Taiwo's World: 2011 IGOGO FESTIVAL IN OWO

Taiwo's World: 2011 IGOGO FESTIVAL IN OWO: Igogo festival held on the 22nd September 2011 Olowo of Owo celebrates Igogo, festival of love The annual Igogo festival was held recently...

Taiwo's World: 2011 IGOGO FESTIVAL IN OWO

Taiwo's World: 2011 IGOGO FESTIVAL IN OWO: Igogo festival held on the 22nd September 2011 Olowo of Owo celebrates Igogo, festival of love The annual Igogo festival was held recently...

2011 IGOGO FESTIVAL IN OWO

Igogo festival held on the 22nd September 2011
Olowo of Owo celebrates Igogo, festival of love
The annual Igogo festival was held recently in remembrance of Oronshen the Queen of Olowo Regenjen who reigned about 600years ago .Taiwo Abiodun was there
His ankles , wrists and neck were adorned with special coral beads meant for his status as a royal father. Attached on his head are three beautiful white peacock feathers called urere okin which are as white as snow while the hair on his head glitter like silver . The monarch was dressed in his traditional regalia of ewu okun royal ornamental beads . The traditional ruler who doubled as the chief celebrant was the cynosure of all. He rested his stretched beaded hands on two of his chiefs and would once in a while bring out his own special iron metal gong and beat it then recite some words , while he would be greeted with loud ovation. The retinue of his chiefs would shower his praises and prayers on him with total respect and in ecstatic cry : Ologho Baba O! Waa rehin odi , Orisa ma dimi se Ologho![Our Great monarch , may you conquer your enemies].That was the celebration of the Igogo festival held in the ancient town of Owo in Ondo state penultimate week.
As the monarch walked majestically from the inner chamber of the palace , the specially designed beautiful big umbrella meant for the royal father covered him from the sun. Yes, he was with a retinue of chiefs and female priests all dressed in immaculate white.
Once in a while men and women would be on their kneels , stretched their hands and chanted panegyrics and showered praises on him while he too would respond with his infectious smile. That is His Royal Majesty Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru – Olagbegi III, the Olowo of Owo..
In fact, most of the celebrants were male chiefs , celebrating the annual Igogo festival in which the male chiefs wear females clothes. The males wore female clothes as some tied wrappers, skirts and blouses .Not only this, their hair on their heads were either permed , or weaved .Some plaited their hair while others twisted their hair in Bob Marley’s style. What more ?, they padded their buttocks and made them rotund like a woman’s .They decorated their bodies with ornamental coral beads of different make on their necks , ankles and wrists. The beads shone and make sounds as they danced along .
Children were not left out as they too joined and used sticks as drum, singing songs and dancing along with them.
The Olowo of Owo showed the radiance of a great monarch. And as the king paid obeisance at the King’s Market[Oja Oba] and led a powerful traditional song and displayed powerful oratory and prayers expected from a king. His admirers and spectators went into frenzy. They all danced along in the beautiful golden coloured of the afternoon sun shone on him . It was his day.
Igogo festival started over 600years ago. The story of Igogo festival started from a powerful king- Olowo Rengenjen who reigned then and innocently married a goddess Moore Oronshen . The Queen who was suspected to have supernatural power was loved by the King for her beauty , and of course for the development and cultural contributions she brought to the town during the monarch’s glorious reign . Her behaviour was strange and as a stranger and a woman with supernatural power, she demanded for privacy and it was granted and a room was given to her due to the love the king had for her .The strange woman , Oronshen later confided in the king that she was not an ordinary human being and would find it difficult to live with people, she then pleaded to him not to violate her taboos which she mentioned ’’ no firewood should be thrown down in her presence , water should not be splashed and spices must not be cut in her presence.’’ These instructions were kept secret from other wives and for the love the monarch had for her a special room was given to her .What surprised the king was that each time the woman passed excreta there come expensive coral beads that made the king rich and prosperous .That was how she brought development and wealth to the town and the king thus she became the king’s favourite the more..
The story continued ‘’out of hatred and jealousy the other wives of the Olowo Rengenjen discovered that the love he had for the strange woman superseded theirs .
Then one day the wives conspired and a trap was set as they made their husband drink wine into stupor and asked her many questions and probed into his favourite’s wife affairs of which he revealed unconsciously, having being drunk. He out of his then revealed everything about the woman and also her taboos to one of the wives who later alerted others and exposed the secret .
One day when the monarch went on hunting expedition the wives collaborated and broke the taboos by splashing water and spices and of course threw bundle of firewood in her presence ..All these were done to the annoyance of the Queen and the woman, Oronshen fled from the palace into Igbo Ulaja [Ulaja Bush] where she disappeared to till this day.
The story went on that when the king arrived and discovered what had happened he instructed his Palace guards[Ayoyo] to go out and search for her .The palace guards went with the king to search for her but unfortunately while searching for her only her head tie was found but her voice was heard , crying . She narrated all what happened telling the king what happened .For the love he had for the woman the monarch pleaded with her to return but she made him realised it that it was too late as her taboos had been broken and could not come back again. In return of the love to the monarch she asked the monarch to be observing Igogo festival by mimicking her dressing by plaiting hair ,dressing her and using the coral beads .She warned that during the festival there should not be booming of the guns , beating the leather drum and caps and head ties should not be worn by males and females during the annual celebration , all these should be observed in her memory and the town would progress.
On their way back home the palace guards brought the head tie home and armed with canes with the intention to deal with the rest of the queens. Thus, today we see the Ayoyos who are the Iloros , holding their canes during the festival and would go to Ulaja bush , to offer sacrifice .
gifts.’’
The Olowo of Owo showed his love for the people gave out gifts items like yam , drinks and other items to those who came to rejoice with him too.
Speaking on the festival, the monarch described it as celebration of love ,’’ it is celebration of love and it is intertwined with the Age grade festival[Ero] which is celebrated every nine years.’’
On whether the festival is fetish, the monarch said ‘’ it is a tradition and part of our culture. The town has its chief priest ,Adelanke Ajana who does the necessary rites .We need to respect our tradition and culture ‘’.

