Born to Serve; Enuma Chigbo & Ejiro Barret; africagenda Publications; Abuja; 2011THE book, Born to Serve written by Enuma Chigbo and Ejiro Barret, clearly brings a public servant to the court of public opinion for proper trial. Interestingly, the modest effort of the writers pays off with a big catch in the person of Senator Liyel Imoke, the governor of Cross River State.Apart from venturing into the murky waters of Nigeria's politics as the country's youngest senator at a relative young age of 30, Imoke in the course of his public service career has been privileged or rather unfortunately been saddled with very challenging national assignments.In the last 20 years, President Goodluck Jonathan wrote in his foreword to the book, 'Senator Liyel Imoke has been actively engaged with Nigeria, having served in various capacities: senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1991, Special Adviser (Utilities) to President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairman Technical Board of NEPA, Executive Chair of the Federal Government Committee to wind down OMPADEC in 1999, Minister of Power, Minister of Education and currently, Governor of Cross River State.'It is to these national assignments that the biographers bring to trial with the intent of not having the honour to convicting their subject or acquitting him, but more honourably allow the public to pass the judgment.Really, the 208-page book is an account of essentially, Senator Liyel Imoke's 20 years journey in public service. It is a story told through the mouth of over a hundred witnesses drawn from across different strata of society and tribes, vis-a-vis politics, business, parastatals, ministries, church, schools and traditional institutions.The authors' methodological approach of the interview style makes it possible for the interpretation of the activities and personality of the subject be done by outsiders, who do not have anything so to say, at stake, in scoring the man.It is important to state here that this biographical writing approach is very innovative and equally lend some sense of objectivity to the entire exercise.Through this approach, the authors are able to assess the leadership years of Imoke while he served in his various offices. Those who spoke about Imoke in this book include; his political colleagues, career public servants, who worked with him, clergy men, party chieftains, business moguls, traditional rulers and his employers such as formere President Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan.From the account of all the witnesses that testified against Imoke, essential evidences in his favour are: dedication, loyalty, innovativeness, good team player, brilliancy and above all, humility in low and high places.The entire trial of Imoke in the course of this engaging narrative also reveals another significant and hidden fact about the nation's political culture. That fact is that Imoke represents and achieves what are attributed to him due mainly, to the proper harnessing of his productive young age to service of humanity.This revelation is perhaps one of the authorial motives of these biographers , who appropriate their subject as a case study in proposing this important hypothesis, perhaps, suggesting that the nation should consider more seriously the call by larger Nigerians for a generational shift in the leadership structure of the nation.Besides being properly packaged and excellently edited, Born to Serve, which will be presented at Kolanut Conference and event Centre, Calabar on May 25, 2012, is no doubt an important read, not only because of its subject matter, but more significantly, because of its manner of presentation, which makes it possible for the people themselves to try those who are called upon to serve them.
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