How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole - Politics - Nairaland
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| How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by sarrki(m): 9:36am On Aug 12, 2017 |
Dr Wale Omole Twenty-three years after his demise, friends and admirers of the late educationist and critic, Dr Tai Solarin, still speak about him glowingly. One of his staunch apostles and former student, Dr Wale Omole, tells part of the untold story of the life of the activist, in this interview by KUNLE ODEREMI. WHAT is so remarkable about the life of Dr Tai Solarin, who died 23 years ago? Tai Solarin lived and died for the Nigerian child, the poor, the uninformed and the downtrodden as a whole. His life was remarkable in words, actions and deeds.He gave Mayflower School to Nigeria with education for self-reliance. The school has produced more scientists in various disciplines than most of its contemporaries as there has been no second Mayflower since 1956. He educated several Biafrans, South Africans and Liberians free in their days of crises without discrimination. During the Biafran Civil War, Dr Solarin went on a hunger strike for weeks to protest against the malnourished children of Biafra, who were dying in their thousands. He starved himself so much that he looked like one of those children. He went to the East several times with lorry loads of food. He took some children out of the war front to educate them from primary school till they became university graduates. Many of them are professionals. Today, these people are blessings to Nigeria. He gave scholarships to indigent but brilliant students. He wore his battle dress of khaki shirt and a pair of shorts till death and he was buried in his battle dress. He fought a lost battle on free education for all Nigerian children. Who is fighting for them now? No one. As the Acting Principal of Molusi College Ijebu Igbo in 1955 he promoted himself to the post of full Principal and the Ministry of Education, Western Region approved it. He was the only Nigerian leader who had the gut to resign as a commissioner after being found guilty of driving a car without carrying his licence with him. He resigned his appointment in order to remain honourable. He also resigned his appointment as the Peoples Bank Chairman because of uncontrollable corruption. Only few Nigerians could resign from these exalted offices. Today, dead bodies litter our streets. In his days, he was the only one picking corpses from the streets to avoid epidemics. No one is being arrested today for drinking or being in possession of locally produced gin called ogogoro. He had to surrender himself to police for arrest and prosecution to prove a point. Today, it is legal to produce or drink ogogoro. Tai Solarin would also be remembered for his literary work. He maintained columns in Nigerian Tribune and Daily Times for well over 40 years. His work on agriculture, if copied, maintained and sustained by other leaders, would have, by now, bailed Nigerians completely out of hunger. Today, how many social critics have the guts to challenge the civilian government when they misrule? In his days, he challenged the most treacherous military juntas and spit fire to their faces while waiting for the consequences. He was courageous, dogged and rugged. He was arrested and locked up in prisons several times not for crimes but for saying his mind. What would you consider as the major the missing link in the nation’s education sector today, with the hindsight of the ideas and ideals he propagated on education? Honest Nigerians know that the quality of education in Nigeria has grossly declined when compared with what we had in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Nigeria had one of the best educational systems in the world. Foreign students were found in our universities like Ibadan, Lagos, Ife (OAU), Benin and Zaria. Only those candidates, who were not qualified for university admission into Nigerian universities were the ones going to foreign universities. Certificates from Nigerian universities then were highly respected. The were gold! Today, our certificates do not qualify for the worth of bronze. Tai Solarin’s preaching on education for self-reliance; education to use hand and brain, education for all, free education for all Nigerian youths at all levels, government grants and scholarships for indigent students in higher institutions, educating parents to bear fewer number of children, and so on, are completely lost. What is the nation’s budgetary vote on education now? Who cares whether or not a Nigerian child goes to school or hawks groundnuts on the streets? Who is going to wear his battle dress to protest that there must be free education at all levels? Who is going to fight the corruption in the education sector and other areas? For a long time to come, Tai Solarin’s crusade on education will be missed. He wrote the article, The beginning of the end in 1974. Given the subject matter, corruption among public officials, he sounded like a Prophet. What