Before I encountered one of Nigeria’s funniest and roundest fabulists, Gbenga Adeboye, aka Funwontan, I had long encountered a miniature fabulist in Nurudeen Awolaru, my classmate at St Paul’s Anglican Primary School, Idi-Oro, Lagos State.
Nuru’s brilliance didn’t shine through the pages of notebooks; it emitted through his thin-lipped mouth. Though I never set my eyes on Nuru since about 1977, his memory is forever etched in the blackboard of my mind.
How can I forget Nurudeen – kinky black hair, light skin, a flat nose which he calls pointed, and a ‘wealthy’ family?
While I dominated the classroom, Nuru was the undisputed dominator outside it. He was inconspicuous within the four walls of the classroom; outside those walls, however, Nuru was the sun.
He had an explanation for everything.
