhood to his emergence in the 60s among the best and brightest of Nigerian literature. For the first time, JP breaks his silence about the controversial position he took during Nigeria’s Civil War and discusses his relationship with Soyinka and Achebe.
Generally regarded as the most lyrical of the poets of his generation for his simple, down to earth, visual and descriptive imagery, which makes his poems among the most memorable, JP Clark is perhaps the most underrated of Nigeria’s literary giants: Achebe, Soyinka and Okigbo, being the others.
Our Fathers’ Land : Including Reminiscences On The Nigerian Civil War By Titus Okereke
Titus Okereke treats us to a world worth living in his book, Our Fathers’ Land – Including Reminiscences on the Nigerian Civil War. This is the first book of its class, an autobiographic tale well told, to come out of an alumnus of the old University College, Ibadan, from a graduate of the early sixties, 1960-1964.
Emeka By Frederick Forsyth
Biafran war. Anioma, the Igbo homeland west of the River Niger, was for long absent in the accounts on the civil war; yet, the Anioma like their Igbo kith and kin east of the River Niger (who led the Biafran revolution and fought the Nigerian federal government from 1967 to 1970) were as involved militarily and otherwise as Biafrans in the confrontation with the federal government all through that period of crisis. In analyzing Anioma women war-time roles, the book draws largely on interviews with women who survived the war, some of whom were adults during the crisis and others who were children at the time.
A Profile of Courage By Major General Paul Chabri Tarfa
A Profile of Courage is the memoir of Paul Chabri Tarfa, retired Major General of the Nigerian Army. In lucid prose, he recounts his upbringing in Garkida, his choice of a career in the Army, his role in frustrating the January 15, 1966 coup at the Federal Guards, Lagos, and his active participation in the military through the Civil War, coups and counter-coups until his retirement in 1988. Revised in view of restating his truth to today’s Nigeria, A Profile in Courage channels the lives of Birma Bata, Usman Vidau, Paul Tarfa himself, Yakubu Gowon, T. Y. Danjuma, Ahmadu Kurfi and many others faced with decisions requiring courage in times of extreme emergency.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Chabri Tarfa was born in Garkida, Adamawa State of Nigeria, in 1941. A member of NMTC Course 5, he was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant in October, 1963, and retired as a Major General in January 1988. General Tarfa has served in many units, including in the UN Peacekeeping forces in Congo, at the elite Federal Guards (now Brigade of Guards), as Provost Marshal of the Corp of the Military Police (MP) and as Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
A career Infantry officer, his actions at the Federal Guards in 1966 led to the frustration of the January 15 military coup; he served as Battalion Commander during the Nigerian Civil War and was military administrator of Oyo State from July 1978 to October 1979.
Following his retirement, he was appointed MD/CEO of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and later headed a nine-man panel to reorganize and restructure the Nigerian Customs and Excise. An avid golfer, General Paul Tarfa lives in Kaduna where he enjoys the company of his grandchildren and works on his poultry and citrus farm. He holds the traditional title of Yeriman Garkida.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Chabri Tarfa was born in Garkida, Adamawa State of Nigeria, in 1941. A member of NMTC Course 5, he was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant in October, 1963, and retired as a Major General in January 1988. General Tarfa has served in many units, including in the UN Peacekeeping forces in Congo, at the elite Federal Guards (now Brigade of Guards), as Provost Marshal of the Corp of the Military Police (MP) and as Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
A career Infantry officer, his actions at the Federal Guards in 1966 led to the frustration of the January 15 military coup; he served as Battalion Commander during the Nigerian Civil War and was military administrator of Oyo State from July 1978 to October 1979.
Following his retirement, he was appointed MD/CEO of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and later headed a nine-man panel to reorganize and restructure the Nigerian Customs and Excise. An avid golfer, General Paul Tarfa lives in Kaduna where he enjoys the company of his grandchildren and works on his poultry and citrus farm. He holds the traditional title of Yeriman Garkida.
Young Mandela By David James Smith
Nelson Mandela has been mythologised as a flawless hero of the liberation struggle. But how exactly did his early life shape the triumphs to come?
This book goes behind the myth to find the man who people have forgotten or never knew - Young Mandela, the committed freedom fighter, who left his wife and children behind to go on the run from the police in the early 1960s.
But his historic achievements came at a heavy price and David James Smith graphically describes the emotional turmoil Mandela left in his wake.
After meticulous research, and taking a lead from Mandela's trusted circle, the author discovers much that is new, surprising, and sometimes shocking that will enhance our understanding of the world's elder statesman. For the first time, we have evidence of a specific personal motivation for Mandela's fight against apartheid, and this book sheds light on the significant extent to which Mandela relied on white activists - a part of South African history the ANC has ignored or tried to bury.
