Reminiscences with Dr. Shola Ajoloore
Dr. Olushola Ajoloore will celebrate his 91st birthday on July 24, 2017. As part of activities to mark his 90th birthday last year, he presented a house he built to his maid who had served him for 28 years. In this interview with our correspondent, he spo
You built a house for your housemaid; what prompted this gesture? Let me correct an impression: I only initiated the project, but people made it possible. I could not build a house worth N6million when my pension is less than N60, 000 per month. I thought of what I could do for the woman that would be memorable for her. If I gave her money she would spend it. There were quite a number of things I could do for her, but those things may not last, so the idea of building a house came to me in 2011. I prayed to God to help me achieve this aim because I knew the kind of problem she was having with accommodation. I started looking for a land and got one in the Agric area of Ilorin, but I wasn’t very comfortable with the place and I sold it off. In 2014, I started looking for another place, and got one in 2015. When I got the land, I wrote letters to my children and some of my friends, informing them of my plans. I told them that I didn’t have money, but insisted on doing it because I wanted to hand it over to her to mark my 90th birthday.
Documents for the land came out in January and we started work in February. One of my children in the Lord gave me the first 25 bags of cement, another gave the first 1,000 blocks, while one of my sons first donated N500, 000. My daughter also gave me N300, 000, and so on. I only had the vision, but people around me built the house. This explanation is important because we must allow credit to go to where it belongs. It is just God that made it possible.
Does this gesture have anything to do with your childhood experience?
Well, I always want to appreciate people with what they will not forget. The death of my wife 21 years ago marked a very crucial point in my life. The fact that she stayed that long is also very crucial. What would I have done? I say this because sometimes widows are better placed than widowers in the area of welfare or what to eat. Of course widows can go to their children and take care of their grandchildren, but for me, even if I go to my children; by the time I spend two weeks there, I would be tired and would come back to Ilorin. It wouldn’t have been easy to prepare my food in the morning as I eat twice daily (morning and evening), but she has done that without failing me. Apart from doing something she would never forget, I also thought of something that would serve as a lesson to some other people, showing them the need to serve faithfully. In fact, sometimes when I travelled out, she would take care of the home for me from her own resources. We never had a quarrel.
I grew up in a polygamous setting. My father had nine wives, and my mother was number three. Each child in the family would go close to their mothers, but my mother’s house was usually open to everybody. People always went to her for their needs. I think I got the hospitality and generosity part of me from her. I operate freely among the young people. When my children were in the university, almost all their friends would come home with them. Sometimes I usually had as many as 12 of my children’s friends.
Did others get this kind of assistance from you?
Yes, but not of this magnitude. I taught at different times, one of which is Ekiti Baptist High School, Egede, and the boys were treated like my younger brothers. When I also taught at the PSS, now known as Government Secondary School, Ilorin, the late Governor Muhammed Lawal was one of my students; and one of Lawal’s advisers, Dr Joseph Olawepo, wanted me to stay with him when I went to the United States of America for my doctorate degree.
I also assisted people in the area of admission. I was the head of basic studies, so I did whatever I could to ensure that candidates legitimately got into school. I remember when my friend’s son was seeking admission and we had to combine two results. It took me up to 2am that day, and when we finally achieved that, many other candidates with such results got admission into the school. I also shared knowledge with people. At 91, can you share your life experiences and challenges? I am grateful to God for keeping me
It wouldn’t have been easy to prepare my food in the morning as I eat twice daily (morning and evening), but she has done that without failing me. Apart from doing something she would never forget, I also thought of something that would serve as a lesson to some other people, showing them the need to serve faithfully. In fact, sometimes when I travelled out, she would take care of the home for me from her own resources. We never had a quarrel
alive and healthy at this age. My children are very loving and caring. They know I loved my wife. God gave us the grace not to disagree before them. They will tell you that they never saw us arguing. It’s not that we never had arguments, but I didn’t allow it to de-generate.
I served for 22 years as a scribe of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kwara State. At home, I have a lot of satisfaction, and I don’t eat much.