A tragic fall

‘A tragic fall’

She fell from her school’s veranda while waving to the late governor of Ondo state, Chief Adebayo Adefarati and sustained a spinal cord injury. Taiwo Abiodun met Kudirat Rafiu who is keeping her hope alive

She was met reading a passage from the Holy Bible she held in her hand . As she finished reading the last sentence, she raised up her head and sighted this reporter with two other visitors in her one room apartment and then threw barrage of questions ‘’Can I really walk again ? Can I get any help from Lagos or Abuja where kind-hearted people do render help? Can you introduce me to Pastor Adeboye or TB Joshua to sponsor my education and pray for me ? Can you link me up with our governor Dr.Olusegun Mimiko ?or any of the pharmaceutical companies in Lagos sponsor my university education and I am ready to sign a bond to work for them after the completion of my course because I don’t want to be wasted ’’. She paused and then looked at her legs then hissed as she shook her head.
‘’I went to school to learn and never thought of this condition , and I have found myself in this unpredictable mess . Will I be in this situation forever ? All my classmates have graduated but here I am battling with life which has been cruel to me’’.
Torrent of teardrops rolled down her cheeks. She then buried her head in the Bible she was reading, while two people, who led this reporter there too burst into tears.
Yes, she has the beauty, and she is brilliant an attribute which was attested to by many people who know her. Her academic result too indicated this. While on the wheelchair she made all her credits in WAEC and she scored 219 in the just released JAMB result. She said she is sure she will pass the post JAMB. She told The Nation.
’’I am preparing for the post JAMB examination and I am sure that I will pass it in Jesus name. But who will sponsor my university education if I pass? , she asked and burst into tears again .
Miss Kudirat Rafiu was not born a cripple . While in secondary school she was good in science subjects. Her dream was to become a medical doctor but her hope was dashed when she ended up in a wheelchair.
At the age of 15 in 2003 she was already in Senior secondary school three[SS3] preparing for her final examination at St Louis Grammar School, Owo, Ondo state. Tragedy struck when she , along with other three students namely ;Joke Alade, Blessing Mayowa , Seun Raimot and herself stood by the school’s balcony waving to the governor who came to the town to campaign . As they all leaned on the balcony , it suddenly gave way, and collapsed while they all fell from one storey building to the ground .That was the beginning of her predicament .
Her three other school mates also sustained injuries but minor She said they were later taken to St Louis Catholic Hospital , Owo where we were treated but while the three others were treated for minor injury she was referred to University Teaching Hospital , Ile –Ife, in Osun state .and that was the beginning of her problem.’’
According to Kudirat, her parents could not continue to pay the hospital bill especially when they were told to do series of tests ‘’After spending one month in the hospital and we could not pay again for series of tests we were asked to do and no money to buy drugs and other things we then resolved to come back home. My father did not care , though she had abandoned my mother since 1991 and it is our mother who had been taking care of us. My father was a butcher while my mother was a cashier in Multi purpose Cooperative Society but in the process of looking for solution to my health problem she lost her job.
Rafiu’s mother did not only lost her job but also lost her second child, next to Rafiu because according to her ‘’my sister was a victim of sickle cell anaemia and my mother had no enough time to take care of her at all because of me , later she gave up the ghost‘’.
