Bisi Akande’s book mirrors life and its linear plot structure. It opens with tales of Akande’s birth and his tentative steps as a child; it ends with the mournful account of his wife’s death and burial with a grieving gathering of friends and foes. Despite its shortcomings,Akande comes across in the book as an excellent, even dangerous, keeper of private and official records. This shows clearly in the very lucid chapter where he discusses his tempestuous years as governor of Osun State. He quotes dates and time; he cites receipt numbers, claim forms and references other details that would have easily escaped the fingers of anyone who was not preparing for war in times of peace. Akande ‘My Participations’ is a book with valuable addition to the lengthening list of chronicles of how we arrived at today’s dankness.
The entire book smells of war; each chapter a battle, or a string of battles, or a continuation of an unfinished battle
