TEN THINGS GCI TAUGHT ME
Initially, I was contemplating writing about my Government College Ibadan (GCI) experience, which would have started from the first time I heard about her at the age of six when an uncle living with us at the time was admitted into the school right up to the time I passed out of the school at the age of 16. Yes, I passed out but never really left GCI because the school would always remain a part of me for as long as I live. But then it occurred to me that many of my classmates may want to write ..... Read More
DELAYED LETTER
In everything I give thanks to Jehovah the Almighty God. I got into GCI by divine intervention because of what happened to me in late 1971. I did the National Common Entrance and also did other individual schools’ examinations within Lagos and the old Western State. Strangely, we started receiving letters to attend interviews long after all of them had stopped conducting their interviews.
It all began with Baptist Academy in Lagos whose letter of interview got to my father’s pigeon-hole ..... Read More
UNLIMITED LESSONS
I Got the best of both worlds, a great rugged foundation from our academic rival Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti, and I built on this foundation at the State of the Art Rock, Government College Ibadan. I must have been destined to attend GCI despite my dad’s objection at my earlier opportunity after my primary education. He was an old boy of Christ’s School and I am his first son so I was destined to attend his old school. I wasn’t the brightest or “test smart” kid, but well equipped with ..... Read More
JUST A FEW REGRETS
I must first give thanks to God for allowing me to acquire my secondary education at this prestigious institution. I got into GCI by the divine intervention of God; my late mother, Eunice Wuraola Olubowale, who through the insistence of our father, Isaiah Obayomi Olubowale aka Alekujina that Folarin and Segun will not attend any other secondary school except GCI, approached Chief J. B. O. Ojo, and persuaded him to invite me for an interview after the dates were closed. She also got him to ..... Read More
UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES
It took a gathering of some seven closest friends of my dad, over their usual lunch in our family house, to agree to send me to GCI as a boarder. I had been fully admitted into six other excellent and famous grammar schools, four of which offered me various forms of scholarship. As a child, I had particularly been impressed by one of them, Compro at Ayetoro, with its exquisite American-style architecture of a campus.
I commenced schooling at GCI on Friday, 14 January 1972 and discovered that I ..... Read More
COLOUR OF TEARS
In 1971, after writing the Common Entrance Examination to secondary schools in the then Western State, a series of interviews followed as condition for admission. The interviews for two schools remained indelible in my brain because we had to stay for more than one day on the premises of the schools. They were Igbobi College Lagos and Government College Ibadan. For GCI, it was three days and after the interview, I remembered my dad telling my brother Folarin and me that it was GCI or no more ..... Read More
MY PILLOW OF GARI
Scene One Act One
I bolted out of school through Swanston House vía main field to watch “Fist of Fury” starring Bruce Lee at Scala Cinema. The year was 1973. I remember that I had a terror of a Teur by name Adejobi aka Odibo – mean guy. Many a night I passed under his bed, not counting countless times of stooping down and “olomokuyas”. This guy showed me pepper.
Back to my story:
I left the house grounds (Shamu) at around 8 pm during prep for the 9 to 12 mid night slot. I ..... Read More
LOVE AT FIRST SIP
“Cocoa”, that legendary cocoa-based beverage that accompanied our breakfast in GCI, must rank as one of our best loves in the school – probably second to rice and dodo. I am sure many of us fell in love with cocoa at first sip at our first breakfast. I never, in all my years in GCI, met anyone that didn’t like his cocoa, which was best taken hot, especially in the morning. Most seniors had their favourite junior (cocoa mule) for this task.
Many juniors resented being a “cocoa mule” ..... Read More
SEVEN TALES
Suspension “For What?”
A Cricket game was scheduled for Ikeja cricket ground, near A the Ikeja Golf Club, Lagos on a Saturday afternoon. The cricket team, along with the supporters’ club, left Ibadan and arrived on time. Having waited for long, the expected team didn’t show up and were worked over. I quickly seized the opportunity to dash home at Akoka, Yaba for a meal of lyan and Efo Riro with Egusi. By the time I got back to the playground around 5pm, the school truck was ..... Read More
OUR GRASS CUTTING INSTITUTE
Anthony Olujuwon Adeyemi was enrolled by my late biological father Chief Evaristus Folajuwon Adeyemi, at Government College Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria in January 1972.
Although I passed the entrance examination to three secondary schools: Saint Gregory’s College Obalende, Lagos State, Igbobi College Fadeyi, Lagos State, and Government College Ibadan, my father, after regular multilateral discussions with his closest friends, chose GCI for me.
He did this, I am now convinced although he ..... Read More