For Sir Oladipo Adeyemi Jibodu, life begins at 80. His typical day begins with a walk around his palatial compound in Sagamu, Ogun State, followed by a light breakfast and a glance through the day’s dailies before he starts attending to visitors. As he awaits his 80th birthday anniversary on December 3, the legal practitioner and former Acting Registrar and Legal Officer of the University of Maiduguri, who lived in the now beleaguered North-East city for 11 years, shares with PAUL UKPABIO some of his unforgettable experiences, including returning to school to study Law three decades after he graduated, just to fulfill his father’s wish.
HOW does it feel to be 80, considering that not too many people are lucky to clock that age these days?
I will be celebrating my 80th birthday here in Sagamu on the 3rd of December. However, there will also a big event here on the December 2nd, which is the launch of my book to which lots of people have been invited. The governor (Ibikunle Amosun) wrote a tribute, and it is very likely he will be attending too. I feel it is by the grace of God that I have been able to make it to this age. It is not that I have not been ill at other times of my life. But by the grace of God, I have been able to reach this age. I feel well. Like they say in football parlance, I feel in top form. God has done a lot of good things in my life.
What would say have been the highpoints of your life at 80?
In terms of knowledge, have been in a number of universities. I studied Law at the University of Ife. I also studied Public Administration at the University of Durham. I was also in Manchester for a big course, which is given to tertiary administrators. With that, I was in contact with a number of influential people in the country. I worked at three federal universities—the University of Ife where I started, then moved to Ibadan and then to the University of Maiduguri.
The last place offered a real deep experience because we were starting out with a new university. Some of us were recruited in 1972. It was a big event in my life, and I was in that university for 11 years.
Was it a popular thing to go to the university at the time that you set out to pursue a university education?
No, it wasn’t at all. As a matter of fact, my late father was not educating her girls. He was not enthusiastic about the idea, even when they were older than us. There was the fear in us the boys that when it came to our turn, he might also say we should go to the farm, because he was a farmer. But as it turned out, when it came to our time, he said he would take us to school. We were lucky because if there was no school for us, life would have turned out differently. So, from primary school, I gradually moved to secondary school, and from there to the university.
What do you think made your father to give his male children education?
Well, when we had the opportunity to ask him why he didn’t educate our elder sisters before us, his response was that it was his intention originally to educate the male children who he was sure would be with him forever while the female children would be departing to other people’s houses. However, towards the end of his life, it pained him because the women grew up well too and turned out very right. If you see them, you would not even know that they didn’t go to formal schools.
Who influenced you the more between your mum and your dad?
I would say my father. But in terms of closeness, it was my mother. But again, it was my father who gave me spiritual knowledge and education and the necessary information that developed me. So I would say that my father influenced me the more.
Where did you grow up?
I started primary school in Sagamu, but my secondary school was outside Sagamu. That was Ahmadiyyah in Lagos. From there, the college was moved to Agege still in Lagos, few years after I started there. That gave me a different exposure. Agege was more or less a village at that time. But it is a big town now (laughs).
What informed your decision to study law?
That was a combination of my father’s wish and mine. Though he was a farmer, he did some form of elementary school, so, he should resume as an executive officer and continue like that until I finished the course.
So, at the end of the day, I didn’t have to sell the car. I was using the car from town to attend lectures on the campus, in the Faculty of Law. That was how I finished the course. I finished the study in three years. It was a time when there were no strikes on university campuses.
Why did you insist on going back to school to study Law after 33 years?
That was because it was my late dad’s wish. It was also because it was my desire after that time to study Law.
When you first got the message that you would be going to work at the University of Maiduguri in the far north, how did you feel?
It was with mixed feelings because of the messages we were getting from the north then. When my wife heard it, she asked me why I wanted to go to the north. She asked if it was because of the money. She wondered about the menace of flies and then the scorching sun. The same concerns were expressed I the homes of my colleagues who were also penciled down to move to the University of Maiduguri.
What I did was to sit my wife down and ask her a straight question. I asked if she was interested in going to Maiduguri and she said that wherever I went, she would go and she would take all our children with her so we would all go together. I was so elated with her response. When the time came, we all left for Maiduguri. We didn’t have to discuss with anyone again after that.
When I got there, I became the Acting Registrar. But you know, there was the issue of language, and the people there wanted their own person to be the registrar because the registrar had to be interacting with their Emirs and other traditional rulers who then did not understand other languages than theirs. I was not surprised. And when a registrar was appointed, I was compensated with University Legal Officer, and that was because I had been to the Law School. I was also placed on the same scale as the Registrar.
Did you enjoy your stay at the University of Maiduguri?
Yes, I did. It opened a lot of positive avenues for me. I went to London so many times. At times, it was to buy uniforms for the university. At other times, it was on matters of sponsorship. I was nominated for a course at the University of Manchester, and that was an important course for my career too.
How long did you work at the University of Maiduguri?
I spent eleven years there. And at the point of retirement, I was lucky I had a house, which was a bungalow, at the GRA. So I retired there and planned to remain in Maiduguri to practice Law. I left the university house. For two years, I was practicing Law in Maiduguri. But one day, I woke and something touched my brain. I recalled that my extended families were still back in Sagamu. It occurred to me that I might as well return to Sagamu, since I could practice law even there. It was after then that we returned to Sagamu.
