Akume, Ododo to attend Tunde Olusunle’s book launch on October 9

Tunde Olusunle, a journalist and former aide to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, is set to launch two books on Nigerian politics.

The event will be held at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on October 9.

The books are ‘Orisirisi: Vistas on Contemporary Politics in Nigeria’, a 470-page anthology of 60 essays while the second, ‘Toasts, Tributes and Wreaths’, is a 308-page volume of 46 essays.

In a statement on Sunday, Bolaji Afolabi, a member of the book launch media committee, said the foreword of ‘Orisirisi’ was written by Segun Ayobolu, a former media adviser to President Bola Tinubu during his time as Lagos governor.

Ayobolu said the author used the book to highlight “leadership ineptness, monsters corruption, pervasive poverty, galloping inflation, and escalating indebtedness”.

In her appraisal of the second book, Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju, a professor, said the author “masterfully weaves together an embroidery of stories, each thread representing a unique lifetime, a significant milestone and a profound moment in the existence of the narrative personae”.

Dignitaries expected to attend the book launch are George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation; Usman Ododo of Kogi; Dauda Lawal of Zamfara; Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto; Kefas Agbu of Taraba; and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, a former national security adviser.

Others are Enyinnaya Abaribe, a senator; Onyema Ugochukwu, the pioneer chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC); Gabriel Suswam, the former governor of Benue; and Idris Wada, a former governor of Kogi.

Current and past federal lawmakers from Kogi, the author’s state of origin, are expected to be at the book launch.

The author is a professor of creative writing at the University of Abuja.