Cover of the book, The Road Never Forgets

Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi’s memoirs, ”The Road Never Forgets”, is out. It will be presented to the public at the Harbour Point, Victoria Island Lagos on Thursday, 14 April 2022, when the author turns 75. The ceremony will be chaired by Aremo Olusegun Osoba; Chief Emeka Anyaoku will be the guest of honour; Professor Yemi Osinbajo will give the keynote address while Professor Femi Osofisan will review the book.

Ogunbiyi at age six

The 515-page book, published by BookCraft, covers his early years in Kano, Ibadan and Lagos. It tells interesting stories of his University days at Ibadan where he studied English, his years as a graduate student at New York University and his six years stint as a senior lecturer at the University of Ife. The memoirs, with a succinct foreword by Professor Biodun Jeyifo, also tells riveting stories of the success he made of his various assignments and duties in The Guardian as one of the directing minds; in The Daily Times as the Managing Director; as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tanus Communications and Books; as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University and his various community engagements in Ipara-Remo, Sagamu, Ile-Ife and other places.

Dr. Ogunbiyi at 75

Because Yemi Ogunbiyi has encountered many famous people on the road of his life, he carefully uses these people which include Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Bashorun MKO Abiola, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Professors Wole Soyinka, Ojetunji Aboyade and Micere Mugo, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti,  Ken Saro-Wiwa, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Dr Julius Nyerere, Dr Keneth Kunda, Dr Robert Mugabe, General Sani Abacha, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Rjiv Gandhi, Shimon Peres, among others, to tell aspects of Nigerian and world history. And the intimate stories are told in a language that is at once sublime, accessible and wise. For Ogunbiyi, every story has a context, a back-story. Seamlessly, he weaves fascinating strands of these stories together to give his reader a page-turner. It is an impressive achievement.