Rafiu was in bed at home for almost eight years after leaving the hospital trying to find solution to her problem in a locally. She had no money to buy a wheel chair to move around as the thought of having a wheelchair never occurred to her since her parents could not afford one . ‘’I used to crawl to the kitchen, veranda to have a glimpse of what is going on , in fact I crawled on my belly like a snake, one day I slept off when I was tired not knowing that it would rain and I woke up to find myself at 2am soaked with water in the veranda I slept ,When I woke up I cried and cried ,I even caught cold. Rescue came when the wife of the former governor Dr.Olusegun Agagu donated wheelchairs to spinal cord victims in Ondo state, and I was given one,
‘’ I used to stay in bed throughout while my mother would carry me crying that she never expected my life to turn to this but I too used to console her.Again in the corner of my room when I am alone I would cry to God that it should be a dream each time I woke up it is reality. I cursed the day I went to wave. I cursed the day I went to school. I cursed the day I ever attempted to have a glimpse at the governor and I have been counselling a lot of people that they should learn from my predicament as I am left alone in my own world licking my wound’’.
However , in order to fulfil her ambition , she enrolled for NECO and passed her nine subjects at credit level but she said she can no longer go for medicine as the course required going ups and down so she wants to do Pharmacy if admitted.
‘’You can see , I have good result that qualifies me to do medicine but I will go for pharmacy since it is also related to medicine.’’
But has she been seeing her friends and classmate that had accident together with? She responded with a smile that she used to see them once in a while. ’’I remember we were four in number who had accident and I remember very well two of them had finished from the university while one is still in Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Akoko, Ondo state, They did not abandon me as they come here once in a while to see me.
Asked whether the late Adefarati was aware of the incident , Rafiu could not quickly answer as she kept her silence for a short while then shook her head and again wiped the tears from her cheeks . ‘’ I made all efforts to see the late governor but all were futile as I had no access to him till he died ‘’
Rafiu’s mother described her daughter’s condition as pathetic, she said ‘’I sent my daughter to boarding school so that she could have discipline .If I had known that this is what will result to I would not have sent her to boarding at all. The teachers then tried his best with the principal
She explained further that her daughter did not complete the treatment at the Teaching Hospital , Ile- Ife due to financial problem. She said ’’she was subjected to series of medical tests but when we could not continue to pay for the tests, bed space and food we decided to come back home and settle with the local bone setters. But here we are. I still believe she will still walk one day as we were advised to take her to India for surgery, some medical doctors said she can still make it since she has feelings in her legs’’
But has she any suitors? , the lady said though she is not a virgin but she has not seen any serious man in her life , above all , she said her health and her studies are more important now than marriage. While her mother says she is ready for a man who wishes to marry her and take care of her ,’’I will be happy if a man that has the fear of God takes her as a wife .I cannot pray for my daughter to experience the hardship I am going through .Imagine , I lost two children out of four , now I have two remaining while one is on the wheelchair the other is still in secondary school.’’