I love to see people fulfilling their destinies. I hate a situation where someone is being victimised or cheated. When I was in Standard Four I had the mind to go to the Middle School, Okene. I wrote the examination but I didn’t get it. I also wrote for the Kaduna Government College and I couldn’t get it. So I was made to do what was easy to get, which was teaching. And I taught for two years.
I had a reason to seek for permission to stay where I taught, but the management terminated my appointment for daring to ask. I came to Ilorin in 1947 and worked as a shop assistant to one Shittu from Offa. They had a typewriter that no one was using, so I asked for permission to use it to learn typewriting. In one week I finished the manual because there was no much work to do in the office. I wasn’t satisfied, but there was nothing I could do until my home church said that if I came back to teach for one year and wrote the entrance examination for teachers’ college and passed, they would sponsor me. I took the offer and went back to Mopa Baptist High School in 1949.
I got admission into the Baptist Teachers’ Training College, Benin City. I finished there and returned to the same school to teach. Incidentally, I was the only Yoruba man in Benin City in my first year, but in the second year, eight Yoruba guys came and joined us. One of them, Chief S.K Babalola from Ekiti was a special assistant to General Olusegun Obasanjo. I finished there in 1956.
I can say the major challenge I had was that of wanting to go forward. Then the scholarship to go to the Northern College of Science, Art and Technology came. It was located at the site where the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is. I went there, finished and proceeded to the University of Ibadan. I studied art subjects in Zaria and read English at the University of Ibadan.
In 1965, there was a commonwealth bursary award for a diploma in teaching a second language, which took me to Manchester.
I got married when I was at the University of Ibadan, and my first child was born the year I graduated. Before I finished in Manchester I had a challenge. I asked my lecturer whether it would be possible to start my master’s degree programme. He recommended me for the Ministry of Education in Kaduna, but before then, I had shipped part of my luggage to Kano. When I got to the liaison office in London, the education attaché said it would amount to a waste of money if I came to Nigeria since they already recommended me for master’s degree. So I stayed back. After about three weeks, a letter came, stating that I must return home immediately. I was posted to Bide Government Secondary, School. I wrote a letter back and asked why? The next letter I got said they would stop my salary and that I had been posted to Yola. I decided that although they had their money, I had my choice. So I decided to stay for my master’s. Meanwhile, my wife had an award to study catering in Britain while my own allowance was stopped. So we relied on her allowance, which was 37pounds and 10shillings, out of which we paid rent and transportation. That was our most challenging year. How many of your mates in Zaria, Benin City and the University of Ibadan
are still alive?
Awotu Eleyae, who served as a sportsman;
The next letter I got said they would stop my salary and that I had been posted to Yola. I decided that although they had their money, I had my choice. So I decided to stay for my master’s. Meanwhile, my wife had an award to study catering in Britain while my own allowance was stopped. So we relied on her allowance, which was 37pounds and 10shillings, out of which we paid rent and transportation
Dr Stephen Iyanda, Dr. Oloruntoba of Olaolu were all in Zaria with me. In Ibadan, Deyi Opatola and Ferguson Iheme were my mates at the English Department.
Can you compare the Nigeria of your youthful years to what we have today?
A good part of Nigeria was under the colonial regime. University education came during the period of our independence. We were on scholarship and money wasn’t much around, but those who managed the country were more concerned about development than what we have today. Today, people think the essence of being in government is to get wealthy at the expense of the people. In those days, they were more concerned about developing human resources. Although the natural resources were not many, they managed what was available.
As a student at the Nigerian College of Science, Art and Technology, and later, Ibadan, I married; and from my allowance, I was able to buy a cow. At that time, students were very well cared for, as opposed to what we have now.
The Yoruba aptly describe politicians of today as Ojelu (destroyers of our society). Everyone of them is there for what he or she wants to get. That is why they fight. That is why they would want to kill and maim to get there. Those who governed the country at that time wanted to develop the land; they focused on human resources development.
To be successful in a polygamous setting, what tricks did you adopt?
