Osemeikhian or Oshinyimika

By the rules and regulations of Government College Ibadan, students were barred from going into the teachers' quarters, but as they say 'boys must be boys'.

A combination of normal youthful exuberance and some spurt of testosterone in the blood of young boys emboldened some group of students, notable amongst whom were Segun Oshinyimika (1965), Biodun Sadipe (1965), Late Yomi Agboola (1965), Derin Adewumi (1962) and a host of others to break this rule.

It was a kind of 'huckleberryfinic' adventure when the aforementioned students decided to take a trip close to the residential quarters of the school teachers to pluck almond fruits. The targeted area was in the premises of Mr. Hughes (a Canadian Peace Corps Member) who was then teaching at the school.

On arrival at the place, the boys swung into action. Some of them climbed the almond tree plucking the fruits for those on the ground to collect.
suddenly, there was a shout coming from Mr. Hughes, demanding to know which people were out there disturbing his peace while having his siesta.

Students on the ground took to their heels while those on the tree hurriedly jumped down and followed suit. Interestingly, Mr Hughes' house was located around midway along the road that connects the main GCI road (the road coming from the main gate) with the road that runs adjacent to African Church Grammar School (which runs by Grier House). This is the road that could be described as the middle part of the famous figure eight road network of GCI.

The students fleeing from the scene heaved a sigh of relief, thinking they had escaped from Mr. Hughes, not knowing that he was having a visiting Canadian friend who was tall and huge in stature and must have been an athlete. This visitor ran in pursuit of the fleeing students who branched into the nearby bush from where I could observe the man wheeze past like thunder bolt after Sadipe (1965) and others.

Some five minutes later from my hiding spot, I saw Sadipe (1965) nabbed by the collar of his shirt by this huge man coming straight at me and with a deep and husky voice shouted in my direction as if he knew I was there: 'Hey you hiding in the bush, come out now before I get hold of you'. Out of fear, I came out from my hiding place and the man took the two of us to Mr. Hughes' house, where we were mandated to give our names and the names of our collaborators.

We thus obliged especially myself, who was a bit of a 'jogor' (slow and naive) at that time, gave my name and those others involved.

As per tradition, later at the house assembly after prep, the names of the adventurous students were mentioned for the stipulated punishment for the offence committed. It was however shocking that when the names were read out, probably because Mr Hughes and his friend had difficulty with Nigerian names and writing from the way Oshinyimika sounded in their ears, they wrongly wrote down 'Osemika'.

It was an irony of fate that upon seeing the name, the school prefects unanimously agreed that it could only have been Osemeikhian (1965)(nickname Ose) that must have committed the offence along with other boys due to the fact that he had been known to be rascally in the school, while Oshinyimika (1965), who was known to be a well behaved boy (won the price for Neatest and Best Behaved Boy in Carr House in 1969) was assumed not to have been involved.

This was how Oshinyimika (1965) escaped punishment for an offence, which the others served, while Osemeikhian (1965) was punished for something he knew nothing about.

Did I apologise? Well, Ose, not to worry. I'm sorry, but I admire you to this day for bearing the punishment and we remain friends.

By: Oshinyimika John