₦airaland Forum

Oba Sunday Ajiboye , MFR The Onisan of Isan Kingdom

By Charles Adegbite

He is a perfect symbolism of the acclaimed ‘can do’ Nigerian spirit. His life is a testimony of the basic principle of life that with determination, man can achieve anything. His life story embodies the maxim that nothing is impossible for the willing heart. All these virtues, and many more, cooperated together to make the life of Oba Sunday Ajiboye, a lawyer-turned-first class king, the Onisan of Isan Kingdom in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, sparkle like diamond. An award winning author, the royal father stood tall recently as President Goodluck Jonathan bestowed him with the national award of Member of the Federal Republic, MFR.

A classical zero-to-hero story, Oba Ajiboye, as a child, had a long-running battle with poverty and a terrible sickness that stunted his growth and almost deformed him, threatening his future. Although many were the childhood afflictions of the royal father, he overcame them all. After becoming Oba, he had to endure school life to bag his Master’s degrees and later qualify as a lawyer. He never allowed royalty to jeopardize his childhood desire of becoming a lawyer. Now, he wants to surpass his own expectation, and raise the bar for himself. “I want to have a PhD in Law,” he tells ICON when asked his yet-to-be fulfilled ambition.

Born close to 60 years ago, the monarch, as a young boy, had to stop his education after his elementary school which he started in Ikere-Ekiti, rounding it up at his homestead, Isan-Ekiti, also the home town of the state’s governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

Since his poor parents could not afford the meager fees required for his secondary education, he dropped out and reverted to the farm for a period of time. When the fortunes of the family picked up a little, he returned to school, Ajayi Memorial Modern School, Ayede-Ekiti, near his town. He worked for a brief period before proceeding to Ekiti Divisional Teachers Training College, Ikere, “which was free, being under the Universal Primary Education Programme (of the ruling Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, in the old Western Region).” And because trainee-teachers were also being paid N80 monthly at the time, he was able to save enough money to enroll for his General Certificate of Education, GCE.

After scaling that hurdle, he taught for three years in a secondary school before proceeding to the College of Education, Ilorin, Kwara State, for his National Certificate of Education, NCE, in English and Fine Art. “I taught for a while after this before I proceeded to the University of Ilorin to study English Language/ Educational Technology,” Oba Ajiboye says. “I was already on the throne when I went to the then Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife for my Master’s Degree in Education Administration and Planning.

“I put my crown in the palace, with all the paraphernalia of office, to pursue my Master’s Degree programme at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. After my Master’s Degree, I started pursuing my PhD but having been faced with local politics in the university among the lecturers, I had to leave. Despite my chain of degrees, I had no job satisfaction because it appears I had not reached my destination.”

In 1999, he enrolled for Law at the University of Ado-Ekiti, now Ekiti State University. That initial attempt ran into a brick wall. But after concluding all registration procedure, he was told pointblank that he could not continue.

“I was screened out as having not qualified to read law,” he says. “Professor Akin Oyebode just said ‘Kabiyesi, I’ve seen and admire all your series of degrees. But, I’m sorry, this faculty cannot admit you to read law because you are deficient in mathematics. You didn’t pass mathematics and mathematics is a prerequisite for any intending student who wants to read law in this faculty.’ That was how he quietly returned my credentials to me and said ‘bye-bye, good luck.’

“In all, we were 12 that were turned back. The remaining 11 decided to go to court but I refused to go to court even though I felt cheated because mathematics was not advertised as a pre-requisite when the form was being sold. Even mathematics was not specified as a prerequisite in the JAMB Brochure. I decided not to go to court because since he is the Vice-Chancellor of the University, and the founding father of the Faculty of Law, he knows best.

“In 2000, with all degrees, I went back to write my mathematics O/level. One funny thing about the whole episode is that, eight of those teachers who supervised me when I was writing that O/Level exam were my students at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ikere Campus. I can’t forget that. They were taken aback when they saw me. Some wondered why, with my personality, I was sitting with them to write O/level mathematics while some others were saying that ‘could this mean that this Kabiyesi (his majesty) was not qualified to teach us, or what?

“In fact, one Mrs. Olayisade from WAEC, whose husband was also working in WAEC office in Akure, said ‘Baba why don’t you leave the rest of the exam for your children?’ But immediately she recognized who I was, she knelt down, right there in the exam hall. Every candidate writing the exam started looking at her. So, after finishing that examination, all the teachers converged to greet me, to extol my determination. To God be the glory, when the result came out, I passed brilliantly.

“So, I my mathematics and other papers back to Professor Akin Oyebode to show that I had passed the deficient paper. He shook my hand and said, ‘this is the type of person I am looking for in this University.’ So, I was offered admission to study Law. I read Law and passed with second Class Lower. I went to Law School and eventually I was called to bar. Still, I wasn’t satisfied with LLB, BL, so, I pursued LLM. Again, to God be the glory, I have finished my LLM (laughs).”

Moral? Never say ‘never’! And when there is a will, there is a way.

“Once you are determined in life,” the royal father enthuses, “there is nothing you will not be able to achieve. When there is a strong will to achieve, the sky will not be the limit, it will be your stating point. I believe in honest hard work. I teach my children the virtues of honesty and hard work. I used to tell them that if, for instance, I want to read medicine now, I can go back to JSS 3 and pick-up all the sciences and still go back to read medicine. There is no age limit.  This is what I keep telling them. Education is what you acquire from the day you came into this world till the day you say bye-bye to this world. It is a continuous exercise. I am still planning to go for PhD in Law. Now, I am a student of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, undertaking a M.Sc. programme in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution”

Oba Ajiboye is not done. He shares more life experiences with this correspondent.

in summary?

INTROVERT:
in summary?

if you are determined and you work toward your goals without minding the obstructions; you will always achieve your goals. Or which summary do u want again?

So fascinating