Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo, a former governor of old Oyo State and a school mate of the first Professor of Medicine in Nigeria, Professor Ladipo Akinkugbe, who died recently, in this interview by SAM NWAOKO, reminisced about his friendship with the late giant in the field of Medicine among other issues. Excerpts:
What was your first encounter with Professor Akinkugbe; where was your first point of contact?
Our first point of contact was Government College, Ibadan (GCI). He was in a class two years ahead of mine. Our class was the first ‘double stream’, in 1948. Before that, Government College normally took only 24 students. There was a myth around Ladipo Olujimi Akinkugbe and the myth persisted till today: We call him “Number 25”. GCI normally took 24 students but in the year he took the entrance exams, somebody had been offered admission but the person declined on the grounds that he didn’t have enough money to pay the school fees. Apparently on the list, Ladipo Akinkugbe was the Number 25 so they struck that fellow off after giving him some time and brought in the No. 25, who was Ladipo Akinkugbe. Then the drama began. When we entered the school, we were told that in the first exam they did, and all the exams they had, the No. 25 was not in the 25th position, was not in the 24th position as they were only 24 but the so-called ‘No. 25’ came second. So, that showed that something was wrong with the system of the entrance exam. Throughout his school days in GCI, he was regarded as a kind of threat and an amusing one because he seemed to have stuck to his second position. There were two other very brilliant chaps: S. B. Oni, a first class medical practitioner and Professor Muyiwa Awe, Cambridge Physics. If Oni was not first, Awe would be the first. As a matter of fact, Oni would more often than not come first and Awe would come third, but No. 25 was always second.
Considering this phenomenon and the fact that this man who was always coming second ended up becoming the first professor of Medicine in Nigeria, what attributes would you say stood Professor Akinkugbe out in a class filled by geniuses?
Yes, his class contained a lot of brilliant boys, 24 of them. They were very studious. In fact, we who were two years behind them sort of hated them because they were too studious and they never played any sports successfully. The school was founded on excellence in sports and academics, but they never could kick a ball. Nobody in that class could. We regarded the members of their class as ‘people with two left legs’. They didn’t seem to have won a match in their class, they won no match. The class before theirs, Nathaniel Oyelola, Emiola Adesina, Lesley Harriman, Odunjo were all fantastic gentlemen… I don’t know how they selected them but they were fantastic. But Akinkugbe’s class contained highly brilliant people. Christopher Kolade was one of them; Wole Soyinka was another and then you had Abel Guobadia who was one of those who have handled INEC very successfully in this country; Ajoje Akintobi was one of them, he was formerly Chief Accountant of UCH and so on. More than two-thirds of them were definitely first class material. They were very exceptional but they never played any sports.
When was the last time you met Professor Akinkugbe?
I met him very frequently. The last time was at the launch of Professor Ayo Banjo’s book, last year. He was aghast at the quality of some of those who had taken over in the various offices he had held. He was really flabbergasted at the quality of those who had followed him not just in medicine but in the vice chancellorships and JAMB and so on. We made jokes and I was mocking him, I said if the kind of English he heard people speak was the same kind of English he spoke with Lord Fulton and we laughed over it. He was amazed at the fallen standard. He had the presence of mind to organise meaningful ceremonies. One of them was a class set event which had Christopher Kolade and some others in attendance. Lekan Are and I who were his juniors were also there and he marked out the status of each of his classmates: Those who were dead; those who are living; those who cannot be located or traced. There were about four categories. We were all saying ‘who is the next?’ It was a very expensive joke which we cracked at one Old Boys meeting where Guobadia was and Lekan Are. At the meeting, Guobadia said something like ‘definitely not myself, but he was the next one that the cold hands of death plucked.
Looking back sir, you will agree that many of your seniors and contemporaries and even juniors are exiting one by one. We’ve had Richard Akinjide, Lekan Are, Bayo Adetunji and now Professor Akinkugbe. Are you worried or scared?
I’m both worried and scared that the time is diminishing but I am also amused because the moment of silence is a very insignificant moment. At one stage we will cease to exist in the form in which we exist now. So anything one has to do like writing one should rather do it quickly and I am grateful to my junior, Dr Mosuro who is always asking me, like a senior, ‘up to what page?’ and I will say 17. But if one sometimes dreams that one is given just 10 more days, one would write down many interesting things. My own story is very much more interesting than that of many people because I split my energies between politics and academics. Even in academics, I split myself between engineering mathematics and three different parts of mathematics. So, I have quite a lot to say. I was in charge of Chieftaincy, I was in charge of Education, in charge of Local Governments and sometimes, I was in charge of the census.
Are there things you would have loved to do differently when you review your life and its trajectory?
O yes! There were some foolish things that one did and one would have preferred to do them in a completely different way. But I won’t say what they are. They are private and when I say private, you know what I mean. There were some colossal mistakes that one made. Well, one was not the only decision maker and so, one cannot say one has been perfect in making one’s choices. But for the academic, I enjoyed myself till today. In literature, in mathematics, I still do a lot of reading and writing and lecturing and this keeps me awake day and night. So, I’m very proud of some of the achievements that we made in Government College. Apart from those of us who are here, there were some boys who were junior to us who we saw as more brilliant. D. O. Fagunwa had a son who was very brilliant and so did the Alaafin; Alaafin’s son was known as Dosu Gbadegesin. They were in the same class. These boys were really brilliant and they kept us on our toes. There were people who could draw; people like Alasoadura. Some of us could not draw but the boys from Bendel as it was called were very good in the artworks. They were very brilliant artists and made really impressive drawings.
Professor Akinkugbe must have really made impressions on you and on many people in and out of Nigeria.
He was also a very great supporter of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I recall that he was always there when events were held in Ikenne. He was a pro-Awolowo person. When we were in the University College and when we went to England, one other thing that brought Professor Akinkugbe and I together was music. This was even when we were about 500 miles apart. We explored the music of Fela Sowande, the Independence Symphony, African Suite and so on. We went into the structures of those pieces of music very deeply.
What would you say to the widow of Professor Akinkugbe?
Oh, poor Shade, she is a very quiet person. She was in St. Anne’s. There was this kind of attraction Government College boys had for St Anne’s girls rather than Queen’s College girls or St. Teresa’s. There was this kind of magnetism between Government College boys and St. Anne’s girls and between their principals. The principals consummated everything by Mr. Dereck John Bullock and Miss Christine Groves getting married in 1973. Akinkugbe’s wife is a very good woman. I commiserate with her very much and her friends. She is a very decent, quiet woman.
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