According to Channels Television, British-Nigerian Mayor of Islington, Rosaline Ogunro, has reflected on her broadcasting career in Nigeria, recounting the gender barriers she faced and her experience during the failed February 13, 1976 coup.
Ogunro said women were initially barred from reading major news bulletins but noted that she was among the first female broadcasters to break the restriction and present news on air.
Recalling the attempted coup led by the late Buka Suka Dimka, she said she was on early morning duty at Broadcasting House in Ikoyi when armed soldiers stormed the station.
“They came into the studio, the major coup plotter demanded my microphone at gunpoint. I gave it to him, and he announced that the Head of State had been killed,” Ogunro said.
She added that after the announcement, the coup leader requested military music. When none was available in the studio, another staff member retrieved military recordings from the station’s library, which were then aired.
Channels Television described Ogunro’s account as one of the most detailed firsthand recollections of the failed coup. Ogunro said the experience, alongside the challenges she encountered in broadcasting, shaped her lifelong commitment to public service in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
