“According To The President”

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REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, IMMEDIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT MALLAM GARBA SHEHU’S BOOK LAUNCH TITLED: “ACCORDING TO THE PRESIDENT: LESSONS FROM A PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN’S EXPERIENCE” ON THE 9TH OF JULY, 2025

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I just saw the former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, walking in. I must tell you something about former vice presidents and such individuals.

As you know, sometimes we get it all wrong. We say that, for instance, I will be referred to as the Immediate Past, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As for the person before me, who would be His Excellency, Namadi Sambo, he would be referred to as the Former Vice President of Nigeria. All those before us will be referred to as the one-time Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

So, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is seated here, is a one-time Vice President. I welcome you, Sir, and also to say what a pleasure to see you and also to know that you are healthy and well and doing so, wonderfully year after year.

I’m honoured to welcome you all to the launch of the book, “According to the President” by Mallam Garba Shehu, former Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communication.

We are especially honoured to have with us today, General Yakubu Gowon, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who at age 90 still looks like you could still win a 100-meter dash!

I’m aware, sir, that you were to go abroad before you got this invitation, but you very graciously postponed that trip to be here to celebrate with our friend and brother, Mallam Garba Shehu.

Garba Shehu has written a very important book: “According to the President, a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience.” And the book is important not just because it details his eyewitness accounts of some of the most history-worthy moments in our national annals, and he criss-crosses two different administrations, but, I think more importantly, he has been true to his heart and his calling as a teacher.

Many may not know that Mallam Garba, while he was editor of The Triumph Newspaper in Kano, was also doing something close to his heart, teaching journalism, aspects of journalism at his Alma Mater, the Bayero University.

In writing this book, he says categorically that he set out to write not an autobiography, but a textbook for those who will in the future be media advisors and practitioners in the prestigious but often difficult, sometimes treacherous terrain of politics and governance at the highest levels.

By writing a textbook based on his experiences, both good and bad, he spares the wise who will follow him the burdens of learning by experience. The popular adage, “experience is the best teacher,” is, as you know, only half true. It is the shortened form of a Welsh proverb, “Experience is the best teacher for a fool. The wise learn from history; history is a kinder and gentler teacher than experience.”

So he gives a blow-by-blow account of the inside story and several inside stories, including the conflict that developed between Vice President Abubakar Atiku and President Olusegun Obasanjo. And I’m not going to go into any of that. I’m not reviewing the book, and I’m sure that there’ll be a lot to be said today about all of that.

He says he was a media person for Vice President Atiku in navigating that debacle. He lost his job, and he tells the story of how one evening, he got a call from NTA and was told, “We are announcing your resignation tonight.” And he remonstrated that he had not resigned!

The voice said, “Well, we have your letter of resignation here.” And yes, his resignation was announced that evening. The job of the Vice President, and just reflecting a bit on the conflict between the Vice President and the President, I think that the only other Vice President who is here may agree with me that the job of a Vice President is possibly the most difficult in the world. It was, his excellency, Umar Ganduje, former Chairman of the APC, in his famous work, “Deputising”, who humorously describes the conundrum that deputies face.

He once said to me, “When you are a deputy or vice, you are in a difficult position.” And then he would pause like a great storyteller that he is. “Every action you take is likely to be misinterpreted, not necessarily by your boss, but by the numerous people around him.” He says, “If you humbly walk behind your boss, they will say, ‘Look at him, he’s not cooperating with his boss. If you walk by his side, they will say, “Ah, see this man, he thinks he’s equal to the boss.” And if you walk in front of him, ah, they will say, “Ah, he thinks he’s better than the boss.” The account of all of the events surrounding that particular conflict. I’m sure you will find incredibly interesting reading.

But the bulk of the book is about his stewardship as presidential spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, and working together with the Special Adviser to the President, Pastor Femi Adeshina. You would find in the book that his depiction of President Muhammadu Buhari and his tenure comes from a different perspective. And I must say, it sheds a completely different light on the way that he related to President Muhammadu Buhari. I’m not going to spend any time, as I said, trying to analyse that or say anything about it, but only to say, as Femi Adeshina has said, that President Buhari, there will be several more books written about him, several.

We have read, “Working with Buhari.” We will soon see “Laughing with Buhari,” and, today, we’re seeing “According to Buhari.”

I know that this particular occasion is one where we celebrate him and where we will also celebrate his tenure.

Garba Shehu’s book, I must say, is a good analysis of those times. It’s a fair and objective analysis of those times, and he spares very little in terms of detail and terms of analysis.

I welcome you all to this occasion, and I trust that you will have a very pleasant time, not just listening to experiences, but also appreciating an era of which much still will be written.

Thank you very much.