A daring photojournalist is the go-to man if you want to know Lagos and the city’s many scandals.
One particular photojournalist whose chequered life illustrated this fact was my late friend Godwin Usidamen.
His camera put him into more troubles than the “mathemagicians” of mathematics can count.
He was once nearly sacked from the newspaper he then worked in for publishing the son a former vice-president of Nigeria sired with a Lagos socialite out of wedlock.
He had to go into hiding when he published the photograph of a never-seen second wife of a very flamboyant First Republic politician.
He was beaten and locked up for taking a photograph of the Chief Judge of the then Bendel State in party mood with the army commander and police commissioner which he captioned “Gold meets Gin and Whisky” – a coinage from their names.
A maddened parent of a Page 3 Girl he photographed nearly had him murdered for his efforts.
As a photojournalist, Godwin Usidamen stood tall where even generals feared to tread. His philosophy can be summed up thusly: “Get the shot even if the heavens fall!”
Born September 11, 1950 in the rural locale of Uokha in Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State, Godwin had his early education in his hometown and at Obiaruku in today’s Delta State before enrolling as a typist because there was no money to send the young lad to secondary school.
He left Obiaruku for Auchi in 1964 with his elder brother, trekking the long distance because of lack of money.
He was then taken to Ibadan where he underwent apprenticeship in electrical installation and plumbing.
He bore witness to the first military coup in January 1966 at Ibadan as well as the July 1966 counter-coup in which Head of State Aguiyi-Ironsi was murdered in the selfsame Ibadan.
He returned to his home state, broke and nearly broken.
When the Biafra war broke out, he decided on the spur of the moment to find his way to Lagos. He somehow flagged down a Volkswagen car that brought him to Lagos, and to the home of his shocked elder brother who could not understand how Godwin evaded the Biafran soldiers who had overrun the then Midwest Region.
He was subsequently declared missing back home as nobody knew where he was.
He got apprenticed to a refrigerator and air-conditioner installer only to resign after four months because the air-conditioners were much too heavy for the gangling youth.
He then joined his elder brother in the art trade, painting all night and hawking the paintings all day through Palm Grove, Iddo, Carter Bridge, Marina etc.
Tired of painting and hawking, Godwin told his brother he wanted to learn the art of photography instead.
He became apprenticed in 1968 to Pa Johnson Ojeikere, an uncle of his who had his studio in the Yaba area and who also worked for Lintas Advertising.
After the war, in the early 1970s, he told Pa Ojeikere he was tired of being an apprentice and wanted to actually practice the art on his own.
Another brother of his bought for him the necessary work tools, and barely three months after, he bought a sports bicycle and had his business name emblazoned thus: Goddy International Photos.
In 1972, he alongside his friend, Raphael Ikharo, founded the company More-Sell Photo Works which did jobs with agencies engaged in advertising and modeling, even getting jobs from Lintas where Pa Ojeikere reigned.
By 1974 he had bought a car, and it was while washing it that he met Usman Abudah who advised him to go into photojournalism instead of restricting himself to just advertising photography.
Godwin’s drive into the dangers of photography manifested when he went to the then NBC/TV Lagos to do some work in the darkroom only for some menacing soldiers to dash in and seize him together with his camera!
The soldiers took him to Barbeach to serve as the only still photographer to take shots of the execution of Lt-Col Buka Suka Dimka who had been convicted for leading the coup that killed Head of State Murtala Muhammed on February 13, 1976.
He perforce did the job with distinction, and the photographs are alive and well!
Godwin was at various times employed by Sam Amuka to work in Punch and Vanguard. He worked at The Guardian on the recommendation of the photo editor Sunmi Smart-Clole. He would later work for the Daily Times, Sentinel Magazine and the Sunmi Smart-Cole Gallery in Yaba.
He ran his own photo enterprise, PapaGee Digital Productions, on Ibidun Street, Surulere, Lagos, and was planning a grand exhibition of rare photographs before his untimely demise.