Sanctified, lionised, it turns out that Mandela is a human being after all, only too aware of his flaws and shortcomings.
With unique access to people and papers, culminating in a meeting with Mandela himself, Smith has written the single most important contribution to our knowledge of this global icon.
About the Author
David James Smith was born in 1956 and has been a journalist all his working life. He writes for the Sunday Times Magazine.
Mandela's Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage By Richard Stengel
We long for heroes and have too few. Nelson Mandela, who recently celebrated his ninety-first birthday, is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint. He liber-ated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite oppressor and oppressed in a way that had never been done before.
Now Richard Stengel, the editor of "Time "maga-zine, has distilled countless hours of intimate conver-sation with Mandela into fifteen essential life lessons. For nearly three years, including the critical period when Mandela moved South Africa toward the first democratic elections in its history, Stengel collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography and traveled with him everywhere. Eating with him, watching him campaign, hearing him think out loud, Stengel came to know all the different sides of this complex man and became a cherished friend and colleague.
In "Mandela's Way, "Stengel recounts the moments in which "the grandfather of South Africa" was tested and shares the wisdom he learned: why courage is more than the absence of fear, why we should keep our rivals close, why the answer is not always either/or but often "both," how important it is for each of us to find something away from the world that gives us pleasure and satisfaction--our own garden. Woven into these life lessons are remarkable stories--of Mandela's child-hood as the protege of a tribal king, of his early days as a freedom fighter, of the twenty-seven-year imprison-ment that could not break him, and of his new and fulfilling marriage at the age of eighty.
This compact book is profoundly inspiring. It captures the spirit of this extraordinary man--warrior, martyr, husband, statesman, and moral leader--and spurs us to look within ourselves, reconsider the things we take for granted, and contemplate the legacy we'll leave behind.
Long Walk To Freedom: Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has been at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality. The foster son of a Thembu chief, Mandela was raised in the traditional, tribal culture of his ancestors, but at an early age learned the modern, inescapable reality of what came to be called apartheid, one of the most powerful and effective systems of oppression ever conceived. In classically elegant and engrossing prose, he tells of his early years as an impoverished student and law clerk in Johannesburg, of his slow political awakening, and of his pivotal role in the rebirth of a stagnant ANC and the formation of its Youth League in the 1950s. He describes the struggle to reconcile his political activity with his devotion to his family, the anguished breakup of his first marriage, and the painful separations from his children. He brings vividly to life the escalating political warfare in the fifties between the ANC and the government, culminating in his dramatic escapades as an underground leader and the notorious Rivonia Trial of 1964, at which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Herecounts the surprisingly eventful twenty-seven years in prison and the complex, delicate negotiations that led both to his freedom and to the beginning of the end of apartheid. Finally he provides the ultimate inside account
About the author:
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, a small village located in the district of Umtata, the Transkei capital in Africa. Mandela became the first member of his family to attend a school, where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the English name "Nelson". He attended a Wesleyan mission school located next to the palace of the regent. Following Thembu custom, he was initiated at age sixteen, and attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, instead of the usual three. After enrolling, Mandela began to study for a Bachelor of Arts at the Fort Hare University. Later in his life, while in prison, he studied for a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London External Program. Mandela later started work as an articled clerk at a Johannesburg law firm, Witkin, Sidelsky and Edelman. Nelson Mandela completed his B.A. degree at the University of South Africa via correspondence, after which he began law studies at the University of Witwatersrand. He began actively participating in politics after the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party which supported the apartheid policy of racial segregation.Nelson Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election.
About the author:
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, a small village located in the district of Umtata, the Transkei capital in Africa. Mandela became the first member of his family to attend a school, where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the English name "Nelson". He attended a Wesleyan mission school located next to the palace of the regent. Following Thembu custom, he was initiated at age sixteen, and attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, instead of the usual three. After enrolling, Mandela began to study for a Bachelor of Arts at the Fort Hare University. Later in his life, while in prison, he studied for a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London External Program. Mandela later started work as an articled clerk at a Johannesburg law firm, Witkin, Sidelsky and Edelman. Nelson Mandela completed his B.A. degree at the University of South Africa via correspondence, after which he began law studies at the University of Witwatersrand. He began actively participating in politics after the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party which supported the apartheid policy of racial segregation.Nelson Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election.
Ibrahim Babangida: The Military, Politics and Power in Nigeria By Dan Agbese
In a country where the art of writing life history has been bastardised to serve selfish political interests, the author of a new biography or autography is a suspect, especially with the 2015 presidential election around the corner. So, when this reviewer got a copy of Dan Agbese’s latest work on the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida; Ibrahim Babangida: The Military, Politics and Power in Nigeria, his first impulse was to find out if it was actually a biography or just another hagiography.
