Ode To A Worthy Principal: The S.A Omowon We Never Knew!

We all gathered at the Old Hall as part of our orientation as new students of Ibadan Boys High School. Some of the teachers we dreaded were there. Who would ever forget Mr Ogunwusi, the orientation coordinator? A dark, short man. He flogged mercilessly when annoyed. He started the unique system of putting us in classes in alphabetical order. Those of us whose surnames start with A counted ourselves lucky, we made up the A, B and C arms of the new JS 1. While we gathered at the Old Hall, with some not getting sitting spaces, and in came Mr Omowon, the Principal.

After taking us through the school anthem, he made sure we all had typewritten copies of all the stanzas. He had observed that while the senior students sang on the assembly ground, all we did was watch in amazement.

“You

must not fight, because you are not animals. Animals can fight, but if I catch you fighting in this school, I will damage your back”, he told us. By the end of the first term, we were sure he meant it. The Principal also told us that “Ibadan Boys High School is a place where you choose what you want to become. This school has produced great men, we have produced Doctors, Lawyers, good footballers, we produced members of the national team. But we have also produced newspaper vendors, we have produced armed robbers. So its up to you, you choose what you want to become.”

Mr Omowon was no doubt a believer in strict discipline. In our first year, none of us one dared to walk about in the school without carrying a “movement pass”. He made sure every class had one and that was a systematic way of ensuring that only one student could go out of the class at a time.

The respect he commanded was immeasurable, even the most dreaded boys in school gave it to him. No one wanted to be in Oga’s black book.

One of the things those in the 94 set will never forget is the threatened invasion of our esteemed school compound by students of Comprehensive High School, Oke Bola. It all started from a football match. After serving out a ban that lasted about two years due to violence that erupted we were “robbed” of victory in a football match in 1991, Ibadan Boys’ High School was allowed to play again and we were the most senior students then. As a result, my set made up a large percentage of the soccer team. Then, the likes of Alli Lateef, Niyi Okunnuga, Femi “Kempes” Agboola and Sola “Alasco” were the best footballers and Lekan Akinpelu was one of the most dependable goalkeepers.

Lest I forget, in terms of academic excellence, we were the champions in the Oke Ado-Oke Bola zone and when it came to physical strength too, our boys were dreaded. A few skirmishes with Loyola College, Government College Ibadan and Community Elewura had proved that “Ogba” boys could not be messed with.

Having met a few guys from Comprehensive High School with whom we attended lessons together at Oke Ado Continuing Education Centre, we were made to understand that anything could happen on the match day. They openly said it that they were going to win the match and beat us silly when or if a fight results. They told whoever cared to listen that the days of Ibadan Boys High School being the “champion” of the zone were over.

Incidentally, the match venue was the Nigerian Tobacco Company field, just a few metres away from our opponents’ main gate. Being our first match in a number of years, Mr Omowon gave the whole school permission to go and watch. He was a sports lover himself (I heard he was the school’s goalkeeper in his set). By the end of the first half, we were one goal down.

We cheered our team on, we sang, drummed, clapped and then came the second goal, and the third! We lost. As we left the match venue quietly, some heaped blames on Kayode, the team captain for the loss. When the Principal called him to address the school on the assembly ground in the morning, my friend simply said “we are a win”, even the Principal was shocked because he ensured we held inter-class debate competitions so that facing any crowd wouldn’t be an issue. Though we laughed off the grammatical blunder, some had already read it as a bad omen even before we left for the match venue. And the matter came up after the match. As we strolled back on the Sharp Corner road to our school, fights broke out.

I escaped being stabbed with a broken bottle just by a stroke of luck! The person in my front wasn’t so lucky though. Then started the race for safety. For the first time, I saw students of Ibadan Boys High School being hotly pursued!  Some of us covered the distance between IMG, Oke Bola and our school in about three minutes or so, it was a case of no stopping, no looking back. Having reached some distance that put the famous Odeon Cinema in sight, some of my mates looked back and saw that the pursuers had not stopped, and due to the proximity of their school to the match venue, some of them had gone into their school and they came out armed, yea, they had cutlasses, UTC branded cleavers, bottles and sticks. The bigger students told the smaller ones to run to school while they stayed back and hurled stones at the “Compro” guys. A few catapults surfaced and that was when I knew it wasn’t as if “Ogba” was not ready for trouble too. The hail of stones kept them at bay and with that, all students of Ibadan Boys High School made a quick retreat into the school compound.  

Alas, the pursuers refused to stop, they were bent on entering our compound. The gates were quickly locked and those still outside had to scale the fence. It was in the process of running for safety that a friend, Nkole Emmanuel (now of blessed memory) sustained a machete cut on his arm.

Those who saw the look on the Principal’s face knew that he was touched by the desecration of our school’s soil. Nkole was there helpless, bleeding and wondering if he would die of loss of blood. Thanks to the Physical and Health Education team made of Mr Akingbade, Mr Akinwale and Mr Oyeleke, Nkole got first aid and the bleeding was subdued after a time but the cut was deep and it required stitches.

While that went on, they did not stop trying to enter the compound to sack the whole school, but of course we had gained more confidence and the rain of stones continued. Seeing that they could not access our school through the main gate, they tried “School 2”, the opening in the fence behind the school compound. By the time they realised that it was a bad venture, one of them had been caught. From all indications, the guy was not even a student of Comprehensive, he however had an axe and he was in front of the mob that attacked our school. He had a bad leg which made us wonder why he would agree to undertake such a venture. His bad leg notwithstanding, he was given severe beating until his family members came to plead.

What happened next had been misinterpreted over a thousand times and different versions of it are told even by students who were in JS 1 at that time. Mr Omowon knew fully well that he had to protect his students and of course the invaders were armed. He went into his office and came out again, I noticed he was clutching a handgun, which some of us recognised to be the pistol that normally saw action only during our Inter House Sports competitions. He looked round and when he saw me he called out, “Adejumo, you are the only prefect around here, get some boys, I have instructed that the store should be opened. Bring out cutlasses.”  I marshalled some junior boys and we heaped the cutlasses we used for “Labour” on Fridays in front of Oga’s office.

It was only a matter of minutes, every student had one. By closing time, the Principal announced that we should all go home quietly and he instructed that no one should walk alone. We moved in clusters and to the glory of God, all got home safely.

The cutlasses were meant for self-defence and not to attack anyone as remodelled versions of the story have made people believe.