A review of “Soldiers of Fortune” by Max Siollun

I just finished Max Siollun’s Soldiers of Fortune. I am marvelled at the amount of secrets that the book was able to unearth. At times it was breathtaking especially at the end. It revealed a lot of things that I did not know. Starting with the fact that apart from the coup of 1966, IBB was involved in every successful coup in Nigeria. I didn’t know that Domkat Bali was senior to IBB and Abacha. It also exposed the inner workings of the Buhari and IBB governments.
It addressed some of the major dramas in Nigeria’s history such as the death of Dele Giwa, Mamman Vatsa’s coup and the Ogboru coup. I call it Ogboru’s coup here as the book also revealed that Orkar was not really the leader of that coup. That he was recruited in the latter stages of the coup himself. But I think the major scoop in my opinion was the assertion that IBB did not annul the June 12 elections. It posits that it was Abacha and other members of the military that did it. I did not expect this at all.
The book shows that man management is the most important aspect of management! Buhari failed because he was seen as being too rigid and taciturn.IBB largely succeeded due to his amazing ability to read the human psyche and accurately feeding it with what it wants. It also proved to be his downfall as his indecision was interpreted as weakness and effectively blunted the potency of his authority.
The book gives a scathing indictment of all actors in the Nigerian theatre of power. These include both the rulers and the ruled as their collective myopia and selfishness has led Nigeria into a decline that pervades the material and moral spheres.
Aside from the repetitions in the book which in some instances makes the book tedious, it is a very good and educative read. Every Nigerian and everyone interested in Nigeria should read this book if they want to understand the Nigeria of today.

Advertisement