He rushed to the chapters dealing with issues like the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely believed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola, the controversial Structural Adjustment Programme, Dele Giwa’s murder, etc. He compared the author’s analyses on the topics with his fiery comments on the same issues in the Newswatch magazine in the ’80s and ’90s to see if there were contradictions that would suggest he is an emergency biographer trying to repackage Babangida.
But Agbese’s perspective in this book proves to be quite consistent with his previous viewpoint: IBB is a tragic hero. The 433-page book comprising eighteen chapters is a classical case study of a leader who started out with the noble aim of bettering his country but got swept off by the whirlwind of his personal ambition and parochial considerations just when his noble dream was about to be realized.
He rushed to the chapters dealing with issues like the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely believed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola, the controversial Structural Adjustment Programme, Dele Giwa’s murder, etc. He compared the author’s analyses on the topics with his fiery comments on the same issues in the Newswatch magazine in the ’80s and ’90s to see if there were contradictions that would suggest he is an emergency biographer trying to repackage Babangida.
But Agbese’s perspective in this book proves to be quite consistent with his previous viewpoint: IBB is a tragic hero. The 433-page book comprising eighteen chapters is a classical case study of a leader who started out with the noble aim of bettering his country but got swept off by the whirlwind of his personal ambition and parochial considerations just when his noble dream was about to be realized.
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Vindication Of A General By Lt Gen (Dr) IR Bamaiyi (rtd)
Fighting for Justice
How do we know who we really are unless we’re tested? Would you fight for what you believe in even if it could lead to your demise?
As a boy, I had dreamed of being a soldier, but when I grew up and enlisted I found it was not what I had imagined. Where I had envisioned camaraderie, honor, and respect, I found secrets, lies, and backstabbing. I found corruption where there should have been cooperation, and, worst of all, malice where only valor should have thrived. I became caught up in a series of attempts to overthrow the government—and became a target myself because I knew too much.
Most of all I learned that it is only in humility that we find peace. When we begin to think we are better than another man, that is the point at which our downfall begins.
About the Author
Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Ishaya Rizi Wadtare Bamaiyi (rtd.) was born in Stench village, Nigeria. He graduated from Bida Teachers College and joined the Nigerian army in 1967 as a special-enlistment recruit. He went to the Nigerian Defense Academy as a corporal and commanded seven different infantry battalions, four brigades, and the Lagos Garrison before being appointed chief of army staff in 1996. He served under the military administration of late Gen. Sani Abacha and was on December 10, 1999 charged with attempted murder of Guardian Newspaper Publisher, Alex Ibru. He was charged alongside former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Gen Abacha, Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, and others by the Lagos State Government. Bamaiyi was, however, discharged and acquitted on April 2, 2008 of any wrongdoing in the saga, after eight years in detention.
How do we know who we really are unless we’re tested? Would you fight for what you believe in even if it could lead to your demise?
As a boy, I had dreamed of being a soldier, but when I grew up and enlisted I found it was not what I had imagined. Where I had envisioned camaraderie, honor, and respect, I found secrets, lies, and backstabbing. I found corruption where there should have been cooperation, and, worst of all, malice where only valor should have thrived. I became caught up in a series of attempts to overthrow the government—and became a target myself because I knew too much.
Most of all I learned that it is only in humility that we find peace. When we begin to think we are better than another man, that is the point at which our downfall begins.
About the Author
Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Ishaya Rizi Wadtare Bamaiyi (rtd.) was born in Stench village, Nigeria. He graduated from Bida Teachers College and joined the Nigerian army in 1967 as a special-enlistment recruit. He went to the Nigerian Defense Academy as a corporal and commanded seven different infantry battalions, four brigades, and the Lagos Garrison before being appointed chief of army staff in 1996. He served under the military administration of late Gen. Sani Abacha and was on December 10, 1999 charged with attempted murder of Guardian Newspaper Publisher, Alex Ibru. He was charged alongside former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Gen Abacha, Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, and others by the Lagos State Government. Bamaiyi was, however, discharged and acquitted on April 2, 2008 of any wrongdoing in the saga, after eight years in detention.
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Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man By Richard Stengel
Inspirational wisdom from the world's greatest moral leader.
Written by the co-author of international bestseller Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man presents fifteen powerful lessons on life and leadership based on the life and work of Nelson Mandela, whose fight against apartheid in South Africa has become an enduring example of resistance against injustice and oppression. A recipient of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, Mandela is a man who truly changed the course of world history and is arguably the most inspirational figure of the past century.
