The most dangerous surgery I did was on a woman with 256 fibroid lumps —Olowojebutu

Benjamin Oluwatosin Adesuwa Olowojebutu is a medical doctor and chairman of the University of Lagos Alumni Association, Lagos Chapter. He shares the story of his life with SEGUN KASALI.

You look tough and decisive; have you always been this way, and is any particular event responsible for your toughness?

Yes, I have been like that from my childhood days. I love to work hard and there is no impossibility in my dictionary. When I set a goal, I make sure it is met. While pursuing my aspiration, by the grace of God, I was reading hard rather than playing football. We had to go for extra lessons after school and my friends would be playing football but I could not just join them except on sports day.

You must have indulged in childhood pranks like every other child growing up.

I did not. There was no luxury in driving the choppers or BMX. I was just focused on reading and singing in the choir. I was a bookworm and my mother made me solve 16 math questions every day since I was seven years old.

She must be a disciplinarian then?

She was a teacher. She flogged us when we misbehaved but advised us more.

What role did your father play?

He taught me great values about loyalty, loving my neighbours consciously, and reading books about great leaders like Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela. I’m from a very noble average home where values for education, respect, love, and humility were essential and as the first child, my father mentored me so well. He would call me into his room and tell me about David, tell me stories about Joshua and how he was very loyal to Moses. He would teach me about the humility of Jesus. My mum would pray every night, calling our names and praying into our future. I remember when I was 10, my mother was already praying about our wives and her grandchildren. I miss my father though; I wish he was around to see what my life has become now. May he continue to rest in the bosom of God.

What did you learn from both of them?

I learnt joy and contentment.

Do you have nicknames?

First, I was called EFICO because I love Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology and back then, I would quote the pages of New School Chemistry by Osei Yaw Ababio; Biology, A Functional Approach by MBV Roberts; Senior Secondary School Physics by P.N Okeke; M. Nelkon & R. Parker Advanced Level Physics, and New General Mathematics. I began to teach folks in JSS2 Mathematics to jss2 students after school, pro bono; so they gave me the name EFICO.

Did you get teaching skills from your mother?

Yes, I did. But I also love to impart knowledge and so I taught my younger colleagues.

You must have been so brilliant as a teacher’s son?

Yes, I was brilliant. I remember that I got the second-best results in Lagos State for common entrance at age nine, the highest was 561 out of 600. I got 546. I was very proud of my parents. I was excited and proud of myself. My father bought me a full bowl of ice cream. That was the moment I understood what hard work means.

Did that understanding play a role in your medical career?

Absolutely. I had loads of books to read, sleepless nights, and burning candles. I remained focused and my father kept telling me not to forget the son of whom I am. So, focus is the key. Just like I tell most people, my major propeller into the medical line was that I did not like people getting sick around me because it makes me emotional and I just wanted them to get better. So, for me, it is more like a calling, than a profession.

How interesting was studying at UNILAG?

UNILAG was a very great citadel of learning for me and it taught me strength, tenacity, and leadership. In year one, I was the class governor. I coordinated the class and that helped me with people management and how to take responsibility. When I moved to Idi Araba the next year, I continued as the class governor till we became doctors. In-between my sojourn in Idi Araba, I became the President of the College of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Students Association (COMPSSA). This had all students in the Idi Araba campus; Medicine, Dentistry, Physiotherapy, Physiology, Radiography, Pharmacy, and Pharmacology. I had fantastic teachers and mentors who helped me to balance my academic and leadership role. I am grateful that I went to the university of my first choice and the nation’s pride.

Were you social as a student?

No, I wasn’t. My focus was on academics and politics.

What is your most significant experience in school?

While I was in 200 level, I had envisioned that I was going to lead the school sometime and I identified a major problem then, which was the road leading to our hostel. So, I got a photographer to always help me take pictures of the road whenever students were walking through the flood and cars were floating in the water. By the time I was in 400 levels, I had over 500 photos. It was one of my campaign manifestos to make sure the road was fixed during my one-year tenure.

Really?

Yes. One fateful day, I read an interview Punch granted the then Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, on fixing federal universities’ roads. I cut the portion in the paper and wrote a 10-page proposal to him with the 500 pictures and took a night bus to Abuja. None of my exco members believed it was possible. I tried my best and made sure I saw the minister in his very big office. As I entered, I prostrated and asked him to, please, promise to help me do whatever I asked him. I was on the floor and I begged him to say ‘I promise’ which he eventually did and then I approached him with my proposal. He was amazed that a young boy like me could think about this massively-impactful project and he said he would do it. So, I was very happy and he gave me his phone number. I was thinking it would be done the following week. Alas! no. I had to send him text messages every morning and night from February to November. Suddenly one day, he called me and said one engineer called Femi Oni would call me because I had disturbed him enough. The engineer called me and the next day tractors came into our campus in Idi Araba. I was in tears as I saw my dream come true. That was when I told myself nothing is impossible if only you believe. So, I thank God. I did courses in both Medicine and Surgery successfully.

What is the most dangerous but successful operation you have ever done?

It was a fibroid surgery for a woman that weighed 15.6kg and has 256 fibroid nodules. It took about five hours to remove it all. To God alone be all the glory

What are your indelible memories?

Wow! I am full of gratitude. It has been five and a half years since I was involved in a ghastly accident with multiple fractures of my right femur. On this fateful day at 10.30 pm, 4th November 2016, on my way home which was about five minutes away, this drunk driver hit me hard, it was a head-on collision. It was a bad day. I had just buried my dad two months before this sad day. Before his death, his final words were “a good man will have good money but not all rich men are good men. To be a good man you must give back to the community consciously.” After the accident, I was rushed to a teaching hospital in Lagos by onlookers, and my wife and I didn’t want to inform the medical personnel that I am a doctor. My wife approached them and they said there were no beds. They left me outside for four hours, with no analgesics, and no vital signs. They were writing a referral letter without even seeing my face. My wife saw that I was losing my battle with life, so she decided to type on the WhatsApp group of my classmates. In that pain, bleeding, and quagmire, God told me in a revelation, to turn my pain into passion. Then help came. The Chief Medical Director was informed and I was given a bed. Love is the greatest currency we spend; money is just a perception.

You have just been conferred with a traditional title. How do you feel?

I feel very humbled and grateful to God who gave me the assignment to turn my pains into passion and this we have done for four years. This conferment is a testament to the works of humanity and I appreciate God and also appreciate the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. As an Omoluabi of Oodua, I believe this will inspire other Yoruba youths to give back to the community consciously and make love the center of their lives.

How do you relax?

I love watching Arsenal matches. I also dance and sing.

Tell us about your foundation?

Our Foundation, BOF, has performed over 10,000 life-transforming free surgeries in 17 states in Nigeria. To God alone be all the glory.