If you have ever changed school and moved to a different location with your parents, then this story will make an interesting read. St Thomas Aquinas College was perhaps the biggest name in the state by the time Muyiwa Adeliyi was moving from Ijebu Ode Grammar school to Akure due to the missionary journey of his parents, who were moved from the Ijebu Ode diocese of The Apostolic Church to Akure. It was no surprise his parents chose ACA for him to continue his education.
Akoti, the general terminology for taunting and bullying other classmates was already fully entrenched in our set. Tunde Aro looked tiny back then but his tongue could only be matched by people.like Orangun/Amoeba-Yinka Adesida. In fact, people look forward to the face-off between Aro and Orangun in the last week of any term where we play for the entire week before our report cards are distributed.
Muyiwa was looking sharp entering the class on Monday for resumption in ACA oblivious of the Akoti syndrome.
In his innocence and the air of been properly pampered in Ijebu ode grammar school as the son of a reverend, he picked Tayo (an ardent apostolic(member), Damilola Oni - poso onikun ote, Niyi Ogunlusi - Ogo piun, and myself reluctantly as his friend. He moved with the perceived igi iwe of the class, not surprising because looking back now I can say it was the advice the parents had given him from home.
While he seems to be coping with academic life, he could not survive the Akoti life spearheaded by Tunde Aro and he must have complained bitterly at home that there is a devil tormenting him in school. I know he must have been conflicted with the fact that they do not let him trek with boys after school and they are always waiting under the tree to pick him up, the point Tunde used to taunt him as mummy's boy.
He must have reached a crescendo with the persistent taunting so much that he became withdrawn. Unfortunately, his other friends can’t save him, the laugh when Tunde starts, sometimes adding salt to the soup to make it juicy.
Then one night it happened, Tayo Ogunkorode was hijacked after a Wednesday service to lead Muyiwa and mum to the house of this enfant terrible. My housemate and son of my parent's landlord, Ayo Alejo and I had just left his mum's store in the same compound when there was a knock on the door. Lo and behold, it was Tayo, Muyiwa and his mum. Of course, the encounter was not palatable, Tayo could not face me and kept saying calm down, Muyiwa was looking like dada ko le ja. I absorbed all the lectures and told them "I am in my house" and will let my parents know I have been threatened, so they left.
You will think Muyiwa and Tayo will have peace, the whole class had heard of the traitor who took the mum of a classmate to the house of another classmate, Ogunlusi and Damilola could not come to terms with that and berated poor Tayo for doing that. Muyiwas Akoti increased and I could imagine the number of secret prayers he said either for me to be withdrawn or for something to happen to my mouth while he thought he had seen it all at Ijebu ode grammar school. ACA thought him a new lesson.
Develop a thick skin for survival. I hope someday he will find me and thank me for strengthening him and giving him one of the skills that became very useful for him in his career. Of course, we all got over it as we grew up.
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