TRIBUTE TO OLUSEGUN SANWOOLU
from
Chief Ajibola Ogunshola
Baaroyin Ibadan
(GCI Classmate).
Among the peculiarities, some would say oddities, of Government College, Ibadan in our time were that the school year began not in January but September, and we the students were instructed to address each other strictly by our surnames.
Even among classmates and after leaving school, the culture tended to persist unless there was a special reason to use the first or middle name.
The class to which Sanwoolu and I belong entered GCI on September 7, 1956. All students were boarders and since he and I were placed in the same Field House, we got to know each other within a day or two.
His surname was then Mayanmoju, which he pronounced with a heavy but mellifluous Ijebu accent, but it did not take long before he dropped the name.
In comportment, he was obviously more mature than most of us, obeying all the house and school rules to the letter and giving due reverence to the senior boys, which some of us were not always inclined to do. Nor did he give any problems to the boys in the junior classes, as some of us sometimes did. And because he also ran well, very well, he was respected by everyone, including our seniors. We later came to know that he was somewhat older than most of his classmates but the age difference was not reflected in his personal relationship with us.
Latin was one of his favourite subjects in the School Certificate years, which often brought him and I together. We also sometimes discussed mathematics problems.
In Higher School, our direct interactions reduced somewhat as he chose the natural sciences (Botany, Zoology, and Chemistry), while I preferred the mathematical sciences. Yet, he and I remained quite friendly. He fondly called me “Ajibsy”.
Sanwoolu smiled and laughed often, yet he was a really serious and studious student. On entering a room, his well proportioned, muscular presence announced him. He was quite affable but not gregarious.
He loved to sing aloud, full throat, and was at his merriest when he sang.
In our H.S.C years, Sanwoolu was the first leg in the school 's 4x110 yards relay team and he got nicknamed "of UAC", after the trading company, United Africa Company (UAC), which had the fastest relay team in Nigeria at that time.
In our final year, 1963, he was made the school's Captain of Athletics and a school prefect.
We attended different universities, he Ife and I Ibadan - and by the time he graduated, I had travelled abroad. After his pharmacy degree, he spent practically all his working years in Ibadan while I spent mine in Lagos.
Therefore, we did not see very much of each other except at school or class reunions or if I visited him at Feike Chemists at Mokola while in Ibadan.
I had the pleasure of entering his sprawling Bodija, Ibadan residence on three occasions. The first was when the building was still relatively new and the second when we held our class meeting there.
The third and most memorable was in January, 2017. A small group of our classmates who had come down to Ibadan for the funeral ceremony of one of us, Bode Sowunmi, had also decided to visit him. Banwo Smith, a past president of GCI Old Boys' Association, who is resident in Ibadan and was in regular touch with him, came along with us.
Sitting there, in his upper living room, was Sanwoolu, almost immobile without assistance, and able to recognise and call out the name of only one of his colleagues from Lagos, after almost one minute of our presence! His dear wife, Kike, was with him.
Just coming as we were from the funeral obsequies of another mate, one could be forgiven for falling temporarily into deep cogitation on the vagaries of human existence. The evening of life can descend upon us in unexpected ways. Here was Sanwoolu, the good man with a good heart, the ebullient, boyhood sprinter, of agile limbs and nimble feet, humbled by creeping immobility and memory challenge.
My last time of seeing him was at the wedding of his son not long after, in Lagos. Inside his chair in the church, he assayed a twich of the eyes, a twitch of attempted recognition, of acknowledgement.
He did not, however, attend the wedding reception which took place in hall nearby but sat in a car near the entrance to the hall. Victor Abiodun, another of our classmates, was also at the reception. As I was leaving, I moved close and waved to him, knowing that we might never see each other again.
Born on 15th September, 1939, Olusegun Oluwole Sanwoolu has now moved on at the age of 81.
When he attained the age of 70, he hosted a celebration party. Eight of his GCI classmates, including myself, attended that celebration in Ibadan. Since then, four among us have moved on before him : Sokunbi, Ogunsola (Segun), Akinbiyi and Sowunmi and none of them lived to the age of 80. For the four of us remaining – Abiodun, Awoseyi, Olomolehin and Ogunshola – we are hoping or praying that each one will attain the age of 80 and beyond.
I commiserate with Mrs. Kikelomo Sanwoolu on the loss of her beloved husband. My condolences to their children and grandchildren on the loss of their beloved and revered patriarch.
May the laudable path he trod continue to guide and guard them.
March, 2021.