Pirated copies of former President
Olusegun Obasanjo’s controversial autobiography titled ‘My Watch’ have
flooded the streets of Lagos State, selling for as low as N7,000.
The development came after a Federal
Capital Territory High Court judge, Justice Valentine Ashi, ordered that
security agents, including the police and men of the Department of
State Service, should
confiscate all copies of the book.
Our correspondent learnt that Obasanjo’s
original book which has three volumes, costs about N15, 000 while the
pirated copy, which has two volumes, costs less than half the price and
comes in a white cover as opposed to the original’s yellow and brown
colour.
Our
correspondent, who spoke to hawkers selling the book in the Maryland
and Opebi areas of the state, was told that Obasanjo’s original book had
become scarce.
One of the traders, who spoke to our
correspondent on Opebi Road, said traders knew that the original would
become scarce after a court ordered its seizure and so pirates seized
the opportunity to make money.
He said, “My friend, you know this book
is illegal now and we are even taking a huge risk selling it. The
controversy in the pages of the book and the controversy that it has
continued to generate in society have made it a bestseller.
“I usually sell it between N11,000 and N7,000 depending on the negotiating power of the customer.”
When asked where he usually got the books from, he said, “You want to spoil my market? Of course I can’t tell you.”
Obasanjo’s book, which centres on his
life in the military, as a democratic president and after office, became
a legal issue shortly before its publication when the Chairman,
Organisation and Mobilisation Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party
in the South-West, Buruji Kashamu, took the matter to court in an
attempt to prevent Obasanjo from launching the book.
However, Obasanjo on December 9, 2014, went ahead to publish the book and the judge ordered that the books be confiscated.
--Punch News
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