Nigeria, Oct. 18 -- "During his watch, a watchman has no sleep and no respite." - Olusegun Obasanjo, My Watch

There is a famous line in Chinua Achebe's classic, Things Fall Apart: "Looking at the king's mouth, one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast." It came to mind as I read Baba Obasanjo's account of his early life, because few memoirs by men of such stature begin so humbly.

The book opens with his birth, as his mother narrated it to him: "You were born on Ifo Market day. I had put my wares together for the market when I suddenly went into labour. It meant that I could not go to the market that day. But before those who went to the market returned to the village, you were already born."

With no birth certificates in t...