Chief Simeon Sayomi - My Personal Encounters With a Great Educator

In the early 1970s, I was privileged to have Mr. Simeon Sayomi (he later became a chief and Deputy Governor of Kwara State) as my principal at OBHS. By the time I got into the school, Mr. Sayomi was departing on a leave of absence in order to take up an appointment first, as the Commissioner for Health and later as the Commissioner for Education in Kwara State.

By the time he came back to the school, I was in Form 3 and going through some issues in my troubled teenage years. In retrospect, I wonder what my ultimate fate as a troubled kid would have been if the school principal had not been as highly experienced an educator and administrator as he turned out to be? I would probably have been suspended several times or expelled from the school.

My very first encounter with the man was during the first term in my Form 4 when he called me to his office. Those days, when the principal invited a student to his office, it was either for an extremely bad or good situation. I knew I had not done anything great to warrant the ominous invitation. And neither did I know what offense I must have committed. As I walked into the large office, I greeted the man and he nodded his head with the usual sternly frown on his face. Then, to my surprise, he extended his hand to shake mine.

"Young man..." he said. "The teachers think you deserve an award as the number one truant in the school."

I stared at him cautiously, not knowing what he was driving at.

He went on to inform me that Omoniyi Onikola got the second place while another student (whose name I have now forgotten) got the third place. Angrily, he wondered how a brilliant student like me could be such a disgraceful truant. He then asked for my reason for running away from school as soon as it was noon every day. As at that time, I was a day student. So, I casually told him that I usually got bored around noon time. This explanation only got him angrier.

Quietly, he gestured with his hand for me to sit down opposite him. As I did, he started to tell me one of his life's story.

The principal told me how he did a lot of dumb stuff when he was in a teachers' college (high school level). He was so rascally that after several suspensions, he got expelled from the school. In Nigeria of their time, a teachers' college (high school level) was an institution where future elementary teachers were trained for free. As a young man, Mr. Sayomi attended the school because his parents could not afford a regular high school. That he ended up getting expelled from the school was a setback to his aspirations for a free education. It was only by the grace of God that he got admitted to a different school. He went on to obtain a bachelor's degree and a Master of Education degree from an American college. When he became a school principal, he vowed never to expel any student except where the overall interest of the school was about to be jeopardized.

As fate would have it in the case of the young Sayomi, the principal who expelled him was still in service when he became the Commissioner for Education. Having risen to become a very influential principal, the old principal was able to "network" his way to the office of the commissioner for the purpose of getting more funding for his school.

As he was ushered into the office, the old principal was surprised by the reversed protocol when the commissioner promptly stood up to greet him respectfully. Even when asked if he could remember the face, the old man shook his head. And that was when he was informed that the commissioner was the kid he expelled way back then. As the old man was trying to mumble some words of regret, a magnanimous Sayomi stopped him and said the man did what he thought was right and so, there was no need for an apology.

At the end of this "counseling session", Mr. Sayomi convinced me to stop "carrying jungle". He also advised me to return to the hostel instead of doing "mago-mago" with the boarding-house fees my parents were giving me. I promised that by the following term, I would return to the boarding house. And that was the beginning of our father-son relationship. Once in a while, the principal would call me into his office to ask about my studies and other personal things. And, of course, he would tell me another story.

It was during one such rapport that I had the privilege to wonder aloud how someone who made a vow not to expel eventually ended up expelling a student?

He then told me about the issue of Alalade ('77 set) who led a mutiny against the school authority. Prior to the official return of Mr. Sayomi to the school, some past principals (including his immediate predecessor) were implicated in the report of a panel set up by the stakeholders of the school. In fact, the Masters Degree the man claimed to have obtained from the United States was found to be fake. The same man was also said to have given promotions to some teachers who didn't deserve them. One of them was an Agric teacher who used to live very close to the First Baptist Church. It was recommended that the ex-principal refund some amount of money while the affected teachers were demoted to their previous positions. The question therefore was why any student would get himself or herself involved in the issues and on a scale that threatened the fabric of discipline which was the very foundation of the institution? The school authorities likened the action of Alalade to that of a soldier who rallied others to a mutiny, an action that would never be taken lightly by any military establishment. And as far as Mr. Sayomi was concerned, Alalade's action was more than a mere rascality on the part of a troublesome young man but a very serious threat to law and order. His action could have sent a very wrong signal not only to the rest of the students but also to the state government which might order the school closed down for loss of control. Therefore, examples had to be set against the gross indiscipline.

Subsequent major encounters with Mr. Sayomi included the day after our school faced the "mighty" Offa Grammar School in the Radio Nigeria Quiz Competition. Broadcast all over the nation, the quiz contest was like the case of "David versus Goliath" as Offa Grammar School was an old, well-established school with a strong background in academics. Tajdeen Ozimede and my humble self represented OBHS while OGS was represented by two boys who underrated us so much that they gave a snicker as the Quiz Master introduced us. Even among the members of the audience, it was expected to be a walk-over. Incidentally, for each and every question asked, Tajdeen and I stood our grounds with the right answers as we and the arrogant OGS boys matched each other equally. The whole venue was dead silent as the two schools maintained a steady stalemate. At the end though, we were defeated by half of a point. But to the audience and, indeed the entire Kwara State, OBHS was seen as the winner in view of the fact that the school was just a baby while OGS was as old as Methusella.

