International Noise Maker - A label or really true?

August 1989. A month when there is a lot of rain. Actually, for those people that live outside Nigeria and have forgotten what this is 😜, it will be considered a monsoon. Heavy rain. We are all used to enjoy playing football in the rain when we can but never in school. Why? No change clothes. So what do we do? You sit in class when it is raining. This makes August the worst month of the school calendar year. Stuck in the class with your mates all day long... walking on the front and back corridors of our classroom all day. To make matters worse, our class was just below the principal office.

The principal office😱. One of the rooms only the privileged gets to enter. You can see it from afar as you walk down the Appian way as it is the straight ahead when coming into the school and it is the only 3 storey building on the school grounds. Most of us get the privilege to go into the bursars office which is next to our classroom however, there are only very specific reasons why you go up to the principal’s office. Excellent performance, specific errands and you know what - when you are in serious trouble. Anyway, being one of the privileged, it was a small cosy office, crowded with memorabilia from the ancient past but it was an intimidating room; especially when the person behind the desk has fierce look - Chief ERA Babalola. Back to story.

On this blessed day, it was raining outside and we were all stuck in the class. Class members were in different groups chatting, based where their desks were. Femi SMD Fatokun, Tayo Akinrelere, Yinka Orogun Father Adesida and I were talking but not that loud. Kehinde Omoniyi, Deji Ajileye, Akeem Awojobi and Siji Bosede were laughing a bit louder whilst the biggest noise was coming from the back where we had a few arguing on something I am not sure of. My conversation with my friends turned into a debate on a math problem which we were disagreeing on. I proceeded to go to the black board to start solving the question. Other class members sitting at the front started to focus on what I was doing. Bankole Orijups Orijupa (now Adebowale) was looking quizzically, Kenneth Afutafor looked bewildered, David Akinbamini just did not care. The noise in the class was getting louder and I had to raise my voice to get my friends to hear me. I was getting to the end of my explanation and suddenly, there was a deafening silence. I continued explaining my point for another 30 seconds before realising everyone was silent. Ologba was by the window at the back of the class.

Our principal has the habit of creeping of trying to catch people in the act. Not sure if his shoes were rubber soles but he sure was good a catching people in the act. A few of us have lived to tell the tales 🔥…. back to the story.

Ologba was watching me ramble on whilst everyone was quiet. When I realised the situation, I thought that my work being academic will save me from the punishment that was impending. How foolish I was🙆🏾‍♂️! Ologba just went into a tirade of words at me and my lack of focus and seriousness towards my academics. Ye! Oro yen dun mi😭🥺! If I was playing; fine, but helping and sharing knowledge? Ebi won ko. I started to explain that it was academic work that I was explaining but I was cut short and he continued to tell us off and the next thing was that I was told to kneel down in front of the class. I was fuming😡.

20 minutes later, the message comes in that I can get up and I thought that was the end of that. Wrong! The next morning, we are at assembly and after the morning prayer and songs, ( 🎼O Mary of Fatima , hail! Immaculate Mother of grace, o pray for help us today; and the whole human race 🎼, my favourite song), the principal decides to relay what he observed the previous day. Some of you are not doing enough. All you do is play around and not work hard. Play football and talk talk talk.. And where is that Akeju? International noise maker! O pari🤷🏾‍♂️! I nearly fell in the floor. This man destroyed my reputation. There are better orators than me in my set. They know themselves and I am not even in the top 40! I spent the next 18 months trying to get that stain off my name... I am still trying now … May a better tag will have been what my friends called me behind the scenes… No not ojuigo, no merin, not idi Coca-Cola but Radio Baghdad due to my ability to get the news from all classes. Very few knew about the name but stuck with those that knew..