What A Glorious Time

The days of our youth are commonly referred to as the glorious times of our lives. This is not without reason, Latter years would see us recalling the times we were as free as birds; the times we could explore and experiment, and the times we could laugh our heads off/ For my generation, our time in GCI captured all of the above even with 'extra- extra'.

My earlier days were spent in Ondo Boys High School before I joined the guys I can now confidently refer to as soul mates in Higher School. Today I still find that our bravado years as Senior Boys already encapsulate all I probably thought I had lost by not being with them from the beginning. I bet that our terminologies in our correspondences and yabbis (both wet and dry jokes) at meetings will not end with tomorrow.

It is funny to know that some of us learned to play the Guitar partly because of the sheer bravado and swagger exhibited by boys in the School Band. And of course guys like Dele Alonge (God rest his gentle soul) would encourage you by making the box available but mesmerise you further by his manner of twanging. But then Olumide Okusanya, aka Kuse, would soothe your nerves by playing the only composition that mattered to him; Sooome day.... Some time..... I'll make you mine. That song happened to be a dedication or commitment to a.... then in 'Queens'. These activities warmed up our times in the dormitory before the prep hours in the evenings. We would move in those rock steady steps noted as civilized dance steps as a prelude to anticipated gigs which interspersed our curriculum activities. Recently at one of the Class set meetings at Soji Adebola's in Lagos, Yemisi Harrison rekindled the nostalgia with those civilized dance steps.

Government College Ibadan had always been known for excellence in both academics and sports. It was compulsory that as a student, you identify with both. It was therefore not surprising that while your classmates might know you as being good in class, the greater part of the student population would easily identify you by the sport in which you excelled. Encouragement in sports activities was further enhanced by the creation of the Sports Table in the Dining Hall. That was where the best of dishes were served, that was where the excellent ones dined. In addition to the Dining Hall treatment, we were given ample supply of nourishing provisions at the beginning of school terms to replenish losses on the Sports Ground.

For my part, I identified with Soccer. It was wonderful. It had its rewards just as it had its demands on you. A normal practice then would first demand you jog to the Main Pitch opposite Lafia Hotel through the road by the school laboratories down to 'Queens' and finally exit at the Primary school on the Ibadan Abeokuta road. You would have clocked more than two kilometers then. The next thirty minutes or thereabouts would be burnt in jogging round the pitch followed by board stepping before the real soccer practice started. Our coach then, the late Olu Onagoruwa was always uncompromising. Such a stance became even harder on occasions when Dr. Lekan Are would attend. If I could recollect well, he was working somewhere outside of the country but he would never fail to put his nose in anytime he was in Nigeria.

Secondary School competition was at its best then and it was like an ego trip whenever we had to play any school. The sweetness could be intoxicating when we won. But then the taste of defeat was as bitter. The day I could not decide which way to go was when Ondo Boys' High School played against us at the Liberty Stadium. Please don't forget the boys there were my juniors and I still considered them as the best for a mosquito team. The rest is history,

Yes I must not forget. The first time I travelled out of this country, (guess where?) it was to Benin Republic. It was in furtherance of a tripartite cooperation between Nigeria and the Benin Republic on one hand, and GCI, Comprehensive High School Aiyetoro and another school (the name of which I could not readily recall now). Our hectic time on the pitch was interspersed with hefty shouts of attake' reverberating throughout the pitch. The following day, we were taken to shop at the only store of note then that bore any semblance to our dear Kingsway or Chellarams. It was called Mono Prix Government College Ibadan exposed us to so many wonderful experiences that it would be impossible to capture by way of reminiscences either in a whole book or narratives on stage. How would I capture all the excitement that Hamman Ibrahim and I appropriated to ourselves each time we sneaked to the School Chapel to play the Piano. Or is it our reason for going to Queens School to sing 'Softly and Tenderly Jesus is calling... that I should be telling?

Less I forget, I should not fail to say that it was at GCI that I first came in contact with the game of cricket. What with those boys smartly dressed in the cream white pullovers laced in school colours, swinging their bats as if intending to hurt someone! Crazy, isn't it? They would scamper over the pitch in chase of a ball or when they changed at the end of an over. It is only after one knows how to read the scores that you start to enjoy it. How's that Sir!!!

Concerning Government College Ibadan, at whichever point one takes a pause on the stories there is always a justification that there is hope it will be further developed at the meeting of this Boys. So let us pause here.


Source: Jimi Omoliki