Book Description

Nigeria is rife with divisions, particularly between Christians and Muslims. Both groups aim at converting others, and so they are in direct conflict with each other. The bitterness came to a head when Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, succeeded his former boss, Musa Yar’Adua, upon his death. Jonathan would serve as president from 2010 to 2015. The northern oligarchy was infuriated because they depended on rent and patronage, which they knew would not be feasible under a Christian president. They employed every tactic they could to destabilize his regime, and in 2015, he lost the presidential election to the former military head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. In this book, the author lays out how politics in Nigeria is no longer based on what politicians can do for the community. Rather, the focus is on what they can do for themselves. There is no more catching fish for God. The religion they follow is based on stealing from the people. Buhari was presented as an agent of change, but his seven years in charge have only brought pain, bloodshed, anarchy, and more turmoil. Something must be done to move Nigeria away from the precipice. Praise for Conspiracy of Silence “Azukaoma Uche Osakwe’s book is another in a growing list of sad narratives on the failure of leadership in Nigeria under the leadership of Muhammadu Buhari's Administration. The book painstakingly combs through the many ills of Nigerian society under Buhari and the collapse of such institutions as the police, army, electoral body, government officials and the various ethnic nationalities. He accuses these people of conspiring to stay mum amid terrible governance. The author charges the citizenry, as well as the Igbo Nation, which, he says, are marginalized, to buckle up and take what remains of their destiny in their own hands.” —Jude Atupulazi, editor-in-chief, Fides Newspaper, Awka, Nigeria “Conspiracy of Silence ... this book must necessarily take a long title. It would indeed, be difficult to capture the Muhammadu Buhari era as president of Nigeria with an elegantly titled book. The simple reason is that the Buhari tenure was devoid of neither elegance nor finesse. Conspiracy of Silence encapsulates this rather dark epoch in fine detail – warts and all. It’s a racy report of Africa’s giant caught in the vice grips of mediocrity and mendacity in equal measures. It's stranger than fiction!” —Steven Osuji, columnist and former member of the editorial board, The Nation, Nigeria