Dr Olu Aina, a former Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Roots Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), has written an autobiography. He was on African Independent Television (AIT) to talk about the book which was presented to the public yesterday.

Asked about one if the chapters titled ‘The Longest Day of My Life;, the Osun State politician recalled how he narrowly escaped being brutally killed along with his wife and kids by Muslim fanatics during a period of religious crisis between Muslims and Christians in the north of Nigeria some years ago.

He said: “I was supposed to travel to Kano on a particular day (which was a hotbed of the crisis). Something kept stopping me from traveling there and I realised it was God’s voice because I would have been killed.

“Then in Kaduna, where I was with my family, a mob was coming to my office because they knew me very well. As they got near the leader of the group spoke in Hausa and asked them to turn back. I then got my wife and kids into my car and we were driving home. We ran into another mob, who stopped my car and told me I was finished. They asked me to come down from the car and start to recite the Quran. Of course, I could not because I’m a Christian. Then something inside urged me to drive immediately as fast as I could. I then put the car on gear one and drove aggressively through the mob many kilometres to my house. My car was just bouncing up and down.”

Dr Aina, a former senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), described the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in this year’s general elections as good for Nigeria. “Just as in America, today the Democratic party wins, tomorrow the Republican party wins. I’m sure the PDP will be back to power someday,” he opined.

•Photo shows Dr Aina.

Update news