How i was raped

‘How an okada rider raped me ’
A 34- year- old woman who is still looking for the fruit of the womb narrated how she was raped by an okada rider. Taiwo Abiodun reports
A 34-year old woman, Aisha [surname withheld] was allegedly raped by a commercial motorcycle rider known as Okada [names withheld]. The woman who is a food vendor and selling food to travellers at Owo/Ikare express junction , in Owo , Ondo state said when she closed at 11pm on that fateful Friday she without knowing what the man had in mind took Okada from the Ikare Junction to Shagari Village which is about 2kilometres. Along the way the Okada rider pretended that he was pressed by nature and wanted to urinate. He then dragged the woman into a nearby bush, threatened to kill her if she refused to cooperate with him.
According to the woman, she resisted his attempt but when he started beating her and inflicted injuries on her and also threatened to kill her if she did not cooperate she had no choice than to yield to his demand. Aisha said after much struggle and resistance she later succumbed to her demand after a lot of resistance and after she had been injured but when he was exhausted and satisfied himself she fled the area and took a bush path home .She got home at 3am in the morning leaving all what he took along behind..
On the following day the Okada rider came with Aisha’s coolers to the estate to lodge a complaint that the owner of the cooler stole his okada , not knowing that the whole estate had been informed of the incidence , from there he was apprehended and reported to the police.
Narrating her experience in pidgin English, she said ‘’ we were three in number and the Okada man first of all carried the two kids and came back to pick me .But when we got to the middle of the road which is bushy , the man told me that he wanted to urinate, I said ok, later he dragged me with force and said he wanted to have carnal knowledge with me but I bluntly refused.. He then seized me , and held my throat and dragged me into a nearby bush while I was shouting ,and did not se anybody to rescue me since it was already dark and the place is a bush and far from the town .He threatened to kill me if I resist , then to avoid killing me for I don’t know what he had on him I quickly removed my undies and clothes and submitted myself for him . He was just banging and banging me and I kept on crying .I even begged him to come to my house if he needed sex.
‘’When he satisfied himself and was exhausted I took my clothes, leaving my coolers and other things behind and fled by taking a bush path home . I got home at 3oclock in the morning , and reported to my mistress what happened .On the second day the man came to the estate and reported that I stole his okada not knowing that some Mobile Policemen who passed by while having sex with me in the bush took away the bike and kept it. On the following day, they reported at Ijebu-Owo Division One police station that they found the okada on the expressway in the early hours of the morning .’’
Aisha told The Nation that the okada rider later came to destroy one of buildings in the estate believing Aisha must had planned for him, not knowing that it had been taken to the police station.
However, when this reporter got to the scene of the incidence with other sympathisers , the victim broke down and wept .She said she was once married and had been looking for the fruit of the womb , she broke down and wept uncontrollably saying that she is still looking up to God and said ‘’I am looking up God for a child and this stupid boy just came to rape me.’’.
The woman in tears showed sympathizers her bruised neck that had turned red.
When The Nation got to the police station, it was confirmed while the police said they have gone to the place of the scene while the okada and the victim’s clothes had been deposited in their premises as an exhibit. The suspect has been detained at the Police station
However , investigation revealed that cases of rape and defilement are rampant in Owo for some time. A case of a six year old girl who was defiled was reported , while a 12 and a 15-year old girl who were allegedly raped were reported too , while all had been reported at the police station.
Madam Comfort Olufunmilayo Aderibigbe a member of the National Council for Women in Nigeria and also member of Citizenship and leadership of Nigeria cum Women Leader in the church .decried the rate of raping and destroying lives of these innocent and begged the government to bring the culprits to book saying it would serve as deterrent to others. She said ‘’it is now very rampant even we have cases of six year old girl being raped .We heard so many cases of women being raped and this is not good for the country. We want the human rights organisation to wade into these cases, it is violation of human right. What if those raped had contracted diseases?’’

TAI SOLARIN , the great

Tai Solarin
Mayflower school without Tai Solarin
Since the death of the late activist Dr. Tai Solarin,in 1994, his family especially his wife, Sheila and daughter , Corin , the two of a kind have been keeping the legacy of the school while Sheila has not stop condemning the social ills in the society. Taiwo Abiodun was at the family house in Ikenne during the week.

