Guns of Power

I am a Nigerian journalist educated in Nigeria and England in the 1960's where I practised briefly and had the privilege to cover the Nigerian constitutional conference for a local newspaper. That period can now be described as the golden period in Nigerian history. Empathy, decency, and humanity still existed in our national life then. When I came back to Nigeria during the same period, The first assignment given to me was to go into the Yoruba hinterland to get an old woman whose son, living in America was seriously ill and needed an organ donor. She immediately volunteered as a donor. She was brought to Lagos, celebrated, and crowned, the woman of the YEAR. I was later employed by the ministry of information as soon as the civil war started and I was posted to the documentation unit to document activities at the war front. That was a very traumatic period in our national life. When I became the chairperson of media women in Lagos, we decided to give an award to exceptional leaders. The first person to win the award for advancing the lots of girl children In a very innovative and effective way was general David Mark, the Governor of Niger State at the time. I have always believed in the policy of acknowledging good and bad deeds. I was happy to live throughout that period in our national life as a journalist and a woman activist I was the publicity secretary of the National Council of Women Societies, NCWS and a member and the Executive director of the award-winning film for the Better life programme, 'THE JOURNEY SO FAR'. The Better Life Programme was the brainchild of the then-first lady of Nigeria, Mrs Maryam Babangida. Those activities gave me another opportunity to visit every state and many villages all over the country and experience the beauty and diversity of a wonderful country like no other in the world. The country then was still very happy, full of joy and celebrations. Unfortunately, Nigeria has become a nation of pain, hunger, and sorrow, where human lives mean nothing, law and order have broken down and the whole country has been thrown to the dogs. Even the security convoy of the President has been attacked and several security operatives were reportedly killed. The greatest insult of all was when they arrogantly threatened to kidnap the president The nation has definitely gone to the dog. I eventually retired from public service as the Director General of the National Film and Video Census Board. Rosaline Odeh is currently the proprietor of GROTTOAFRIQUE, the gallery of history, based in Abuja, Nigeria and online.wwwgrottoafrique.com