Scents of Power

This book is a peep through the multiple doors that the author has passed in the course of his career.

The account is a product of history. Guided by historical actuality, the author focuses on factuality, authenticity and the true value of knowledge in his reflections about the past. There is no myth or legend in the book. What we have is living history. Even though the author tries to navigate the book out of the realm of autobiography, he, nonetheless, embarks upon a historical narrative that pieces together the rudiments of yesterday and converts them into raw materials for present engagement. The blend is uncommon. It exemplifies and highlights the eclectic bent of the author as an accomplished raconteur. His adoption of the historical approach in his narrative is significant. It has helped to identify the author as an artist with a significant past and a predisposition to write in a certain manner. This knowledge enables the reader to ascertain how the book reflects the historical forces that shaped it. It has also enabled us to understand how the historical moment upon which the book is anchored produced the moving tale that the author has told. This knowledge guides us into acknowledging the fact that the author's experiences in whatever field he has traversed are not his alone. Instead, they have a universal appeal that makes the account not just the author's story, but everyone's story.

Dr. Amanze Obi, scholar, writer and journalist, was educated at the University of Lagos. He spent eleven unbroken years in the university and bagged multiple degrees, capping it with a doctorate in English. He taught in the department of English of the University of Lagos in the early years of his career. A front-line journalist and celebrated columnist with over three decades of media exposure, Obi has worked with major Nigerian newspapers where he held senior editorial positions. His weekly newspaper column, BROKEN TONGUES, is easily the toast of perspective readers. Obi was, at various times, Commissioner for Information and Strategy as well as that of Culture and Tourism in Imo State. He was also the pioneer Director General of the Ahiajoku Institute ,the think tank on Igbo worldview and civilization. He is the author of PERSPECTIVES IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (1998) and DELICATE DISTRESS: An Interpreter's account of the Nigerian Dilemma(2013).