She is a striking resemblance of her mother , not only in beauty or humility but also in her activities. Blunt, straight forward , no official place for an interview , She has no time table or appointment to be booked before any interview. She was busy attending to students and at the same time answering all questions without taking offence. Radicalism, hard work and courage flow in her veins like her father too. Call it like father like mother , this, she did not deny .
For Corin, the first child of the late activist, serving humanity is her concern. No wonder she left the luxury and where everything is affordable in the United States for a rural place, Ikenne but not choice places like the Victoria Island in Lagos or Abuja. ‘’I want to serve humanity , I want to see these children grow and we are doing it .I want to make sure this school is fully privatised before the demise of my mother and that is what can make her happy in her life time,’’ Corin told The Nation as she answered questions fired at him by this reporter .
. Today, she runs theMayflower private school and said she wants the school to be fully privatised ‘’We have so far hired good and experienced teachers. We have SS1, SS2, and we are looking forward to SS3, it is a slow process because it has deteriorated over a decade. It is doable and we shall continue to do our best.’’
She described the public school as non performing ‘’ public schools are starved of funds , they are having problems of funding of a lot of infrastructures .When a school is privately and properly managed there is money for laboratory equipment, computers .The infrastructure repairs that is needed, having qualified staff , that is the main difference, the money is deployed to the right place’’,
She however said that the number of the students is now up to1800 in the hostel and the standard has also gone up as they are hoping to have SS3 class come September.
Corin praised Nigerians who are in the education sector saying ‘’ you can’t compare Nigeria’s education system with that of United States where I come from and what obtains here .But given the Nigerian circumstances I give Nigerians a kudos and a lot of praises for they are creative, very innovative and very resourceful for the very meagre amount given to them.’
Corin said she came back to Nigeria few years ago to contribute her own quota to the development of the country and said it is not difficult to stay in Nigeria having left a very comfortable place for Ikenne, she said ‘’ it is not difficult for me, I am very much at home and I enjoy it. .The only area I found frustrating is that the school has not been fully privatised , which is our mother’s wish. As soon as it is completely privatised she will be very happy and I will be elated for her. I wanted it to be privatised during her life time., she is so much looking forward to seeing it.’’
On her father’s friends, the woman said most of them had died , and said she used to visit some of his father’s freedom fighters, like Prof Wole Soyinka, and added that ‘’ you know very well that mama is 87years old. Papa senior mama. So many of Daddy’s friends are late.I have in mind to go and see Professor Wole Soyinka, he has just celebrate his birthday, he’s much yopunger than Mama.Professor Babs Fafunwa is late , he just passed away recently , I visited his widow .Many of Papa’s contemporary are gone .’’
What of the activists , are they still playing their roles? She responded that they are there , ‘’ many of the journalists are working and many of the activists are on the net
But why is she vocal than her younger brother , Tunde? Corin replied ‘’we are two individuals and you know we women we talk a lot. We are giving the talking so that it’s the best for nation .
The woman who herself talks tough like her father said activism runs in her blood like her late father claims there is a degree of activism in her wanting to do the right thing for Nigeria and Nigerians , the activism runs in me as it does to other members of the family, she said.
At the family house , the bungalow which has changed as two sculptors are placed at the gate on two pillars which Corin said its from her own making as a lover of sculptors
She spoke about the grave of Tai Solarin of which she said will soon be turned into a meditation garden , as she insists that his late father was not materialistic and hated wasting money’’ From what I was told before Papa before he passed on was that there should be no head stone, no covering the grave, so I would like it to see it to be as a meditation garden where one could go and see and close to the grave. I don’t want to disrespect his wishes .He doesn’t want a mausoleum , he doesn’t want a big structure .Its[grave] there , its available for everyone to see.I will like it to be people friendly where people can sit and meditate.
Corin who was once an agnostic unlike her parents who are unrepentant atheist said marriage changed her belief ‘’.Papa , I think he called himself an atheist and Mama is definitely an atheist .I want to say that I am an agnostic but I married somebody who was a Catholic faith. I converted and raised my children in Catholic faith , took them to Catholic school and church and I am still or called a relapsed Catholic’’
Asked why she cannot change Mama’s position about religion , the slenderly woman looked at this reporter with a cheeky smile and with a voice raised , said ‘’No, because when it is time to go to heaven , mama is assured .Mama has her own way of doing things and I have nothing but infinite respect for her.I would hardly tell her my own way is right and her own way is wrong.Mama’s stand on religion is that Nigerians spend too much time going to church while the pastors took their vulnerability and …………………………,
The Solarins are still concerned about most of the publish works of their father of which they can no longer lay their hands on, she pleaded’’I am appealing to Nigerians who have any of his books or articles to help us , bring to us, I will photocopy, scan it for further reprint for Nigerians and for his library. I promise I will return them in good condition.For Mother With Love , his Bioddgraphy, we have it on the internet on amazon.com which is a big US book seller.
The family will found it difficult to forgive the military especially , General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida for the long detention and suffering the late Solarin was subjected to in his life time, when asked how she felt remembeting all these, she shuddered , blink for some minutes and with cracked voice that betrayed emotion said’’He was tortured and lost about 50pounds in weight, when he came out [from detention] his wrist watch fell off from his wrist.He lost many of his things.He suffered many unbelievable torture.He was in a room where they[detainees] could not sleep lying down.There was no enough room for those people in jail where one would sleep and the other would sit up.
And in pite all that they did not break his spirit, he continued to say what he wanted to say, continued to live the way he wanted to live.They made a dent in his physical health but mentally they did nothing to break him’’
Would she like to come through Tai Solarin again if there is reincarnation ?’’Yes, ’’she replied ‘’Of course , I wouldn’t change my father for anybody in the world’’.