could have been his response now that corruption has almost destroyed the fabrics of Nigeria? Blaming the present-day corrupt officers without blaming their ‘fathers’ is partiality. The corrupt officers are practising what they inherited. Unless something is done today, the level of corruption tomorrow would be worse. The aim of every Nigerian is to be rich. Unfortunately many people do not believe that they can be rich without being corrupt. In July, 1974, exactly 20years before he died, (he died on July 27 1994), Tai Solarin wrote the article. He believed that the level of corruption in the government then was enormous to crash the country into pieces. The article was prompted by the action of the military regime that it would no longer hand over power to the civilians. That nation infuriated Tai Solarin and other honest Nigerians. They alleged that the military regime was very corrupt. But when events started to unfold after the change of guard, he realised that in comparison, the then administration was more angelic than Satanic they all thought it was. Then he wrote another article The Beginning of the Beginning, meaning that the worst corruption was just beginning. He predicted the current level of corruption in the country. This is what Nigeria is facing today as corruption is now a way of life in Nigeria. Youths see it as normal and they are already warming up for their turn. The whole world acknowledges this fact. In all his years till death, Tai Solarin’s blood pressure never rose above normal. I am sure if he were to be alive today, Solarin would be nursing high blood pressure for the present level of corruption in the country. The quest for money coupled with insatiable wealth is bedeviling the nation. If corruption has to stop in Nigeria, the first place to start the battle is in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As one of those that were very close to him and his family, why do you think Dr Tai Solarin chose to be an atheist? Dr Tai Solarin was born into a good Christian home. He attended Christian schools in Iperu, Ilesa and Ibadan. He lived with his uncle, an Anglican priest, Rev A.S. Solarin, who also trained him. He was trained and partially sponsored by Rev W.F. Mellor, an English missionary, who lived, died and was buried in Sagamu, Nigeria. Tai Solarin was a regular church goer. In fact he was a worker in the church. He studied the Bible. He did some Bible courses and became a qualified Lay Reader. He read the Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelation several times. He knew and quoted the Bible passages. He was prayerful. He loved Christian hymns. He was always happy singing Christmas carol with his students in December. I think his atheism began when he started to read books on other religions like Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Grail messages, and so on, and especially when he thought that his prayers were not being answered. He admired natural forces as they control things. He studied books written by great authors on religions. He visited all the continents of the world. He was versatile. He offered prayers for certain things and he believed the prayers were not answered and came to a conclusion that there was no God. But he believed in nature. He noted that there were some forces controlling certain things. He appreciated the chronological sequences of things. He studied animal and plant behaviours. He studied how a grain of corn germinates and gradually grows to fruition. He studied behaviors of termites, bees and ants and gave kudos to the nature for the organized lives these insects live. When asked if that nature was God, he said people always give different names to nature depending on where they are born in the world. He said all religions are based also on faith; not on what we see or experience alone, but on what we hear, see, experience and believe. He compared the level of development in irreligious nations with religious nations and arrived at the conclusion that many of the irreligious nations were even doing better. He prayed to God to make him pass his Mathematics examination several times but he failed each time. Finally, he prayed to God to abstain from his next Mathematics exam. He said he practised with several past question papers and he passed without God’s involvement. Since then, he regularly prayed to God to remove His hand from whatever he wanted to do, and most of the time, he said he recorded success. All these experiences culminated into his atheism and declaration that “there is no God.” He said in practice, there are many atheists, who go to church not because they are convinced that there is God but to avoid alienation by the people. http://tribuneonlineng.com/solarin-picked-igbo-kids-warfront-trained-omole/ |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by sarrki(m): 9:37am On Aug 12, 2017 |
They owe us gratitude for life 3 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by sarrki(m): 9:40am On Aug 12, 2017 |
