Now, the headline was sensationally cast to arrest your attention. The Soyinka I'm about to talk about is actually Wole, but the Abiola is Jamiu, the son of the late MKO Abiola, son of the late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and younger brother of Hafsat Abiola-Costello.
Both Wole and Jamiu are authors, and very intelligent men. The other co-incidence is that while returning from the launch of Jamiu's book, "The President Who Never Ruled Nigeria-The true-life story of an African self-made billionaire", I stopped by at Glendora (Jazzhole, if you will) to pick up Soyinka latest book, "InterInventions-Between defective memory and the public lie".
Both books promise to be engaging, informative and really rewarding from what I have gleaned so far. I have read some reports and reviews of Soyinka's book which, according to him, will draw blood. I believe him. I will find out tonight if the blood he drew is more than OBJ's.
As for Jamiu's book, I will relax and read it. You can imagine when a son tells the story of his father's life, especially a father like MKO. He wrote from his heart, motivated by the need to keep an accurate record his late father's life for posterity-away from gossips, rumors and conjectures.
I'm particularly impressed by Jamiu's profile, which includes the fact that he's proficient in 10 languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Arabic, Yoruba, Hausa and Kanuri. He recently attained certification in Legal, commercial and patent translations in Arabic, French, Spanish, German and English at the New York University. Wow! A former World Bank staff, he is a graduate of Political Science of the NYU.
It was delightful to be at the NIIA, venue of the launch of Jamiu Abiola's book, and to several kind-hearted Nigerians, from all walks of life, who believe that the memories of MKO and Kudirat, his wife, must be kept alive.
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