Mama
‘ I am not happy with Nigerian workers’ condition’
Madam Sheila did not only lament on her husband the late Tai Solarin but also missed her pet, Rosa , a dog she kept for many years that died sometimes ago .Taiwo Abiodun was with the old woman in Ikenne
At the entrance of the bungalow are two sculptors , one erected by the right and the other on the left are the busts of the late Dr.Tai Solarin and his wife Sheila, in her eye glasses. The house that is adorned with beautiful flowers and flower pots. The building now has an iron gate painted black unlike before when there was no gate Some birds were perched on the trees were singing and others flying from one tree to the other as monkeys too were not left out hopping from one trees to another some others too were playing around the vicinity.
Mama keeps parrots one outside the house and the other in her living room as her beautiful and robust dog pet Rosa had died.
Sitting on her wooden chair, with her reading glasses and her hearing aid glued to her ear, Mama Sheila was busy reading some papers printed from the internet. The only company she has now in the house are parrots unlike before when her dog, Rosa would sit by her side. Decorated on the walls are painted artworks of hers and her late husband on the wall. The living room is jam packed with books and she has a big table where she keeps her computer. Madam Sheila now walks round the house without the aid of walking stick but cannot go far again no thanks to old age, at 87.
Despite her old age she still has good retentive memory and knows everybody that comes her way and she still teaches few students at home. However, when asked how she still manage to do all these in spite her age, she explained that she exercises her body always .’’ I have retentive memory because I don’t stay idle, I use my head. If you keep on using your head as you use your body then you will be okay .I still walk round the garden in the morning . I try to do things and keep my head, if you just sit down and do nothing you will rot’’
Reminded about her late husband and her dog She kept quiet for sometime and adjusted her body then said: ‘’You know I lost my big dog , Rosa sometime ago, it died due to old age, and it was about 13 or 14years of age. It could no longer see or hear again ,when it died it was my son that buried it. I am now old and tired of keeping dogs but now I have parrots now that keep my company, but this one does not talk for it is still small, it was Corin that brought it.The one outside the house talks’’ as she said this she took her mug and sipped her tea.
On her husband ,Tai , she is still sad that what her husband fought for are still not achieved.
Asked whether she will go to Lagos to attend the annual Tai Solarin lecture , but she said emphatically’ NO’.’’I am not going ,I don’t have the strength. You know I am getting old and the roads are bad , there is insecurity in the nation, people are hungry , no food for the poor, The education is poorly funded. I am not happy, and these are the things Tai fought for…’’as she said this , she put down her hands with all her energy’’
She spoke about the Boko Haram , and said sending soldiers to the place is not the solution , ‘’ Do they have education? Are they employed ? the government should look beyond deploying soldiers to Maiduguri’’.
Not satisfied with the welfare condition of Nigerian workers , she lamented that the state governments should be able to pay .’’don’t you know how much the House of Representatives .Deputy speaker, the speaker and other politicians are earning ?The government has promised let them fulfil their promises, she said.
Mama said , the government should not toy with the mission schools as they are planning to , ‘’ I don’t think his[Tai] good idea is taken to, you know he [Tai Solarin] said government should not run the schools, they took over the school in 1976 and now are coming back .Two years ago when we took over the junior school we rejuvenate the school but now the government want the school back, but I don’t think its going to happen. In fact some of the missionary schools are kicking about it now and may end up in court.’’.

