From your first day in Aquinas, you start dreaming of your journey up the ranks to the topmost class. This was usually a journey of five years. Well, at least until the late Jubril Aminu, the then Minister of Education under the directive of the Babangida government in their best wisdom decided to go for the 6-3-3-4 Educational system. The 1984-1990 set wad to be the original guinea pig and the jury is still out today on the wisdom of that decision some three decades and a half ago. What though is incontrovertible is the fact that as with most lofty good-intentioned policies initiated by successive governments in Nigeria, poor implementation is a recurring dream.
New entrants to ACA look forward to rising up to the topmost class for many reasons. Chiefly amongst these is the power that came with first being “a senior” and years later “the senior”. The most senior class ruled the roost, avoided mundane tasks such as grass cutting on labour day and answered only to the teaching staff. A constituted authority in their own right (to borrow a leaf from late Governor Ajimobi). Of course, with great power as we know comes great responsibility as well. Another reason we looked forward to being in the final year class was to be able to transition from wearing our short green trousers to wearing self-styled long trousers of different sizes and shades of green.
So as is clearly evident, being in the top class came with great perks and privileges that no one in their right minds would give up easily without a fight. That brings us to the story of today’s trip down the memory lane of an event that happened over 30 years ago. 1989 to be precise. Are you still with me?
We got our admission to ACA during the Buhari regime. Please don’t remind me that 30 something years later, a new generation is still under the Buhari regime! The deal back then was for our set to spend five years in school, spend a year doing our A levels or HSE before proceeding to a higher institution of our choice. Of course, the path to proceed directly to a higher institution and avoid going through the A level route was also there. Unfortunately (in my opinion), by the time August 1985 came, Babangida and his cohorts had kicked the Buhari-Idiagbon regime out and decided to introduce a new educational policy they christened 6-3-3-4 system. At the core of the policy change was the new requirement to spend six long years in secondary school, as opposed to five. Talk about changing the rules mid-game or shifting the goal post.
When we got to SS1 in 1988, there was just one set ahead of us. The Senior prefect Olusola Oki set of 1983-88. We rightly and rightfully believed that once the 1988 set graduated, our set would be the topmost set in the school for two consecutive years – 1989 and 1990. Sadly, this was not to be.
“Riro ni t’eniyan….”
There were already some rumblings and signs that something was amiss as SS2 arrived. We suddenly started noticing strange faces within the school premises but nobody on the teaching staff had felt the need to “carry us along”. As usual, we were to be the last to know. Essentially, the school had created a senior class of students from other secondary schools, some as far-flung as outside the local government and settled them in Aquinas. In hindsight, I can only assume the hands of the principal at the time were tied by the “Ogas at the top”. This arrangement was temporary as it was to allow the students to take their final school certificate exams. They called this class “Five special” but no one bothered to explain why it was special. The story we heard through the grapevine, true or otherwise, was that most of these students had the misfortune of enrolling in schools that were later closed and it would have been unfair for them to wait for another two years to take their final exams if they had been forcibly assimilated into our 6-3-3-4 set. Unfortunately, the same level of courtesy of fairness was not accorded to our set.
There was an eerie uneasiness in school. There were two classes competing for superiority – SS2 and Five special. Imagine if you were in the junior classes back then and what you had always taken for granted as the long-established hierarchy in the school was suddenly upended in 1989.
The atmosphere in the school was changing for the worse. The jovial cordiality and ACA Boyze camaraderie was waning and coming to school was no longer fun. Yet the teaching staff made no move to resolve the imbroglio.
The teaching staff finally showed their hand in one fell swoop by appointing Denis Adegbite the senior prefect and chose Scorrow and other school prefects from the “Five Special class”! The principal and perhaps staff clearly pitched their tent with our sworn “enemies” – the impostors and mercenaries.
Tufiakwa! Insult upon injury! Edi abi asasi?
That singular act set in motion a chain of ugly incidents that finally culminated on the assembly ground Mexican standoff one fine morning in 1989. Before the assembly ground incident, there had been other little skirmishes and altercations that went largely unnoticed. The word went out that we were willing to challenge them to a winner takes all Quiz competition. They never took up the offer. Of course, I believe we would have won but then I am strongly biased. In an act of defiance, some people in our set had chosen to come to school in their long baggy trousers to put a marker down. People like Oxzy Omololu, Bunmi Egunjobi and I think Alejo. Looking back now, this was a risky but brave move. Our set largely ignored the authority of the “Five Special” class and carried on as if they never existed. This was made easier as we had the tacit approval of the junior classes who always looked up to us. Leaders ultimately derive their authority and relevance from the followership.
As I said, it all came to a head on the assembly ground one morning. As is customary for the senior class, Denis as the appointed senior prefect aided by another prefect got up the hallowed steps to reach the platform facing the assembly ground to lead the morning devotion and assembly. In what looked like a planned chess move, up the steps came the great Rotimi Abitoye who made the same walk up the same steps in what seemed an attempt to also lead the morning assembly. I have to say Rotimi until that day had never shown any interest in leading the assembly or on any day after! 👍 It was a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Denis was perplexed and did not at first know what to do. Then I suppose he quickly remembered he was the senior prefect and asked Rotimi politely to get back down to the assembly ground. Rotimi refused. Actually, Rotimi completely ignored him and pretended to read out a hymn that we were all to sing. The prefect with Denis stepped in at this point and tried to shove Rotimi off the platform. Rotimi stood his ground, unflinching in his resolve. Now we had a stand-off.
Suddenly, other members from Five special standing on the assembly ground raced up the steps to assist in moving Rotimi along. There ensued a scuffle. All the while, the junior classes on the assembly ground were looking perplexed by what was unfolding before their eyes. There was no teaching staff in sight at this point.
Seeing Rotimi had been outnumbered, Boniface raced up the steps. Sope went up as well. So did Raggae, Oxzy and Edo. Then everyone poured up the steps and it became a free for all. Assembly was over, mob ruled.
Looking back today at those ugly events, I put the blame squarely on the lap of the then principal. The whole situation was clearly avoidable but was badly managed and the lack of communication by the school authority showed a lack of respect for the studentry.
I will leave to my learned colleagues the arguments about who had a better legal case in 1989 to be the topmost class. What though for me is settled is the case that it wasn’t the best moment for our principal and teaching staff. They lit a fire, made their getaway, and left us to our own devices to sort things out. Things could have really gotten ugly and out of control but thankfully we all survived the period and can now look back today and laugh over the whole ugly episode.
The fire still burning bright today is Togetherness
Waw, the best piece of all. A refreshing memory.