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Damiete Braide
Renowned activist, lawyer and author, Dele Farotimi, has presented Do Not Die in their War, a book on contemporary, Nigerian political trajectories. The book launch took place at Kongi’s Harvest Art Gallery, Freedom Park, Lagos, recently.
Farotimi had, for some years, had the ambition of documenting the downward journey of Nigeria along the lines of true democracy, good governance and egalitarianism.
At the event, the author read from the prologue of his book to whet the appetite of the audience, “Silence is no longer the option, considering the increasing spate of violence, kidnapping, etcetera, across the country. Nigeria was better that what it is now, and can be much better than it has become. Sounding the alarm in the hope that we have not travelled to far down this road towards national destruction.”
He went on to explain, “I have not written a book, but have poured out my frustrations. Nigeria is a country of pain. I am currently working on a project, Egbere the Crying Soul, and there are much pains in Nigeria. It is not sufficient to lament; everybody has one painful tale to tell about Nigeria.
“We need to move beyond complaining and crying. When we stop arguing over irrelevant issues and start dealing with real issue, we are going to move on. I have observed, over time, that ignorance has been weaponised in Nigeria.”
Convener of IREP Documentary Film Festival, Femi Odugbemi, observed one of the things that Nigerians had failed to do was to document their voices and beliefs. He said, “It is a tragedy that we consume books and memoir written about America and America. America is where it is, because people have been able to document their voices. They don’t have a history, because they have not documented their voices.”
For Pastor Charles Abraham, “Dele is a man of truth. He will not spare you when you do something wrong. He is a man of compassion. I see his dedication to things. He is very deep and has credible intellectual capacity. These are the qualities that formed the man that wrote the book.
“You may be misled by the title of the book. The author is not angry but has the desire to change things in the country. The author loves Nigeria with all his heart. There is no way that you will read this book and not be convinced about what he has written –those who write understand the power of words. The book is about living, and not dying in war.”
In the Preface, Taiwo Akinkami hinted that Do Not Die in their War “… is a book that is grounded in ideology and strategies on how to build and sustain an egalitarian society with clearly defined role of the governed and the governing body, looking through the past to evaluate the present and looking through the present to predict the future.”
Wife of the author, added, “When I started reading the book, I was afraid. I left it for about a week. I wrote my observations, and gave it to him. Imagine if he had bottled all these things inside him, what would have happened? I summoned courage to read the book, and I commend him for writing it.”
The book launch was compered by Jahman Anikulapo, while Ade “Guitar” thrilled the audience with his solo performance. The author, and his wife with son, read excerpts from the book, too.