From messenger to a Lawyer

‘I rose from messenger to become a Lawyer’
He retired after 35years of meritorious service in 1995, sat and passed GCE exams and went to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife[OAU] where he obtained three degrees within 12years at a stretch. He was called to the Bar four years ago at the age of 65. Now, he is 69 He says if he dies now God will accept his soul , having fulfilled his life ambition. Taiwo Abiodun was with the Barrister in Ede , Osun state

‘’No one calls me by my name again, they now call me Baba Lawyer, Baba Lawyer ‘’, the fair complexioned septuagenarian with grey hair declared as he parted his lips with smile.
He walked up to where he hung his framed photograph on the wall in his living room , he looked at the photo again and shook his head as if he was seeing it for the first time and declared ’’ That is me wearing Lawyer’s wig and black suit, I am now fulfilled. If I die today God will accept my soul’’, as he said knelt down and prayed ..
‘’I was very poor , wretched and started working as a messenger and rose to the position of a Court Registrar and after retirement went back to the classroom. Mine is not a sorrowful story , but a story of fervent prayer , hard work , exhilarating and joyful ‘’, the septuagenarian revealed to The Nation at his residence in Ede, in Osun state
Pa Tunde Fawole native of Ode Omu in Osun state, at the age of two lost his father in 1944 while his father’s younger brother inherited his mother took her as his wife and changed the young Faawole’s faith from Christianity to Muslim, he said ‘’ after the death of my father my name , Rufus Olatunde Ademola Fawole was changed to Lamidi Olatunde Ademola Fawole by my step father , Chief Raji Adegboyega Onifade , a muslim and my step father because of the obnoxious custom in 1945 who altered my Christian background to Muslim. ‘’,he said in bitterness
Narrating his odyssey he said ’’When my mates were attending Grammar school I was not privileged to due to the poor financial position of my step father who had sent me to Arabic school and later to a Muslim school,[Ansar Udeen Primary school] to enable learn Arabic and become an Imam., I opted for Modern school and finished my three years where I obtained my Modern school certificate and got a job as a messenger in the defunct Egbedore District Council, Gbongan [now Ayedaade Local Government ] District Council] on March 1965’’, he said as he betrayed emotion and tears rolled down on his cheeks.
For Fawole, he vowed not to stop at the Modern school level and started obtaining the GCE ordinary level and advanced level conducted by the University of London in 1969.’’When I had my English at credit level, I was offered a job as the court Registrar in the then Western state of Nigeria Judiciary and was transferred to Osun Divisional Grade A court Oshogbo presided by one M.A.Adekunle Esq .Again . when the Military Government proscribed all the Grade A Courts in the state in 1979 and replaced them with Chief Magistrate’s court , I opted for my original official constituency
And that was my local government where I worked and rose to the position of a Court Registrar for ten years from 1969to 1979’’ and later voluntarily retired on level 12 as a Principal Executive officer Grade 1 in 1995 after spending 35years in service.
Fawole said he was always shy and felt embarrassed for not going to school,’’ I had retired but that should not be the end , I thought .And that is where I know inferiority complex. I was down with complex, I was not recognised at all .No matter how rich you are if did not go to any higher institution and add to your knowledge you are not better than the idiot on the street, people would ridicule you and will not take to your advise and I needed not to be told. Many things happened to me : insults , embarrassment. I was a social outcast . I became not only a clown but unrecognised . All sorts of things happen to any man that does not improve on himself. Those who are lazy would blame their parents for not sending them to school but what of when one too is capable to correct himself and would not accept defeat? I refused to accept defeat and I stopped complaining, while many feel shy and keep complaining, others have gone to correct their anomalies and would come back to meet those complaining and leave them where they are again, this set of people are on one spot and will be there forever.‘’
‘’whenever I saw my mates we went to same primary and modern schools together and have had their lives transformed positively I would think how I would forge ahead and surprisingly they used to discuss about me that I was brilliant but wasted. One day , I dusted my papers , repeated some GCE exams and sat for subjects like English literature , and that is where I know that one is not dead if he challenge this life but if you don’t challenge life then you are as dead as dodo. I used to say that one day will be one day when King Henry will be the King of Edinburgh. I took my advanced level of 1969 certificate, went to Obafemi Awolowo , University , Ife to do my degree, and I made a second Class upper Division in English Language. I did not stop there for I went back to OAU again to do Religious studies and made a second class upper again. and this is where my turning point was,’’ he stated .
