“History is a record of what has happened in the past.”
That was the first sentence in the History book given to us at Igbobi College, Yaba; when, as an Area Boy from Campos, Lagos, I gate-crashed into the school. History became one of my favourite subjects since then till today. However, it was not Igbobi College which stimulated my interest in History. Mr John Sagay, our History tutor at ICY, only nurtured a seed planted at St Peter’s Primary School, Faji, Lagos, by Mr Udoh.
Udoh was the first teacher who, in primary three, told us, point blank, that, as far as he was concerned, 70 per cent was not good enough; not even 80 per cent or 90 per cent. With him, only 100 per cent could save you at least one stroke of the cane. His favourite subject was History; it became mine too. By the age of nine, I was conversant with the main outlines of the lives of Napoleon, Horatio Nelson, Abraham Lincoln, Christopher Columbus etc.
Each time he repeated “England expects every man to do his own duty”, he would ask each one of us to point to ourselves and say “Nigeria expects Bamidele (that was me) to do his own duty”. The ‘he’ would briefly launch into a list of our civic duties – which would help build Nigeria. I must have been taught by at least 200 people from primary to tertiary institutions but Mr Udoh remains my number one instructor. One day in 1953, he was passing in front of our house; while I was playing with two friends, not from St Peters, and he pulled me aside. “Bamidele, what did Horatio Nelson say?” He got the reply he wanted. Then he started “Nigeria expects…” I finished it and got three kobo.
