Life in GCI - a blast!
Attending Government College, Ibadan was a dream come true, following a family tradition whereby two of my brothers had already attended and passed out of GCI. I resumed first year in January 1966 with 17 other mates from Ebenezer Primary School, Oke Ado, Ibadan. We constituted the largest cohort of students from the same primary school in the history of the college.
I was fortunate to be awarded a full scholarship because I came first overall in the admission process to the college. I ..... Read More
Just 'One Minute' Away From Infamy!
Just one minute! That was all it took to save me from falling from my lofty height as a model student of Government College Ibadan to infamy as a student who would have been suspended indefinitely. In our days, that statement was like going to hell. What actually happened?
All my years in GCI, I lived up to my nickname "Dynamite" as I really thought of myself as dynamic. I was quite a lively student known for my warmth and jokes. While in Form 5, I left school (bolted) for Scala Cinema in ..... Read More
SANCTIONS AND DISCIPLINE IN GCI
"Boys must be boys, and a little chastisement does them no harm..."
So went the line as the fictional Sweeney Todd, spoke dismissively of his harsh treatment of Tobias Rag in the December 1967 school play production "Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Living in London today, where children run riot as a matter of course, it feels like GCI was many light years ahead, in its disciplinary regime.
I vividly remember one of our teachers, Mr. Adelaja ("young Ade") tell one of our ..... Read More
Bomb Blast
On One Memorable Night...
I particularly remember this incident which happened in August 1967. It was approaching the end of the second term of our first year in school. We were told that a number of our seniors had not returned to school, but had gone to the Eastern Region as advised by the secessionist government. The civil war had broken out with Eastern Region of Nigeria declaring itself the Republic of Biafra, and the Federal Government of Nigeria declaring "police action against it. ..... Read More
My GCI Memoirs
- flavours & fragrances to savour
Starting Out
Admission into Government College Ibadan was the most sought after by boys for secondary school education in the old Western Region of Nigeria. Pupils sat for the Common Entrance examinations and the successful ones underwent a unique one-week interview programme. It was unique in the sense that it was a residential, highly regimented, highly engaging, all-day and all-night programme. The aim was to assess and evaluate the IQ, academic state, ..... Read More
Indelible Stamps on My Mind
Government College was an obvious natural choice for most primary school leavers in the old Western Region, because it was highly regarded as the best secondary school at the time in the Region. GCI therefore was the automatic choice made on behalf of very bright pupils of Ebenezer African Church Primary School, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, by its Headmaster, Mr. Adekoya (of blessed memory). I was one of the few from that school that was admitted into GCI So, I congratulate myself.
Schooling at GCI was ..... Read More
Going Down Memory Lane
Getting admitted into GCI
My father was a civil servant in the old Western Region. He always wanted the best for his children, which included an aspiration to ensure that I attended Government College Ibadan, which ranked above any other school of that time. When he realised that a lot of pupils passed the entrance examinations into GCI from Ebenezer Primary School, Oke Ado, Ibadan, he promptly withdrew me from Children's Home School Ibadan and took me to Ebenezer. Lo and behold, 19 of us ..... Read More
An Event I'd Rather Not Remember... The Provincial Athletics Championships
It was sometime in April 1971 at the Provincial Athletics Championships competition at the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan The competition was coming to an end and as usual, it was time for the relay race, which is always the highlight of the championships. The GCI team comprised Eniola Sanu - the first leg, Tunde Bamgbelu - second leg, my good self - third leg and Yato Adeyemi, the anchor. The race started very well with fantastic and beautiful baton exchanges from the first leg to the second leg ..... Read More
My Two Big Scares
In the public primary school which I attended, there was always a competition to know which student attained the highest number of admissions into secondary schools. I sat for the entrance examination to thirteen secondary schools, and I was offered admission into all of them! But one whiz-kid (a girl) sat for and passed the examinations into fourteen schools. That was the trend then. My parents opted for GCI because it was simply the best school that everybody wanted his child to attend. ..... Read More
First Days in GCI 1967
Events Precedent
My relationship with GCI was simply fortuitous and started way back in 1965. Then, I was a Primary 5 student in Mayflower Junior School, Ikenne, Ogun State. I had gone to Ibadan and my late father, Pa. Ayinde Oluwole, and then the National Secretary of the NCNC took me on a visit to my cousin, Tayo Oyeleye (now Dr. Tayo Oyeleye) in GCI. I vividly remember that the visit was during the GCI athletics season which occurred in the l" Term in those days. We went, first, ..... Read More