According to Fawole , when he decided to do his Masters degree in Religious studies and while writing his thesis in Comparative studies to be submitted for his masters, one of his lecturers , Professor Onibere advised him to go for a professional course as the institution would not accept him as a lecturer if that was his thought ‘’Professor Onibere looked at me and laughed , I remember that he said that if I was aiming to become a lecturer in OAU I should forget the idea for I was too old and age was not on my side for that position, he then advised me to go for a professional course and that was where the idea to read law came in.’’
‘’When I got home , I thought over it, I said to myself that I still have that complex. I told my wives and children that I am going back to school again and they all screamed.
The urge was in me and I went back to read Law at this same OAU and passed out with second class lower and from there went to Law school. I remember while in school I know how many people perceived me. Some would look at me scornfully , laughing with one side of their mouths but Professor Demola Popoola the Dean , Faculty of Law embraced me and encouraged me .He admitted me without any stress .He encouraged me .I graduated four years ago at the age of 65 called to Bar and became the Attorney and Solicitor General of the Republic of Federal Government.
Fawole faced frustrations, mockery and financial problems while schooling ,he went to school for 12years , from 1995 to 2007 without any break ,’’ some saw me as a mad man, while others looked at me with pity . People on my street used to mock me saying’ I would die before I finished my degree’. Some who were bold said it to my face that I was just working in vain and that nobody would employ me while many said I was too old to remember anything and I should not bother myself. But I kept praying that God should not disgrace me. I thank God that today some of those who spoke ill of me eventually came here to lick my boots and begged for forgiveness. I told them that I had ambition, I own my life and I am the captain of my destiny and God is in control. My senior wife died while I was doing my Law degree , those who made jest of me too came to congratulate me, and when I flashed back on all these I broke down and wept when I was called to the Bar on November 13th ,2007. I wept while those who came to rejoice with me kept on wondering what could have happened to me.
‘’While in school , it was fun, students and some of the lecturers were calling me Baba, Baba as if I am their biological father. I mixed freely with the students ,In fact I must confess that the school life I missed when I was young I regained it when I went to school. ‘’I remember when Professor Akinriande the present Vice Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun state said he would not allow me to register in one of his courses ,ECOWAS that I would not be able to cope due to my age but I asked him to try me .I eventually scored ‘’A’’ in the course .Nobody had ever scored that , the record is there till today.’’
Speaking about his first time in court, the old man burst into laugher and said ‘’it is not a joking matter , my first time to argue was very interesting , it was a political case and it was ANPP versus the PDP , I was defended the ANPP man and we won the case against the PDP. Yes,we won the case. I had my working experience under the tutelage of Olaniran and Co combined with my working experience in court so I was not fidgety , I kept my cool , argued very well and walked shoulder high when I won the case’’, he said as he showed some of his case files .
Ready to fight for the oppressed , he showed this reporter his library where he keeps his law books said that the obnoxious custom where the younger ones inherit their brother’s wives should be stopped .According to him, it contributed negatively to his life,’’ I have a lot of Christian and Islamic books I read all the time to make me strong .It is a pity that I was once a staunch Christian but my religion was dramatically altered by my step father who sent us to Arabic school and had wanted me to become a Mallam. All my children are Christians today but only one is a Moslem and I am not opposed to it because my father was a Christian before my journey in life was altered. All my children are also graduates and three of them graduated at the age of 17,18 and 19 because I don’t want them to have late education as I have .’’
Next month August , he would be 69 years of age ,he says he would devote his life to serve humanity .In his words’’ I have seen how one’s life can be destroyed if care is not taken , imagine my name was changed at a younger age and my religion was changed too just because someone married my mother . I went to do a messenger for years and read three degrees to become a lawyer at the age of 65. From messenger to the Bar and to have my religion altered because someone married my mother in an obnoxious manner because of tradition . I have vowed to fight the cause of the less privileged and thank God for our governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who makes it compulsory for a child to go to school. I will live for the rest of my life fighting like the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi for the welfare of the poor. I experienced it and knew how it was. I know I have few years to spent on this planet but I am devoting the rest years to serve humanity. ’’