On Sunday 9, November, 2014 a year after our 50th graduation anniversary which we missed celebrating for unavoidable reasons, the article you are about to read below appeared on these pages.
Last year too, for inescapable reasons, we were also unable to gather together at our Alma mata in Ado -Ekiti to celebrate our 60th – what with the literally unassailable insecurity buffeting the entire country, especially as our members are spread all over the country.
in lieu of that, and to mentally land us all on AGIDIMO HILL, I have gone to my archives to retrieve that article which so perspicaciously captured our last anniversary celebration.
So Guys till we meet again in 2033 by the grace of God.
Happy reading to all my ever worthy readers.
At a glorious 2014 Reunion & Home Coming event hosted by both the 59-63 / 70-74 sets from Friday, 23rd to Sunday, 25th October, 2014, my set (59-63) put together an absolutely unforgettable re-union that will long linger in our memories. It was, first and foremost, an opportunity for massive Thanksgiving to the good Lord who has kept us safe these many years; and having been weaned, from tender ages on Christ, there was no shortage of gratitude to God. And how exhilarating it was for us, jubilantly singing together again the school song: Christ is our corner stone (Songs of Praise 464) in those, once wondrously sonorous voices, now going croaky. The husky voices were, however, invigorated by those of the much younger 70-74 members and current students. Where I sat, directly in front of oga Dele Falegan, (Oga being our patented way of addressing seniors no matter the age difference) former Director of Research, Central Bank of Nigeria, it was easy to affirm beautiful singing as one of our major attributes at The School from the beautiful way he sang. It was simply exhilarating and spiritually uplifting.
Our own segment of events had kicked off the evening of Friday, 23 October at a sumptuous ASUN (roasted goat meat) night hosted by Dr Oye Adegbite, FCA, and his dazzling wife, at their sprawling country home in the Government Reserved Area of the state capital. What a night of camaraderie and reminiscences. What a night to remember!
We were particularly honoured by the presence of two great icons of The School. First, Chief F. A. Daramola, our highly revered teacher, and father of Hon Bimbo Daramola, who at 87 chooses to personally drive himself around. Be not surprised, he is The School’s most venerated games master after the unmatchable Chief R. A. Ogunlade of blessed memory. The other was Chief (Dr) JGO Adegbite, School goal keeper, senior prefect and, the first Registrar of the Ekiti State University who, coincidentally, is our host’s uterine brother.
He was obviously the night’s hero as he regaled us with joke after joke.
Wande Adebiyi, aka Flamengo, and incidentally another School goal keeper, was, however, not far behind.
Yours truly relived the idiosyncrasies of one of our most loved teachers, the late Mr J. O. Iluku. And, of course, one of our own, the Venerable Jide Iyiola, said the prayers. In the meantime, Biodun Adu, Consultant Gynaecologist, far away from his London base, kept phoning in to share in the joy of the occasion. It was a night to remember. But looking back now, it is funny, if not surprising, that none of us that night remembered to recall that song, weaved around a mythical Asian king, and with which all students of our time, but now unfortunately discontinued, were socially welcomed into the life-long family of Christ’s School at an archetypical bullying event.
Bullying has been described as the use of force, threat, or coercion, to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others, and has occasioned suicides in places like the U.S but not this thoroughly enjoyable one which requires some elucidation especially for the sake of readers not already conversant with it. Midway into this unforgettable night, at their very first attendance at a socials event in the school, new students are filed out on the expansive bowel of the Quadrangle, to be taught what is simply described as a song. The song, you are told, is about a king named O Watana, of Siam, who is presented in much more mythical terms. The new students are soon engrossed in this fascinating new song which they soon start singing exuberantly, dancing in circles. That, however, is until they see their seniors, now a hilarious audience, singing back and pointing fingers at them. What they are singing now is what you get when you fully spelt out the king’s name which is ‘O What an ass, I Am’ but which the seniors now pluralise and turn to: O what asses you are, O what asses you are, O what an ass!
Boy, you can only imagine the look on the new students’ faces but it is a night you will forever remember. The next day’s events took off a little behind schedule as a result of the state’s environmental exercise. So, to the school’s Alumni Hall we headed at 11 am, an hour later, to kick start the 2014 Reunion and Homecoming Event proper with a lecture on ‘My Vision of Christ’s School By the Year 2033’; the Guest Lecturer being another iconic alumnus, Mr Kehinde Ojo, the immediate past Ekiti State Commissioner of Education who is, unarguably, a man of many firsts.
A member of the school football team, he was Senior Prefect and later, principal. A state merit award winner, he was one of the first set of school principals to be appointed Tutor-General by the Ekiti State government. He was, therefore, the ideal person to envision The School as it turns 100 in 2033. And didn’t he make a wonderful job of it! This, however, was after the Chairman of the event, our teacher and now Acting Vice Chancellor of the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Professor Femi Ajisafe, has called for the observation of a minute silence in remembrance of our classmates who have joined the Saints Triumphant. May the good Lord continue to rest them and uphold the family they left behind.
Chief Daramola, Professor Ajisafe and Mr Ojo were later presented with plaques in appreciation of their support.
After this was the inauguration of projects. In tandem with the school’s new development plan, the set had, first of all, contacted the principal to identify its most urgent need which turned out to be a bore hole to serve the kitchen and the school clinic which presently do not have a running water of their own. This we agreed to do, thus solving a problem that has existed like forever. It was commissioned by Chief Daramola in the presence of the principal, his immediate predecessor, and a rapturous kitchen staff, some students and members of staff. As it turned out, the bore hole will now also serve the school chapel.
In addition, we donated 5000 customised exercise books to the students. The last event for the day was the dinner hosted by the 70/74 set to which they had graciously invited our set, and what a night of good food, wine and camaraderie, at the Fountain Hotel, Ado-Ekiti.
We all punctually assembled the following morning at the School Chapel for the Anniversary Service which, for us, was a debt repaid us by the school.
How so?
Way back in December ’63, believing that the set was too troublesome, the Principal, Canon L.D Mason, had promptly sent us home directly after our School Certificate exams without allowing us have the luxury of the usual send forth service to which every set looked forward to. This service, therefore, mentally took us back fifty-one years; and how throatily we all sang trying to reenact those days of angelic voices. The sermon was taken by one of our most humane and revered teachers, and later university lecturer, The Very Revd John Olu Aina. As we look forward, trusting Christ, whose name we bear, to our 60th anniversary, we all agree that this was a truly wonderful occasion at which many of us were seeing again, for the very first time, since that day in December 1963 when we were hurriedly despatched to our various homes.
We thank God for His grace upon our lives as we all very happily recite the School Prayer again:
Grant O Lord
That Christ School may be a Christian School
Not in name only
But, in deed, and in truth
For the sake of Christ
Whose name we bear.
Amen.
This short recap will not be complete without expressing the set’s deep appreciation to both our Chairman, Adegboyega Adepitan, and our indefatigable Secretary, Oyeniyi Allen Alebiosu, now of blessed memory, both of who literally abandoned their personal chores to ensure we had a glorious outing.
Our hearty appreciation also goes to the elders and all those who made it a worthwhile outing.
