The cliche ”the rich also cry” is not an uncommon one, employed usually to depict an unfortunate situation for the rich. The preponderance of piracy in Nigeria has taken its toll on former Nigeria President Johnathan only hours after the release of his new book “My Transition Hours”.
Shortly after unveiling the book at a lavish event held at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, the former President headed to popular social media platform Twitter to express displeasure over the hijack of his book which sought to reveal information about the closing hours of his time in office.
Soft copies of the new book have been shared several times on social media especially Whatsapp, but a scan through the book which has 254 pages in Portable Document Format (PDF), revealed that it had been edited with some inaccurate information and copyrighted in 2015. Some chapters contained in the real book which has 194 pages have also been expunged, according to the information put out by the former President which called its perpetrators “mischief makers”.
“We have just been informed that a fake document contrived by mischief makers is being passed on as the e-version and hard copy of the just launched ‘#MyTransitionHours’, Mr Jonathan stated on Twitter. “We advise the general public to ignore such publication as the chapters and contents are not the same as the book publicly presented two days ago in Abuja. Also, note that the e-copy of #MyTransitionHours is not being marketed, as such, the fake online version could only have been created by those out to deceive the unsuspecting public”, Mr Jonathan concluded.
The book, which was launched on 20 November, has already garnered criticism with Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Wednesday dismissing the book as an “elementary book of fiction,” that lacks courage. According to The Punch, My Transition Hours, the governor said, “was a clever attempt to sweep incontrovertible facts on the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls under the carpet.” In the book, Shettima was among those alleged to have conspired in the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls.
Piracy which has been a major problem to Nigeria’s music and literacy industries may have finally gotten to the top even before the contents of the book can be debated. With the advent of online and mobile activities, piracy has become more rampant than ever before, with industry regulation efforts no helped by the lackluster attitude of enforcing government policies.
The original hard copy of the book was advertised by Mr Jonathan on his Twitter handle with two different cover prices, N10,500 (hardback) and N5,000 (paperback)
