Former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched his
controversial autobiography 'My Watch' at the Lagos
Country club Ikeja, Lagos today Dec. 9th. Guest at the
event included former VC of the University of Lagos,
Prof. Ibidapo Obe and former Minister of Education,
Oby Ezekwesili. According to reports, one of the chapters of the book
titled "To be or not to be, Jonathan" Obasanjo said he
was deceived by late President Umaru Yar'Adua
about his health status before facilitating his
emergence as the PDP flag bearer in 2007. In the book, Obasanjo was quoted to have said; "As can be expected, I was heavily involved in the transition and exit process that saw me
leaving office for my successor, Umaru
Yar'Adua, as recounted in Chapter Thirty-
seven, the ninth chapter of the second volume
of this book. The unprepared and unplanned
transition from Yar'Adua to Jonathan was a more difficult exercise in some respects. One
reason was the 'cloak and dagger' manner
in which Yar'Adua's illness was handled.
The illness of a President cannot be regarded as
private. His health has implications for the
security and well being of the nation. For the president and those around him to have
attempted strenuously to keep the fact of the
severity of his illness from public smacks of
ignorance of the enormity of what the job
entails and the level of provinciality of their
understanding, attitude, and approach. I remember that in 1978 or 1979 Chief Awolowo
visited me while I was military head of state
and shared with me how he would always stay
at home to attend to the work at hand and only
make a private visit to the UK once a year for
health reasons if he became president of Nigeria. I made it clear to the chief that once he
be came president of Nigeria, he could have no
private visit to anywhere as such. Wherever he
would be, he would be on duty, and the totality
of his life would be public. I jokingly added that
the only privacy he might lay claim to would be when he was at home with Mama Chief H.I.D.,
and that even then his security staff would be
on twenty-four-hour duty. " The launch of the three volume book was stopped by
a court injunction secured by a former friend of
Obasanjo, Prince Buruji Kashamuon on Friday
December 5th but lawyers to Chief Obasanjo advised
him to go ahead with the launch.