Beaming with smiles inside his office, Mr. Sayomi said many people had been congratulating him from all across the state over our performance at the quiz competition. I had never seen the man in such a joyous mood.

There was also the day Sunday Ojo (now Lanre Coker-Ojo) and I represented our school and came first in a History Quiz competition at the University of Ilorin. Upon our return to the school, the principal congratulated us and then suggested that we donated the prize to the school library in a bid to "immortalize" our names.

I only wished all my encounters with the principal were positive though. Incidentally, it was not. I remember one particular day when he sent for me. The man was fuming as he questioned me over my role as a mastermind of two different parties that was attended by some fellow boarding-house students outside the school's compound during a mid-term holiday. Actually, it was Kayode Ogunranti (the school goal-keeper) and Isiaka Adedeji (Oju ni Face) who held one party in Ijagbo while Falapa hosted another one in Offa. As the Social Prefect, I was brought into the picture just because of the "girls" the organizers wanted me to organize for them. Unfortunately, a couple of students who attended the parties turned around to go "confess" to the principal. Those guys even wrote down the names of all the boarding-house students involved.

The teachers had recommended that all the culprits be suspended while those of us who were school prefects should be "fired" from our positions. But the principal vetoed the teachers' decisions. As punishment, we were ordered to uproot some big trees in the school compound. It took us about a week but we brought down the trees. Many of the girls suffered from warts on their palms. But we turned the period of serving the punishment into fun and even took photographs.

In terms of wisdom, I gained considerably from Mr. Sayomi. There was the issue of "appeal" introduced during our set. A junior had the right to appeal a case up to the level of the principal. There was a girl back then whose name I don't remember now. She was probably in the '80 or '81 set. The girl was dark-skinned with bow legs and very stubborn. One day, she didn't look where she was going and collided with me. Angry, I wanted to punish her but she decided to appeal. At the teacher-level (Mr. Boye) she lost the appeal and decided to take the case to the principal. I was however shocked when Mr. Sayomi smiled and told me right in her presence that I should be ashamed of myself for not being a gentleman. He told the girl to leave so that he could talk more with me. He then continued to tell me that when I saw the girl coming towards me, I should have been gentleman enough to step aside for her to pass through. He went further to say if I was wearing a hat, I was even supposed to tip my hat to the girl because that was how to treat a lady. And when I stated that it was the girl who bumped into me as she did not look where she was going, the principal said "so what? You should still have apologized to her instead of trying to be a 'macho man'. Look young man, the best way to demonstrate your strength to a woman is by being gentle and showing her respect...that's the measure of a gentleman."

I also remember two more examples of Mr. Sayomi's unexpected decisions:

One of those Scripture Union (S.U.) girls was our class teacher one Sunday morning. Incidentally, I had punished her the previous day along with some other students. So, in the Sunday School class, she started rambling on and on that "I know some prefects who will burn in hell for their terrible misuse of power..." At the end of the class, I called her aside to warn her to stop using her sermon for personal attacks. But instead of listening, she got rude and abusive. So, I decided to punish her. Instantly, she gave notice of appeal. But I didn't expect any favorable decision from the principal because he too was an S.U. However, the man's decision was completely unexpected. He ordered the girl to report to me for appropriate punishment as he declared, "You can't respect the authority in heaven unless you first learn to respect the authority on earth ..."

The other incident was in September, 1977. I was planning the first school party as the Social Prefect when Mr. Shona (the teacher in charge of social) gave me a long list of "Ten Commandments" among which was that there must be no "Blues" music and there must be no "tight" dance among male and female students...blah...blah...blah! As I stepped out of the Staff Room, Mr. Sayomi was coming out of his office and observed a frown on my face. He asked what the problem was and I told him about the meeting with Mr. Shona. As an "ogbologbo" S.U. I thought he was going to be angry with me. But to my surprise, the man simply asked,

"Do you have the stereo to use at the party?"

I said no sir. Then he said "Come take the stereo in my house tomorrow...and take all the record albums you need as well..."

As I was reeling in shock, he continued, "And as for Mr. Shona, I'll have a word with him later...?"

Up till today, I still wonder how many individuals in that position could rise above personal religious bigotry to make such salient decisions.

A day before our graduation, I had the privilege to meet Mr. Sayomi for the last time and was able to share some conversations with him. I thanked him for the great rapport I had with him and especially that he never talked down to me as a kid but always treating me as if I belonged to his age bracket. I also used the opportunity to inform him that I had learned a whole lot of things from him, more so, in regard to the management of kids. As I talked, all he did was smile and nod his head. Then he said, "You're rascally but you faced your studies...you're also very bold and inquisitive...you often remind me of myself, knowing the type of young man I was in my own time..."

And now, I look forward to the day I will once again set my eyes on this great educator who laid the very strong foundation for OBHS in terms of academic, sports and general recreation. I wish to tell him how I have been using the knowledge I tapped from him to raise my kids, to relate with colleagues, to manage subordinates and to deal with general life's issues.

This is in commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of O.B.H.S. Congratulations to all the students (past and present), the entire staff (past and present) and the Ijagbo people (for their accommodation and patience with us from 1972 to date).