That is opportunism writ large without any regard for the moral compass which the tutors, who dedicated their efforts to turning out excellent Nigerians, laboured so hard to instil in us.
Right now, His Royal Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano, an old boy of King’s College is virtually under siege. His emirate has been carved up with the creation of four new emirates. Added to this is the threat of deposition. We must not prejudge matters.
Hence, we must urge the President of King’s College Old Boys’ Association to proceed poste haste to Kano and assure the embattled Emir that we are firmly on the side of justice, transparency, integrity and accountability. His Royal Highness is entitled to the benefit of doubt until the red line is crossed – beyond reasonable doubt.
We cannot insist on or proceed on the basis of guaranteed entitlement. Rather, we must work for it. We cannot be free while millions are oppressed or condemned to ignorance and abject poverty. It was Bob Dylan who delivered the poignant vignette:
“No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.”
What Nigeria expects from us (and it is entitled to lay a claim) is redemption by King’s College old boys (and girls) who benefitted massively before chaos and anarchy invaded our nation.
As far back as 1960 (when I was in the fourth form), Paul G. Hoffman, General Manager, United Nations Special Funds availed us of his definition of:
“An underdeveloped country”
“Everybody knows an underdeveloped country when he sees one. It is a country characterised by poverty, with beggars in the cities, and villagers eking out a bare subsistence in the rural areas.
A country lacking in factories of its own, usually with inadequate supplies of power and light.
It usually has insufficient roads and railroads, insufficient social services, infrastructure and poor communications.
It has few standard hospitals and fewer reputable institutions of higher learning. Most of its people cannot read or write.
In spite of the prevailing abject poverty of the people, it may have isolated islands of wealth, with a few persons (1% or less) living in “Embarrassing Luxury””
While Lolu was delivering his thought-provoking lecture, information technology was able to provide us with a live feed of what Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa was saying (real time!!) on the same subject: “POWER” at the “CBN Going for Growth Consultative Roundtable” hosted by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwing Emefiele (it is not true that he is now an Alhaji!! That is fake news.) at the George Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos which is only a short distance from here. While the Governor’s theme was: “Going for Growth”
Alhaji Aliko went straight to the heart of the matter:
“How do you have economic growth without power? So, no power, no growth because
without power there can’t be growth.
Egypt increased its electricity by 10 gigawatts, which is equivalent to 10,000 megawatts in 18 months.
In Nigeria, we have been struggling for 18 years without adding 1,000 megawatts and we have spent about three times above Egypt, why?… I think we all need to be concerned about that.
Government needs to encourage non-oil sector growth rather than depending on proceeds from crude oil to pay salaries.
Proceeds from crude oil sale should be for major investment in the country….no business
will thrive with business owners generating power themselves.”
I have every reason to believe that Alhaji Aliko subscribes to Thomas Edison’s credo:
“Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”
We can only speculate that if Aliko had attended King’s College, he would have caught up with Bill Gates of Microsoft as the second richest man in the world. Of course, if he had boarded in Harman’s House, he would long ago have surpassed Jeff Bezos of Amazon as the richest man in the world.
What may not be known to all and sundry is that one of my classmates in the Sixth Form was from the North. He had three scholarships simultaneously – one was from his Local Government Council; the second one was from the Northern State Government; while the third one was from the Federal Government of Nigeria. His real name was Olowo (Rich man) but we preferred to call him Alhaji Too Much Money. He confided in some of us that even before he joined us, he was already looking after two wives back home!! For him, writing love letters to girls at Queen’s College, Methodist Girls School or Holy Child College was a complete waste of his time.
While we are still pondering on the genius/perspiration equation, I am tempted to share with you glorious confirmation of the triumph of will over obstacles. I am not at liberty to disclose the surname of the central character. It is sufficient that his first name is Julius and the middle name is Ayo.
He belonged to Mckee-Wright’s House and he really fancied himself as a footballer. Unfortunately, even while he was in the Sixth Form, he was consigned to the Second Eleven. He refused to be discouraged.
Let us flash back to 1958. For almost eight straight years, King’s College was trounced annually by St. Gregory’s College in football. Hence, it was a foregone conclusion that the same result would recur. To make matters worse, the best player in the King’s College line up (Left half-back) suffered an injury on the eve of the match. When Julius Ayo who played in the same position in the Second Eleven was announced as the replacement in the Dining Hall, the booing was deafening. The consensus was that we may just as well have conceded a walk over to St. Gregory’s College instead of exposing our team to humiliation at the mercy of the Obalende wizards who had a reputation for mixing Catholic piety with African voodoo and native Juju to score goals (or stop their opponents from scoring).
Indeed, it was P.H. Davies the Principal (Headmaster) of King’s College who overruled the Games Master and insisted that in the spirit of sportsmanship, the match must go on.
Anyway, when the referee was about to blow the whistle for the match to commence, Julius Ayo was so overwhelmed that he was perspiring profusely with nerves and trying to put on his boots properly that he almost missed the kick-off. However, once the game took off, Julius Ayo was like a lion. He was all over the football pitch at Onikan Stadium
- kicking, tackling, passing the ball and mesmerising the St. Gregory’s attack squad as
well as confusing their defence line up.
At half time, the score was two goals each. By the time the game was over, King’s College triumphed by four goals to two!! It was an unforgettable experience when King’s College students trooped on to the football pitch to carry Julius Ayo shoulder high. He was undoubtedly the hero of the day and the main architect/engineer of our triumph.
Perhaps I should add that since he was playing at Left Half-back, he was only expected to defend. However, he somehow managed to score two long range goals which he lobbed into the opponent’s net much to the consternation of the goal-keeper who later confessed that each time Julius hit the ball, he the goal-keeper saw two balls and did not know which one he should attempt to grab.
Anyway, that is not the end of the story. After leaving King’s College, Julius had great difficulty in gaining admission into medical school in Nigeria, Britain or the United States
of America. Rather than surrender to despair, he revived his old “can do” spirit. He eventually found his way to a medical school in India. Thereafter, he went for further studies (post-graduate) in Britain before returning to Nigeria to set up a thriving medical practice. Now in his eighties, he lives a quiet life in Anthony Village, Lagos and his triumph on the football pitch is a distant memory. It is his older brother, the boardroom guru and corporate titan who is much more in the public space.
I am tempted to add that his brother, ninety-year-old Dr. Michael Omolayole is a highly respected old boy of St. Gregory’s College.
Bashorun J.K. Randle
