Following is my 80th birthday tribute to Professor Soyinka in 2014.

 

The man of letters and an accomplished playwright, humourist, social critic, actor, hunter and wine connoisseur has now joined the enviable circle of octogenarians. May God continue to guide and guard the Ogun Abibiman. Amen.

 

In 1967, while a 17-old Form Three student of African Church Grammar School Apata-Ganga, Ibadan (the story of how I missed going to Soyinka’s alma mater, Government College, Apata-Ganga in 1964 has been told many times by me). I wrote a letter of solidarity to Professor (then Mr.) Soyinka in Kaduna Prison, where the now-retired General Yakubu Gowon-led Federal Military Government had clamped him (Soyinka) in, without trial, from 1967 to 1969, for visiting the late Ikemba-Ojukwu, then a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Nigerian Army and the Military Governor of the defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria, who was on the verge of seceding the Eastern Region from Nigeria to be declared the Republic of Biafra.

For clamping Soyinka in prison without a formal trial, I wrote a letter of demand to the then Head of State, General Gowon, a copy of which I sent to the editor of the Daily Times Newspaper that carried the story.

 

Since 1969, when Professor Soyinka was released from (Prison) detention and the public got to know of my 1969 letter and his (rely) letter of appreciation to me 1969, upon his release, I have often been asked the question.

 

”What motivated a 16-year-old secondary school student to write a letter of solidarity to the social/political activist, Soyinka, in prison?” My answer has always been, “the motivation between a Lion and a cub!” If this answer has the fragrance of one of Professor Soyinka’s plays, “The Lion and the Jewel”, then I request my dear readers to savour the sweet smell. But on a serious note, and with due modesty, I make haste to say that the motivation for writing those letters in 1967 to the detainee (Soyinka and the Head of State, Gowon) stemmed from my progeny. To grasp my reason for saying so, I need to let my dear reader into my antecedent.

 

Permit some immodesty if one says that one’s clamour for liberty, progress and happiness for all did not just start yesterday. I was born into a family of democrats and warriors. My great, great paternal grandfather, Subair Ajengbe (the wizard of wars) was Ekerin Balogun of Ibadan during the reign of Olubadan Fijabi (1890-1893).

Ajengbe was a valiant soldier in the Ibadan Army of the 19th Century and was a signatory to the Memorandum of Peace between the British Colonial government and Ibadan (Please see page 663 of the Rev. Samuel Johnson’s books – The history of the Yorubas). His granddaughter, Asma’u Odunola, my paternal grandmother, was the woman leader of the NCNC in Ibadan land, under the genius, Adegoke Adelabu, alias ‘Penkelemesi’ in the 1950s. In my primary school, I was class captain from primary two to primary four, school mail-boy in primary five, and Headboy in my final year in 1963.

 

One can trace the blossoming of rights awareness to 1964, when as a form one student at “Afro” Apata-Ganga, Ibadan we joined our seniors in the civil protest against the recurring dinners of ‘Eko’ (pap).

 

At NTA Ibadan in 1980, we (journalists at the station) sued the NTA Headquarters in Lagos for banning the state’s station of NTA from covering that year’s Senate probe of the famous (or is it infamous?) missing oil money said to be worth N2.8b then! Even though the court ruled in favour of NTA, we are still proud today that we challenged a despotic order.

 

Full stories : https://guardian.ng/art/the-lion-and-the-cub/

That friend has always been amazingly disciplined at setting limits, but I’d go to the Virtual sport  and lose 50 per cent of my income. I’d wonder what I was doing by spending more than I could afford, but I also told myself that it wasn’t impacting my life in any major way and I could stop if I wanted to.

I got my first teaching job in 2018 and I didn’t really have an issue with gambling for about 2 years, until I started using apps on my phone. I joined a Facebook subscription group that would give you tips but I couldn’t just stick to those tips; I’d gamble outside them too.

I love NBA [North America’s National Basketball Association] and was watching it daily. Putting a bet on kept it interesting. It was all about the green numbers on the app. The real danger was how easy it was to hide my betting. It didn’t arouse any suspicion and betting anonymously covered up my guilt and shame. I was also using alcohol to deal with my feelings.

I maxed out credit cards but I thought I was good at covering my tracks. I became a cunning liar – someone who wasn’t me – but I honestly believed I’d be able to make the money back. I used to tell myself, ‘You got yourself into this mess and now you have to get yourself out’.

Then there came a debt I couldn’t service and I had to tell my friends. I saw a gambling counsellor but I became complacent pretty quickly. I was only doing it because my friends  wanted me to and that never works; the drive has to come from the person.

Relapses make you more self-aware for next time, so you can focus on heading off any ‘next times’.

I have a growth mindset where I’m determined to learn from my mistakes. Keep telling yourself to keep doing the right thing.

I work really hard at living a good life with my wife, where we have open communication. Sport is in there as a positive. I play golf and tennis and I’ve run a marathon. I’ve pulled on the footy boots for 1 years and I’m a passionate Geelong supporter.

more so, they is no gain in betting, rather it bring pains and HBP. so have decided to join pejoweb. 

@demuchgs