Why I wrote The Letterman- PREMIUM TIMES E-in-C, Musikilu Mojeed

Musikilu Mojeed, Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES newspaper and the inspiration behind the book “The Letterman: Inside the ‘Secret’ Letters of Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo” has revealed.

The 492-page book, released in December 2022, explores the role of letter writing in leadership, governance and politics.

Mr Mojeed said he was fascinated by the culture of documentation and the content of the letters written by the former president.

He disclosed this at the CORA (Committee on Relevant Art) Book Trek held at the RovingHeights bookstore in Landmark Center, Victoria Island, Lagos on Sunday.

The fortnightly event was attended by CORA members, Toyin Akinyosho, journalists, PREMIUM TIMES staff and other distinguished guests.

Award-winning Nigerian poet Odia Ofeimun and other guests joined the event via Zoom.

Speaking about his experience in writing the book, the author recalled visiting the former president to discuss a report on the late Buruji Kashamu.

The deceased was Mr. Obasanjo’s political associate turned enemy and visited his letters through the then newly built library of the former president.

As he recalled, “I asked him about the state of the library that was being built; the library was about to be finished, and he offered me a tour of the library. When we were walking around the library, I saw many books, documents and I saw a box with the letters and.

“They were labeled, letters to heads of state, letters to former heads of state, they were all properly labeled since they were preparing to open the Library, so all those documents were being prepared.”

Mr. Mojeed, intending to get an exclusive from the letters found at the beginning, had to take leave because the host was also leaving but he promised himself that he would return.

“It took me a lot to come back, but when I came back, I said I would spend a day but I stayed three days in Abeokuta, and I saw that it was much more than writing a news story; it was something that had to be covered a lot in a book.”

At this time, the author said that he did not inform the former president of his intention to write the book and cited the reasons.

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“You know, I did not discuss writing the book with him, as most of us know, Obasanjo likes to write his own stories because he wants to control the narratives, and there is nothing you want to write about Obasanjo. He didn’t write it.”

“I felt that if I mentioned my idea about the book to him, he would say no, and that I wouldn’t have access to it anymore, so I went to make the book and took some copies to him after I finished it. “

The author read some of the letters included in the book, which mostly contained and expressed the thoughts and ideologies of the former president on domestic policies, politics and foreign diplomacy.

Questionable truths, consistency

During the session, an interactive listener questioned the verifiable truth of some letters from former presidents.

Responding, the author explained that the debate over whether the content of Obasanjo’s letters was true was not what he should have taken his stand on.

However, knowing that the former president was a man of bold character, he wrote the book to reveal and explore his fascinating culture of letter writing and documenting.

“If the things Obasanjo wrote in his letters are true, he remains in doubt, even in the letter he wrote to Jonathan he did not give any evidence about the snipers Jonathan was supposed to use. Maybe he had evidence and kept it, but we would never know.”

“This is not a book to say whether Obasanjo is a good person or a bad person, it is not to say whether his letters are true or not, nor is it to say that he is a better character than the people he wrote to. . I tried as much as possible to put those letters in perspective.’

When another audience member questioned whether the letters were properly written by the President and not his aides, the author pointed out a pattern of inconsistencies that he noticed when examining the letters.

He said: “I’m not a linguist, but the language in which he wrote his letters seems consistent. Perhaps if you do a stylistic analysis you can find inconsistencies but if you follow Obasanjo’s letters and the way he speaks, his letters usually read his thoughts. Of course, that is not enough to say that he wrote all the letters.’

The author, however, added that the letters seen cover several years and stages of the former president’s life.

“The letters I saw were letters he wrote when he was on the war front, head of state and even in the past. Would we say that the same people were writing for him all that time? That’s hard to say.”

The fascinating exhibition ‘The Letterman’ has been very well received by book lovers interested in Nigerian political culture.

Bishop Matthew Kukah, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Toyin Falola and Kadaria Ahmed have given it rave reviews.