Post by Abdulbaki Jari (@jari)

I just finished reading General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar’s book Call of Duty — all thanks to my editor, Nasidi Adamu Yahaya. It’s a very interesting book. These days i mostly only read autobiographies, not only because they are about the lives of great men and women, but because i want to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Everyone should write about their life when they have the chance. A full-time housewife for 60–70 years deserves to have her story read — her sacrifices, happiness, anger & frustration. The same goes for a carpenter, journalist, teacher etc.

I will try to persuade my nonagenarian maternal grandfather to share his story as well. My father’s story will, above all, be the most interesting; he reads more books than anybody i know & is now a mid-septuagenarian.

General Abdulsalami is a June man: born on 13 June, married on 30 June, and became President of Nigeria on 9 June.

He mentioned several times that people said he was going to rise very high in life, i believe only God knows that. But destiny has it ways. A Hausa man from Kano, born and raised in Minna, from Air-force to Army, rose through the ranks & became President. What i find more important in the book than that, was his patience. The Hausa saying goes: “Sannu ba ta hana zuwa…, mai hakuri shi ke dafa dutse…” If anyone could become Nigeria’s president through patience, he did. His colleagues went looking for power; he almost sat still & power came begging.

We hope our democracy endures & our nation achieves greatness.

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