The Ghost of June 12

Combining the techniques of a diarist, reporter and commentator, Olusegun Adeniyi reports the events as they unfolded under General Sani Abacha, he allows the actors of that drama to speak in their own words, he constructs the narrative in a chronological sequence and guides us to the climactic and sudden end of the Abacha misadventure. He provides strong entertainment in recording the statements of those willing agents of dictatorship who handed over the initiative to Abacha, but who ironically today are occupying positions of authority as democrats. The author mentions their names directly and confronts us with the fickleness of the human mind and the dangers of the personal factor in Nigerian politics… the characters in his account are either villains or charlatans, democrats or political mercenaries, men of principles or hired thugs. Without calling anyone names, he allows their deeds to place a judgment of history upon their heads.