MEETING MEN STEEPED IN HISTORY - Excerpts from 'I found my voice'

I was able to meet many men, men steeped in the history of our nation, Nigeria, Dr. ’Koye ‘Majekodunmi, Dr. Lateef Adegbite, Otunba T.O.S, Benson, Sir Ademola Adetokunbo, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, Dr. Alex Ekwueme etc.  Incidentally Ken Ekwueme, the son of the Nigerian Vice-President during the Alhaji Sheu Shagari’s administration became my school son.  School son, was a term of endearment for a junior boy whom you were closest to and took a mentoring interest.  Due to the nature of the relationship between Queen’s College and King’s College, it was not unusual too for KC boys to have school daughters in QC and vice versa and in fact, Mopelola Folashade Olawoye (Obatunsin) was my school daughter. The extent of my friendship with Ken extended to my visiting the official residence of the Vice President where I stumbled across his father and enjoyed close proximity to power.  It seemed that with these connections and encounters with history, that my future was now gilded in gold and I could walk in the same path as my father trod before me.   

Chief ‘Remi Fani-Kayode aka ‘Fani Power’ impressed me most out of the figures I met, despite his previous notoriety, his sophistication and his calm and considered demeanour was miles away from his fame of the chaos in the 1960s rigging that he was associated with during the elections of the Western region.  He was in vigorous health even at age 70 or so and I was surprised that less than five years afterward he had succumbed to an illness and later passed away.  Otunba T.O.S. Benson whom we visited in his Falomo residence still displayed a degree of rascality; he never sat at the back when chauffeur driven and chose to sit with the driver in the front seat in order to monitor his activities. He said clearly he was not prepared to allow any chauffeur to run him into an early grave.  He was a practical joker and very jovial.  Dr. Majekodunmi, the previous Administrator of the Western Region and proprietor of St Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, who lived in a very secluded part of Ikoyi was the most reserved of them all and said very little in my presence.  In the case of Otunba Shobomi Balogun, wealth and opulence were very evident from my encounter with him.  In the only meeting I had with him in the presence of Otunba Ogunsanya, I excused myself to use the gentlemen’s in his office and was astonished with the décor and beauty that the suite of toilets presented, tiles laced with gold and a beautiful aroma pervaded the space so you could do the business with the uttermost of comfort.  I really thought I had seen it all.  After learning the ropes from the masters, I soon learnt to visit many other well-connected old boys without the appendage of the more famous ones.  It was simply enough to introduce myself as an executive of the King’s College Old Boys’ Association and the doors swung open.