Taunted by poverty and want, Isaac Mathew took to life as an apprentice in an auto-mechanic workshop. Impressed by the personality of the late law czar Chief Gani Fawehinmi, he left to work in two factories where he was able to save money to attend secondary school. To him, life is you make of it. Hannah Ojo met him.
WHEN Isaac Mathew walked into the British Council office in Ikoyi to audition for ‘The Debaters Reality TV show’ in 2009, his appearance and comportment gave him away as someone who could actively compete among the teeming pool of ambitious young people, aspiring for greatness based on their power of oratory. Although he didn’t make the selection, he forged ahead studying and attending events which caught his interest in his quest to acquire knowledge as a Law undergraduate of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye. You can’t but notice his appearance with his smart tailored suit, a ‘packaging’ which acts as the façade covering the drudgery and toils that he contends with from time to time in his quest to live his dream against all odds.
Fast forward to November 29, 2013 at the expansive International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja where the high and mighty gathered to witness the Call to Bar of deserving lawyers. Seated amongst those to be honoured was this gentleman; the son of a security man from Manejo in Ankpa LGA of Kogi State who was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
This was a man whose first contact with secondary school was at age 21, a time when some of have already obtained their university graduation certificate. Rather than bemoan the delay, the young man carries himself with an aura of confidence and gratitude to God while also using his story to inspire other young people, especially teenagers to thirst for greatness by not letting their background pin them to the ground.
The story of his beginning is best left to be told in his own voice: “My growing up in Lagos was full of pains, challenges, frustrations and trials. As a teenager, my dad sent me to a mechanic workshop as an apprentice to learn how to repair motor cars at Ile-Zik bus-stop, Ikeja, Lagos. That was from the year 1998-2000. I only had primary school education then. I was always standing in the street admiring and watching students in their lovely dresses with their school bags. I greatly desired to dress in a school uniform and go to school too like other children but it was difficult for me. I also worked as a factory worker in two different factories in Ikeja. I was always praying to God to change the pattern of my life for good. I never wanted to end up like my parents who never went to school. My father is a security guard and my mother a petty trader.”
The journey to Ile-Zik
Ile-Zik bus-stop, Ikeja is the place Mathew took himself to start as an auto mechanic apprentice under one Mr. Dennis from Edo State. Finishing his primary school education in a village, he came back to Lagos in 1997. The possibility of progressing further with his education became dim since there was no money. At a time, he was helping his mother with her petty trading but the advice of a friend spurred him to make the move to the mechanic shop where he started in 1998. He was there for more than a year before calling it quits when the incessant plea of his boss to pay his apprenticeship fee became an embarrassment. His parents couldn’t help so he left to eke out a living as a factory worker to be able to save up money for school. As at then, he was 19.
With the help of one Mr. Icheku, a mathematics teacher, he was admitted into Saint Joseph Secondary School, Mangoro, Agege in 2001. “I wanted to start from JSS 1 but my cousin advised me against it saying I was too old. She said I could cope in the senior class since I like reading. Luckily I had been attending lesson with some students every afternoon in preparation for school. I took an entrance exam and failed but was considered for admission nevertheless, owing to the goodwill of some teachers. The first week I resumed, I became the class captain,” he said. Asked to recall any unpleasant experience he witnessed as a result of the age gap he said; “It was difficult relating to some of my class mates in terms of experience. Sometimes they behave childish. At that age, I knew I brought myself to secondary school so I was more eager to read. Most times they were always afraid of me because I keep to myself a lot.”
Streaks of divine intervention
His first shot at JAMB resulted in a 199 score. Spurred on by his determination to become a lawyer like the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, he took the exam again and made 259. He would go on to describe January 15 as a day that something dramatic happened which paved way for his admission into Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU). “I attended a Gani Fawehinmi event on January 15, 2005. I was coming from Airport Hotel with my friend. Along Awolowo road at Ikeja and I saw a car parked at my back. Something told me to go and meet the person in the car. When I got there, I saw a woman, a driver and another security orderly. I greeted her and told her how I chose OOU and the admission has been so difficult. She was surprised and then asked; “What do you want me to do for you? I told her my story and gave her my contact details which she requested for. It was on being handed her card that I realized the person I was discussing with is the Senior Special Adviser Ogun State Governor on Employment, Chief Maria Sokenu (now late). She later died alongside other 166 passengers on board the ill-fated Bellview aircraft that crashed in Lisa, Ifo Ogun state. Mathew made frequents visits to her office and her private residence at Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi but it still came to him as a pleasant surprise when his name came out on the admission list for Law because at a time, he could not keep in constant touch with her to remind her of the promise to call the Vice Chancellor.
For Mathew who is now set to practise the legal profession in Abuja, life has taught him to believe that when God gives a vision, he gives divine provision alongside too. The joy of admission was almost killed when getting the money to facilitate his studies became a herculean task. To pay his acceptance fee, a special offering of N14, 000 was raised for him at the New Testament Gospel Church, Ile-Zik, Ikeja. As a student, he also had to battle with the challenge of putting up with a cohabiting student’s couple as he couldn’t afford to pay for accommodation since OOU runs a non- residential campus system. However, God raised a helper for him in the person of his uncle, Mr. Abdul Salami, the current Commissioner of Police, Budget, Police Force Headquarters, Abuja who took an interest in him and was sending money to him even without having set eyes on him.
“I am the first lawyer, not in my family, community only but in about nine other communities in my local government in Kogi State. I urge every Nigerian youth to keep hope alive. Until a man is divinely helped by God, he has no strategy,” he enthuses.
