Nigerian lawyer and author, Adejoke Adeosun known as Sisi Caro has released her first book, Honey and Maggots, a 169 pages book on politics, love and nature.
Armed with a passion for justice and a better life for the people, the narrator finds herself digging deep into the story of the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, the Abacha regime, the COVID-19 pandemic and the EndSARS protests, presenting her thoughts in a captivating prose form.
Honey and Maggots examines the recurrence of misgovernance in the polity and raises concern about the unsettled mysteries that surround some of the social and political disorders that have ravaged Nigeria.
Spiced with the love story between Dimeye, Patrick and their lovebirds, you will find this story on politics, power and nature very engaging and interesting.
Speaking with The Guardian at the launch of the book in GRA, Ikeja, she said the 2020 EndSARs was a replay of the past where people were killed but the authorities said no one was murdered and that three years down the line, Nigerians are quite about it. I have to write about these to preserve history so that generations will see what played out. I also talked about male child assault and others. I wrote this book from a place of love and genuine concern for the country.
When asked about how she came up with the title of the book for the fact that honey and maggots are not related, she said: “The honey part reflects on the sweet aspects or time in our history as a country or life, the sweet memory like the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States where Nigeria overcame stronger teams, such as Brazil and Argentina to earn the gold. The book talks about the sweet memories while the maggots, which is the ugly part dwells on the killings, assaults and other ugly aspects. That is how I came up with the title.
On how long it took her to write the book and the inspiration behind it, she said: “It took me 13 months to write Honey and. It’s a short read deliberately to help early readers and undergraduates and make it interesting while reading.
“The inspiration behind this book is the passion to preserve history.
“The sweetest part of this book, for me, is the Atlanta 1996, it brought joy to the homes of Nigerians, it brought Nigerians together, people tuned their TV an hour before the kickoff of the final, Nigerians bought food for each other when the team won.
“I wrote this book with high emotion. Sometimes I was happy, sometimes sad while writing the book and I ensured that I communicated everything through the pen.
On what readers can learn from the book, she said: “There is so much to learn from this book; Nigeria is a good place but the problem is leadership. Nigeria is a land filled with milk and honey but sadly people are running away from the green lushes vegetation to the sanding landscape just to experience what a sane government can do, a place where there is sanity. Nigeria is a good place.