My mother started going to church and I joined her in 1937. My two elder sisters decided that I must go to school. They paid my school fees, except in my last year when I had to go and live with my distant relative who paid. I wasn’t very close to my father. I grew and developed under the care of my mother. I worked as a young boy.
When former President Goodluck Jonathan talked about not having shoes while in school, I laughed because when I got to Benin I didn’t have shoes. If I wanted to go to church, I usually borrowed from somebody.
You refused to come back to Nigeria because you got admission for your master’s degree in London. Do you have any regret for taking that decision?
No, I didn’t regret it. I feel very happy for taking that decision because the opportunity to go on might not be that easy. And the decision was an impetus for my doctorate degree. Although I came back after my master’s and worked in the Ministry of Education, I discovered that nobody wanted me? At that time they started with 720pounds per annum as a graduate. In the second year it increased to 804pounds, and in the third year it increased to 926pounds. I had worked for a whole year before going, and I came back with a diploma and a master’s degree. They placed me on 804pounds in my second year, just like those who did not have any other qualification apart from the teachers’ training certificate. I wrote complaint letters several times, requesting to be placed on 926pounds like my mates, but there was no reply. I sent my letter of resignation, and within two weeks a reply came. It was then clear to me that they didn’t want me.
I applied to the University of Lagos, where I resumed as an assistant lecturer in January 1968. In 1969 I had an offer to read Linguistics at the University of Illinois.
They placed me on 804pounds in my second year, just like those who did not have any other qualification apart from the teachers’ training certificate. I wrote complaint letters several times, requesting to be placed on 926pounds like my mates, but there was no reply. I sent my letter of resignation, and within two weeks a reply came. It was then clear to me that they
I went to the summer school. It was two weeks after my twins were born and I asked the Head of Department in the University of Lagos if I could do my doctorate degree there and he accepted. When I told him that I didn’t have any sponsor, he said he would work out half assistantship for me. Half assistantship then was $250 per month. My employer was ready to pay my passage, so I decided to go for my doctorate degree in 1970 at the University of Illinois. When I finished, I returned to the University of Lagos and I taught for one year.
There was a proposal to open a college of technology, with the intention of making it offer degree courses of the Ahmadu Bello University in Ilorin. That proposal attracted quite a number of us. Chief C.O Adebayo and Professor Kolawole were part of the team that came, as well as Professor Ibiyemi, who retired from the University of Lagos, and Professor Awoyele, now in the USA. We all came to Kwara to see how we could build that institution. When the University of Ilorin came, it aborted the dream. Many went to the university, but some of us stayed back.
People whose level of education was low toyed with lecturers. In 1980, the college of technology, now Kwara State Polytechnic had standard and students came from all over the country to the school. In fact, the University of Ibadan always wanted to have our products, but politicians came and destroyed that place, just like they tried to destroy the University of Ilorin by sacking over 40 of us. You don’t sack that large number of lecturers at a time and hope to make it. When they sacked us, I stayed back; but I was told that the Ministry of Education said if the university employed me they would ridicule them. I never got the reply of the interview I did till today.
I decided to go and do what I knew how to do, that is farming. But I didn’t have the equipment and money. And farming demands a lot of resources. At times when I needed a tractor, I won’t get it on time because those who had money had bribed their way through. I would probably get the tractor when they are lying fallow. Also, I didn’t have money to get chemicals to keep the weeds down. I was at it for some years before I decided that it was enough.
Apart from farming, what other things did you engage in?
I engaged in counselling. I had a longtime legal battle with the government, up to the Supreme Court, for illegally terminating my appointment. As I said earlier, I cannot stand anything that has to do with cheating. I lost at the Supreme Court and I know why: some of the judges at the Appeal Court had become judges at the Supreme Court when my case got there. So I knew why I lost. That is the Nigerian judiciary for you. And I don’t think it is any better now. It is a pity because those who are supposed to help the oppressed are part of the oppressors. I am praying for a day when judges would do things the right way rather than obey the powers-that- be.
When you were sacked from Kwara Tech, some people contributed money for you to build your house, can you speak on it?
