If there was a civil rights movement in post - independent Nigeria, then this now historical icon would be one of its founding fathers.
I was born the first of fraternal twins (1st clue to who I am!) in 1922, the son of a farmer, drummer and palm wine tapper. They called me Augustus.
I trained initially in Nigeria as a teacher then served with the Royal air force as a navigator during WWII. I later studied History and Geography at the Universities of Manchester & London, England. I taught the Yoruba language at the School of African and Oriental studies while at the University of London.
I married an English Rose, & brought her back to my village in Nigeria - if I told you which village, you'd know this right away! - where she lived and died recently, herself becoming an activist for the common man in Nigeria. Together we engaged in many public battles, with the mostly military regimes that ruled Nigeria. When I published the treatise "The beginning of the end" after the Gowon Military government delayed returning Nigeria to democratic rule, I was arrested and imprisoned. Why? because I stood by the road side, distributing this document. It was the first of many such imprisonments.
I, along with others, agitated for free & compulsory education through high school & in 1956, I started my own secular school. Another clue: I took the name of my school from the ship that the pilgrims sailed to America on, in search of freedom from the tyranny of the then British King. At the school, we raised our own pigs, made our own cocoa from locally grown beans, harvested 3 seasons of corn instead of the 2 that the local famers did and we learnt technical skills by building our own class rooms and dormitories. Out of that school, came the first female engineer in Nigeria.
Behind my back, they called me a cantankerous old man. A radical. I prefer the title "conscience of the nation". Secular in my approach to life, atheist to my core. Self reliance was my guiding principle. Truth and fairplay were at the helm of my moral compass and the song of justice? - it became my rallying cry.
"I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul".
Name me if you will...Bonus points if you name my school and my village.
F. A
This was Tai Solarin, Mayflower School, Ikenne.
ReplyDeleteBaba Odutola
Tai Solarin and Mayflower
ReplyDeleteE ku ise wa o.Your two story-accounts are well thought out without giving out too much clue.
ReplyDeleteThe first gentleman and our enviable political leader is late Pa Jerrimiah Obafemi Awolowo
from Ikene Remo Division of Ogun State.
The other gentleman and the famous school he started is Pa Tai Solarin, Mayflowert School and his village (now a famous town) is Ikenne.
Thank you pupo our energetic Web master/mistress. We all hope to see tomorrow.
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ReplyDeleteGood Sunday morning to you and the family.
ReplyDeleteI think I have clues to the "Black History Quiz."
The answer to the first quiz is: Dr. Tai Solarin .
S.L.A.P ( baba l'ogbomosho.)