Where is madridguy, next prince,omenka,jetlee and wristbangle sef |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Ilajeboy(m): 9:40am On Aug 12, 2017 |
  proud exmay I am2 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Nobody: 9:43am On Aug 12, 2017 |
Afonja the "rewriter" of history has come again. Video testimonies or it never happened! 16 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by sarrki(m): 9:48am On Aug 12, 2017 |
woodcook: Video of where the Yoruba betrayed your Lord Ojukwu As claimed ? 21 Likes 4 Shares |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by wristbangle: 9:49am On Aug 12, 2017 |
sarrki: They know the story but their level of hatred/envy would make them turn blind eyes to this 14 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by truefact: 9:52am On Aug 12, 2017 |
In spite that, it was his diabolical brother who kill and starve biafran children... It only means, he was not in support of the evil of his brothers... Besides, there is always Judas among families, either for good or bad 9 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Nobody: 9:55am On Aug 12, 2017 |
sarrki: Video of Yoruba not killing 3 million Biafra children as you claimed? 9 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Oladimejyy(m): 10:07am On Aug 12, 2017 |
igbos are ungrateful beings 3 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Nobody: 10:13am On Aug 12, 2017 |
10 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by DaniDani(m): 10:30am On Aug 12, 2017 |
Interesting article I must say. I got cracked up when I read "Finally, he prayed to God to abstain from his next Mathematics exam. He said he practised with several past question papers and he passed without God’s involvement. Since then, he regularly prayed to God to remove His hand from whatever he wanted to do, and most of the time, he said he recorded success". Anyway, I am an Igbo man, and sincerely, I don't like the beef between Igbos and Yorubas. The two regions are the pillars of this country. In Education, Sports, entertainment, economy etc. We ought to be in harmony and use our high IQs to cooperate and prosper. 1 Like |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by sarrki(m): 10:35am On Aug 12, 2017 |
DaniDani: Only thrives online They are getting along wella Only ipob miscreants feel otherwise 3 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by EmekaMD(m): 10:39am On Aug 12, 2017 |
Blah blah. Lemme tell me you, Igbos does not and has never hated on the Yorubas. It's the Yorubas has been hating the Igbos (the Awolowo hunger and indigenization policies come to mind). The phone conversation between Govs Shetima of Borno state and kunle of Ogun state (against the Igbos) The comment Madam Kemi (finance minister) made on her Twitter handle about the Igbos being relegated on the financial sector of Nigeria. The Oba Okiolu Lagoon comments. And many more.. I personally would love to see a sincere political collabo between the Igbos and the Yorubas because we do not see them as enemies. We see them as people whom we share common enemies with. But they keep betraying us. They keep hating us.. They have never deemed it fit to apologise for the many defenceless Igbo children Awo killed with his hunger policy. They thought it didn't matter to us that Awo conspired with the North and stole from us our monies in Nigerian Banks before the war and giving us only 20 pounds no matter how many millions u had there before.. They thought we shouldn't be agrived that Awo conspired with the North to deny the Igbos of their legitimate right to partake in the Indigenization policy that made Yorubas own many Nigerian industries today.. The truth is that we have legitimate reasons to be angry with the Yorubas but we chose not to be. We forgave them even without any apologies from them. But they haven't loved us back yet.. I love the Yorubas personally but I doubt if I can trust them political an otherwise.. 4 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by sarrki(m): 10:49am On Aug 12, 2017 |
EmekaMD: You have good command of words Having said that , Don't you see that the bolded is another hate speech ? |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by EmekaMD(m): 10:54am On Aug 12, 2017 |
sarrki:no bro.. it's not.. I've never and can never hate the Yorubas. I love them sincerely.. my best friends are Yorubas. The lady I crushed on but they dated is a Yoruba.. However the truth must be told. History is told so that we can learn from them .. Not all histories are palatable especially wen it doesn't favor u 2 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by madridguy(m): 11:04am On Aug 12, 2017 |
Present sir  We knew they benefited more than any other region in one Nigeria. sarrki: 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by AbelDjassi: 11:05am On Aug 12, 2017 |
[s] woodcook:[/s] Keep your despicable opinions to yourself and the echo chamber created for nincompoops of the same temperament.  Image Source: Offodile, C. (2016). The Politics of Biafra: And the Future of Nigeria. S.l.: Lulu Publishing Services. 4 Likes 1 Share