The house I am living in up till now was built with contributions from different people. I bought the land in 1975. I retired on N296 per annum and I had five biological children in school, as well as other children of relatives; about 10 of them. So it would be difficult to build a house with that amount. Six months into that sack, somebody just put up a beacon, marking a 100 by 100. I asked the vendor if he sold part of the land to somebody else and he said no. I then removed them and borrowed a tractor and ploughed the place. The following day we were sacked and my family had to move out from the Kwara Tech residence. I was not around because I went to Togo to buy parts for my vehicle. I stayed with my late friend and rented a flat and continued with my farm work.
I told a couple of friends that I needed to build my own place. My brother-in-law was helping out, and I was one of the directors at the Adewale Bellos Construction Company, hoping that some help would come from that. My brother-in-law died three days after they started raising the walls and friends just rallied round. At that time, a nine-inch block was 50k and six-inch was 45k. I bought about 3,500 blocks and I got donations from different people. In fact, the engineer who supervised it did it for free. That was how we got a roof over our heads. We moved into the house without ceiling, but we stayed.
Is it true that you don’t watch television?
I seldom do. At the beginning, television was a distraction; I preferred to read. And my desire to even watch television once in a while is falling with the advent of the social media like Facebook and Whatsapp. I am very active on those two social media platforms because what other media will bring out in two or three days, you will get it immediately in Whatsapp. And most of the time, the print media might try to doctor news, but it comes raw in Whatsapp. The paper I love reading most is Alaroye, not because it is written in Yoruba, but it seems to be more fearless than other papers. Unfortunately, the power of government over the media is unwholesome. The media is supposed to be the fourth estate of the realm, but they cannot express their mind freely because someone wants them to change some things. That is not fair.
What is your dietary style?
In 1970 when we were still in the US, I told my wife that I would no longer eat meat. She didn’t take me seriously at the beginning because that evening she prepared meat, and I said I won’t eat it and she prepared vegetable. That was about the last time I ate meat, except by accident when I eat in public, which I seldom do. But I eat fish.
What do you do at your leisure time?
I read and try to jot things down. Up till 2010, I had a fish pond and snails, but I stopped both because when I travelled abroad, one of the boys I normally left at home would sell the fish and the snails and the money won’t get to me. So at one point I began to wonder what I would do. That was how I closed the business.
I also teach in the church.
You said you still collect pension; how is that possible, considering the fact that you were sacked from your job?
When I lost at the Supreme Court, a member of the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship, Deolu Ojeomo, mentioned my case to her husband, who was a financial commandant. Her husband took me to a onetime military governor of Kogi State (I can’t remember his name). The governor said it would be unfair for a person to work for 35 years and just go like that. He said he was sorry they won’t be able to reabsorb me on the basis of the court judgement, but I should not be deprived of retirement benefits. That was how I became a pensioner.
What do you think should be the way out of Nigeria’s many challenges?
I think the national conference we had last time should be the way out. Let us practise proper federalism. Let each region develop at their pace. Let the centre be weak. If they don’t do that we are probably going to have a case where we will sit down round the table and decide the fate of the country. If anybody thinks they have the power and they are going to fight, they should remember that they don’t know what others have in their houses to. I might look very weak outside, but when it comes to defending my father’s land I will let you know that you cannot go the way you like.
I think the problem we have today is beyond the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I never thought that any good thing would come out of the APC. I never saw President Muhammadu Buhari as a solution to our problems. No, if anybody knew a little bit of his antecedents, nobody would tell me that that kind of person has the broom to sweep this country clean. What reaction has he shown on the herdsmen/farmers crisis?
If we decide to go our separate ways, not only the North will be landlocked, Biafra too will be landlocked. Why? The Efik and those in Edo are not going to go with Biafra. And Rivers State is not likely to go to Biafra unless there is a way they can dredge the Niger. And those who know about the Niger and dredging say it is going to be very difficult. Depending on where Kogi and Kwara find themselves, they would still use the opportunity of Yoruba nationality to get to the Lagos port.
If we split, there’s going to be much suffering in all the regions as we will be paying heavy custom duties. Let us get the conference report and implement it.