Stengel spent almost three years with Mandela working on his bestselling autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, and through that process became a close friend. Written with the blessing of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, to which the author will donate a percentage of his royalties, Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man is an inspirational book of wisdom that will encourage people of all ages to look within themselves to improve their lives, to reconsider the things they take for granted, and to think about the legacy they leave behind.
About the Author
Richard Stengel is the managing editor of Time Magazine. He spent two years collaborating with Nelson Mandela on Mandela's bestselling and critically acclaimed autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. He has written for many publications, including The New Yorker and New York Times and is also the author of January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, A South African Town and You're too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery. Mandela is godfather to his two sons and introduced him to his wife.
No Easy Walk to Freedom Speeches, Letters and Other Writings By Nelson Mandela
'There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires.'
After twenty-seven years in prison, Nelson Mandela finally walked free in February 1990. This collection of his articles, speeches, letters from underground, and the transcripts from his trials, vividly demonstrates the charisma and determination of a towering figure in the struggle for racial equality in South Africa. Now in a new edition, Now Easy Walk to Freedom is both a vital historical document and a chronicle of the life and thoughts of one of the greatest campaigners for freedom the world has known.
Conversations with Myself By Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, these precious and previously private documents have been gathered together into one incredible volume that offers an unprecedented insight into his life.
Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela's personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the inner world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run during the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written on Robben Island and in other South African prisons during his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the post-apartheid transition; private recorded conversations; speeches and correspondence written during his presidency – a historic collection of documents archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together in a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. An intimate journey from Mandela's first stirrings of political conscience to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations with Myself illuminates a heroic life forged on the front lines of the struggle for freedom and justice.
While other books have recounted Mandela's life from the vantage of the present, Conversations with Myself allows for the first time unhindered insight into the human side of the icon.
About The Author
Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on 18 July 1918. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policies for many years before being arrested in August 1962. Mandela was incarcerated for over twenty-seven years, during which his reputation as a potent symbol of resistance to the anti-apartheid movement grew steadily. Released from prison in 1990, Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa in 1994. He is the author of the international bestseller Long Walk to Freedom
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Mandela: The Authorised Biography By Anthony Sampson
In 1975, imprisoned for life on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela covertly wrote his autobiography. After painstaking months the text was smuggled out--and was promptly quashed by the African National Congress. In his later Long Walk to Freedom Mandela politely expresses "surprise" at this. Sampson reveals that Joe Slovo suppressed the book for not giving enough prominence to Communists. This revelation is remarkable--the ANC could have made much mileage from the book at a time of low fortune--yet Sampson does not follow up. There is too often a sense of eggshells lightly walked upon.
Mandela improves as the prisoner's release approaches. Sampson sharply exposes the machinations of those undermining the ANC's struggle. The CIA knew of the Third Force years before the ANC, yet said nothing. Right-wing governments attacked "Mandela the Communist", preferring to promote Inkhata's Buthelezi, at that time secretly and violently colluding with de Klerk's apartheid regime. Against the small-minded figures of Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl it is Mandela who emerges here a giant. South Africa won her freedom through Mandela: his strength of character and willingness to forgive helped push a country into an alternative future, avoiding the racial civil war almost all predicted. Yet he and his kin paid an awful price. Sampson draws a painful, clear picture of a disintegrating family: dislocation from children; the terrible effects of the war on Winnie, and her increasingly erratic, later murderous behaviour; Mandela's own aching loneliness. It is in capturing Madiba, the ultimate public figure, at his most intense and private, that Sampson's Mandela succeeds best. --Chris Woods
Mandela : A Biography By Martin Meredith
Nelson Mandela stands out as one of the most admired political figures of the twentieth century. It was his leadership and moral courage above all that helped to deliver a peaceful end to apartheid in South Africa after years of racial division and violence and to establish a fledgling democracy there. Martin Meredith's vivid portrayal of this towering leader was originally acclaimed as 'an exemplary work of biography: instructive, illuminating, as well as felicitously written' (Kirkus Reviews), providing 'new insights on the man and his time' (Washington Post). Now Meredith has revisited and significantly updated his biography to incorporate a decade of additional perspective and hindsight on the man and his legacy and to examine how far his hopes for the new South Africa have been realised. Published as South Africa celebrates 100 years since its founding and hosts the 2010 World Cup, Mandela is the most thorough and up-to-date account available of the life of its most revered hero.
About the Author
Martin Meredith is a journalist, biographer and historian who has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. He is the author of many books including The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence; Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe, and Mandela: A Biography. He lives near Oxford.