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| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Nobody: 11:08am On Aug 12, 2017 |
AbelDjassi: Afonja and propaganda. You child of a skull miner video testimonies or it never happened. I can't fall for your propaganda and lies. You children of afonja has been caught in the past impersonating others while "re-writing" histories no be today una start propaganda. You can shove that source up your afonja dirty behind. 4 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by AbelDjassi: 11:40am On Aug 12, 2017 |
[s] woodcook:[/s] The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is ~ Winston Churchill ‘During the Biafran war, several Igbo students were picked up by Tai at the war front, fed, clothed and sponsored through primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Among them are two renowned medical specialists, one of them in a university teaching hospital in the U.S.A. Tai described one of them as “an egghead but a church rat" in his recommendation letter. How many times did Tai and Mama Sheila rescue accident victims on Ijebu-Ode – Ikorodu road, only Bros Ade can tell! How many hospital bills they settled? Neither Corin nor Tunde can tell. In the days of national crises, they did not maintain neutrality – they said their mind. They shared one heart and one love. They lived, served and died for humanity.Source: http://taisolarin..com/2013/10/the-good-that-sheila-solarin-did-lives_21.html The monarch was reacting to a message by a pentecostal church pastor and a member of IPOB that the group’s leader Nnamdi Kanu, planned to visit the late Nzeogwu’s town to further propagate the Biafra agenda.Image source: http://dailyglobewatch.eu, http://www.peoplesdailyng.com/delta-monarch-warns-ipob-against-infiltrating-domain/ 7 Likes 2 Shares
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| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by sarrki(m): 12:01pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by prodigy24: 12:24pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
Continue your tales by moonlight. 1 Like |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Michael004: 12:32pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
woodcook:Okponu, can you provide the video of where Yoruba betrayed your ancestors? 4 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Basic123: 1:42pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
woodcook: No be yoruba claim am.Na you yourselves claimed 3000 000 were killed among you to beg for pity. 3 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by UGLEEBOI: 1:49pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
2 Likes |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by gberra: 1:54pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
woodcook:You child of a flesh eater. You're such a dumb kid never to have heard of the exploits of Tai Solarin. Rather than a sense of history, seeds of hate & bitterness was sown in y'all. Spit on Osu skull. 4 Likes
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| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by oladeebo: 1:56pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
hun-un! Yo-ru-ba Great! Dr. Tai Solarin. 1 Like
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| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Michael004: 2:16pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
[s] EmekaMD:[/s]Stop lying, nobody fall to that trap again. All these victim cry can't help you. You hates yorubas and they hate you back. It is called to for tat. 1 Like |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by Customer80: 2:49pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
can you lot mention the names of tai solarin's benefactors |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by stonemasonn: 2:53pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
EmekaMD:Gowon the supreme commander (still alive) is left to scale free but of course Awolowo gets the whole blame for ensuring victory. Anyways next time plan better before going into war (Biafra) because there are many Awolowos to burst your war bubbles. 1 Like |
| Re: How Solarin Picked Igbo Kids From Warfront And Trained Them —omole by PFRB: 3:16pm On Aug 12, 2017 |
During the Biafran war, several Igbo students were picked up by Tai at the war front, fed, clothed and sponsored through primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Among them are two renowned medical specialists, one of them in a university teaching hospital in the U.S.A. Tai described one of them as “an egghead but a church rat" in his recommendation letter. How many times did Tai and Mama Sheila rescue accident victims on Ijebu-Ode – Ikorodu road, only Bros Ade can tell! How many hospital bills they settled? Neither Corin nor Tunde can tell. In the days of national crises, they did not maintain neutrality – they said their mind. They shared one heart and one love. They lived, served and died for humanity. WHICH WAR FRONT? ? ? ? |
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