Today we hear of the many woes of Maiduguri in terms of Boko Haram’s activities. How do you feel about it?
I feel bad because there was a lot of merriment, a lot of friendship in that place for us. I have so many good memories of the town. Since the hostilities started, sometimes I stop to wonder what could have become of me and my entire family if I had stayed put in the town. At a time I was calling my friends over there to return home, but they refused. But we thank God that though they stayed back, they fared better. My friends in the university didn’t die. Some of them have even become professors. So it’s not all bad stories.
How was Law School?
It was okay. But there were initial fears from my friends and other people at the University in Maiduguri that I might not do well there. Their fears were anchored on the fact that even the younger ones were failing easily at the Law School. But as it happened, I passed well even at the first try. I enjoyed it actually.
You also have children who chose to study Law…
Yes. But at that time, they were not yet out of the university. It was two or three years after that they started coming out of the university. Now I thank God I have a son, Tokunbo, who is a honourable judge in Ogun State. He decided to study Law like I did. I am very proud of him. He became a judge at 43; that is a record. I have a daughter too who has taken after me.
She is equally brilliant but didn’t come out of the Law School immediately because of issue of illness. That affected her and affected the time she concluded Law School.
How about the other children?
The others have passed out of the university but are in other disciplines.
Some of your contemporaries who travelled abroad then returned with foreigners as their wives. Why did you marry a foreigner?
(Laughs) First, that didn’t happen because I already had a wife before I left. You know what that would have meant if I had returned with a white lady as wife. Secondly, not many people really liked to go out there and marry a white lady. Some of them are good and some of them are bad. To start with, not many of them will want to return to Nigeria with you. And for the few that may follow you to Nigeria, if there is any little quarrel here, they just go back. They can’t endure the kind of things that our women here endure. For instance, when the option of going to Maiduguri came up for me, my wife told me that where ever I went, she would go. That made me to love her more.
Are there special kinds of food you take?
Not really. But I try to take light food in the morning. I take eko and akara. But in the afternoon, I love to take egusi soup with eba, rice, tuwo and so on. And in the evenings too I take light food.
Do you do physical exercise?
Yes, I do. But I limit all such exercises to the confines of my compound. Another reason why I may have longevity is that I do not over-exercise myself with unnecessary socials. I have always been a social person, but I restrict that to events involving close ones. There was a time I used to drink alcohol, beer especially, when I was working. But these days I have limited it to water or soft drink.
Are you a member of any social club?
Yes, but not many. In the university days, I was much more involved. After that, I was personally not involved in societies because I was more interested in reading books. You know with Law, I had to read almost every day and study a lot of times to meet up with cases, so that really took a lot of time off my hands, and I didn’t have enough space for societies and clubs.
So, what do you really do these days?
I have virtually retired home. I can do a whole month without going out these days. I sleep, wake, refresh myself, walk around the house, do my exercises and receive visitors. People come here to see me. However, I spend a lot more time on church matters. And before I left my service for the church, I became the Lay President, which is the highest office one can get to in the Methodist Church, and the Baba Ijo. I have been that for 10 years now. It is a life position because one is there on merit. I was also given the highest award, the Knight of John Wesley, which enables me to attach ‘Sir’ to my name.
Going through your photo album, one notices that you have an attraction for ‘agbada’ as an outfit…
(Laughs) I was good at ‘tying up’ too, appearing most of the time in formal clothing as a lawyer. My son had to take most of my suits later. Bt much later also, he was picking his own suits each time he went to London. I love wearing agbada. I feel good in the traditional outfit. It has always been a usual kind of dressing for me.
Do you consider yourself a fulfilled man?
I believe that God has blessed me in many ways, so I can say that I am fulfilled.
At 80 what will you say has been your greatest possession?
(He looks up) That will be my family. I am indeed grateful to God for my children. They have been good to me. For this celebration, for instance, they have taken it upon themselves to celebrate me. They decided within themselves that they would handle all the finances by themselves, even the clothing and shoes for my wife and I are all coming from them. What else should be the joy of a father? Moreover, they have given me good grandchildren and great grandchildren. I enjoy their company a lot and usually look forward to seeing them.
What made you decide to write a book about your life?
It was when I looked back over the years and realised the exceeding grace of God on me. I felt compelled to put it in writing. Every picture of my life has been influenced by His grace.
At what point did it occur to you to write it?
It had been on my mind for a long time. But because of the hard work of combining the public service and the service to the church as a lay president, I could not start as early as I thought I would. Being lay president is a busy position for anyone. I had to attend meetings at several places. One has to attend meetings with the Bishop as time calls for it and, personally, one has to hold several meetings too. But immediately I left the position of lay president, I began to write things down in 2014.
Any regrets?
No, no. No regrets in whatever way. However, life is difficult in Nigeria. I hear some people say that if they are to return to life, they want to be given birth to in America (laughs). For me, I will like to come back to Nigeria. That is because Nigeria is good. I also believe that the country is still going to be better. We should just push ahead. With determination, we as a country will keep getting better.
