For Wale Ogunbanjo, ex-procurement manager at one of the international oil and gas companies, the sight of books was nauseating to him in his primary school days. He did not see why any person should be glued to books.
Whenever he came back from school, he would just dump his books and would loaf around. He exhibited a chunk of childhood pranks and was not just given to academics.
But two events happened that changed his life’s trajectory.
After primary school, he could not secure admission into secondary school and was “enjoying” himself at home.
During the holiday of the year immediately after primary school, he had attended a party along with his former primary school classmates.
The boys paired up with the girls and discussion usually turned to what school each was attending. He had nothing to say and developed cold feet in talking to the girls.
The occasion left him deflated and triggered a desire in him to be as educated as his old classmates. As trivial as it may sound, that incident was the first that changed his orientation to education as a young boy and started the transition in his academic journey.
Living with my auntie
Part of the transition was first passing through what then was known as a modern school at St. Joseph’s Oke-Ado, Ibadan. It was while at St. Joseph’s that he brushed up all the pre-requisite knowledge, particularly in Arithmetic, that he was lacking in primary school.
The other event that shaped his life was going to live with his aunt at the University of Ibadan during his modern school days.
University of Ibadan of the 70s, was a seeming heaven on earth. The serenity, the sight of erudite professors that he used to watch on television, the clean environment, the ample space within the community for recreation, the utilities, student life and its activism, all reshaped his thinking completely.
He believes going to stay with his aunt was by providence. He had been unruly to his mum at home and had to find a way to escape his father’s lashes before he came back from work.
So, he quickly packed his things and went to his aunt. He lied to his aunt that his parents knew about his coming to stay with her family. By the time the lie was discovered by all concerned, even though he was scolded, he had already settled in and so started the experience of living in a university community.
‘Even though still in modern school, I began to think of entering the university, oblivious of the fact that I still needed to pass through secondary school education. Such was the effect that living in a university community had on my thinking.
‘I read textbooks beyond my level. I tested myself against the WAEC syllabus in many subjects, except science and found that school wasn’t as difficult as I had somehow made myself to believe.
‘Arithmetic was a subject I particularly detested. That changed after I stumbled on an Arithmetic textbook by D. Samo. I became one of the best in my class.’
Modern school was three years. After the three years, students who chose to still go to secondary school would typically start in class one.
He did not want to start in class one. No school in Ibadan accepted to take him into class two or three. However, fortune smiled on him, when his father ran across one of his juniors at Molusi College, Ijebu Igbo, late Mr. Segun Sosanya, then principal at Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School, who agreed to admit him into class three.
Experience at IICGS
Ogunbanjo recalls that ‘At Ijebu Ife, discipline was strict, almost near brutal. Timetable was rigid; the routine hardly changed:
“We woke up at 5am, did morning devotion for about 15 minutes, followed by rigorous morning exercise, then came morning duties, we took our bath, then to the dining.
If there’s time, some students also put in some minutes into morning prep before the assembly. If there was ever any noise on the assembly, it was because the Principal was yet to arrive.
‘You did not to have to see him before you knew he had arrived. His arrival usually sent a ripple effect of silence across the assembly. God help you if you were called to recite a hymn and you failed. It could earn you severe punishment.
‘We memorised a large part of the Songs of Praise. Certain hymns were quite favoured by the Principal: He who would valiant be, Amazing Grace, Holy, Holy, Holy, Prince of Glory, Prince of Peace, Christ is Our Cornerstone, Lead us Heavenly Father Lead us, Guide me Oh Thou Great Redeemer, etc’
Sosanya and Literature
“Sosanya was a lover of literature. His friends called him Aristotle. He could recite much of Shakespeare’s works off hand. We read Macbeth during our time. As he taught it, he also acted it. My favourite scene was the Witches’ prophecy to Macbeth and his response to them: Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more. By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis. But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives, a prosperous gentleman, and to be King stands not within the prospect of belief. No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence you owe this strange intelligence? Or why upon this blasted heath you stop our way with such prophetic greeting? Speak I charge you.
‘One key lesson that Sosanya emphasised was that we should be careful about equivocation. Macbeth was ultimately a victim of the witches’ equivocation.’
‘Under Sosanya, we learnt uncountable lessons from literature generally. One of those that have stayed with me is Shakespeare’s admonition that There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face, a consequence of Macbeth’s (as Thane of Cawdor) treachery to King Duncan. I have found that to be true as I grew older.
“Another favourite is “Aim at perfection in all things” by Phillip Stanhope. It was late Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, then of the CBN, while visiting the Principal, who was his junior at Molusi College, that gave us an impromptu motivational speech on the subject.’
School banters
Some of the banters students threw at each other in school still survive, rather curiously. Ogunbanjo recalls that some of his classmates still refer to him by such nick names, without anyone understanding the source of such names.
It usually creates a lot of fun when the old students meet. He recalls a funny incident that gave him a first lesson in the futility of short cut.
Concoction and football match
The school team was going to meet St Anthony’s Grammar School, Esure, Ijebu Imusin also in Ogun State. Some of the students had approached a local Babalawo (diviner), who gave them a potion to bathe with. Contrary to their misguided confidence in the invincibility of the concoction they had bathed with, they were trounced 3 – 0 by St. Anthony’s! It was an eye opener for him.
His set was the school’s first set. Asked if they suffered any disadvantage, he doesn’t quite think so. The governing board made up of eminent personalities from the community, including late Chief Olajide Adebanjo, as the Chairman, did excellently in putting the school on a strong footing. Apart from the regular teachers in the school, the Principal resourced highly experienced expatriate and local teachers from older schools for additional teaching. WAEC results for the first set was second best in Ijebu East.
Ogunbanjo graduated with the best result in his set and studied mechanical engineering at the University of Lagos, and subsequently a master’s degree.
He recalls the erudition of Prof Ayodele Awojobi and many of his other colleagues. In his third year, he had the privilege to represent the faculty of engineering as a member of the student’s representative council, the student parliament of the University of Lagos.
Reminiscing on the old students’ association, he said ‘The Association was launched in 1982. The conveners were my good self and Raphael Segun Ogunsanwo. Chief Olajide Adebanjo was the Chief Launcher. I was elected the first president.
‘One of the key activities during the early days was the invitation of the late Dr. Tai Solarin to deliver a motivational lecture to the students.
His theme was the need for Nigeria to emphasise science and technological education.’
Ogunbanjo says his love for his Alma mater was instrumental to his championing the need to launch the old students’ association in 1982, even though the alumni were still a lot younger then.
Family life
He is married to Yetunde, and both are blessed with children who are doing well in different fields.
Now in his 60s, Ogunbanjo believes life is not a straight-line graph. ‘Don’t expect it will always be smooth. Life is full of ups and downs. Pray that your line of best fit, is on an upward trajectory’.
He also urged younger ones to learn to delay gratification adding that they should learn to spend wisely and not be given to frivolities.
He emphasised the spiritual angle too; stating that man is limited in every ramification without God.
‘I believe so much in the God factor. We are limited in our knowledge. He is the only one who can give us direction and make our lives meaningful. Sometimes when we pray, we tend to prescribe to God how we want the prayer answered.
‘ I have series of testimonies of how God came through for me. The ways He answered the prayers were completely different from what I had expected. I believe that for as long as our request is in line with the will of God, it is up to Him to choose how He wants to answer it. It is not up to us to prescribe to Him how He would answer it.’
