A centenarian, Salaudeen Oyewale in this interview with SUCCESS NWOGU, relives his life experiences

When were you born?

I was born in 1914. I am a little above 100 years. But I am feeling even better and fulfilled. Living up to this year is not by my effort or that I take special diets or engage in special adventures, it is by the grace of God. However, when I was young, I believed that God would give me long life and I am not surprised that I have lived so long because I trust in God. It is not only that I have lived a long life, I have also lived a healthy life. You noticed when you came in that I can do certain things by myself. I can take my bath, go to the toilet and walk about this room and compound without being assisted by anybody. That is God’s special favour and grace for which I am really thankful to God for.

Is there longevity in your family?

I can’t really say. My elder brothers have died. I only have my younger brothers. My elder brothers died a long time and they did not live up to my age. Some died at 70 years while some at 80 years. It is sad. I wish that they had lived as long as I have.

Where were you born?

I was born at Iware near Ogbomoso, Oyo State. From Ogbomosho, my parents brought me home at Ofa in Kwara State. I am a native of Ofa. My father was Oyegbemi Oyewale and my mother was Itunu.

Which school did you attend?

I attended a school in Ibadan. I was advanced in age before I started schooling. I was about 18 years old. I sent myself to school; nobody sent me to school. I reached Standard Five. The name of the school is Ajalaramu Primary School. I initially went to Ibadan on my own prompting to work, but I combined working with schooling.   I am happy that my father and mother had money and I did not suffer. I left Ibadan when I was 23 years old.

Since they had money why didn’t they send you to school?

They did not know the value of education.

How was schooling then?

It was interesting. My landlord at Ibadan where I had gone to work was a headmaster.   He was Mr. C.A. Olatunde. I admired how he behaved and spoke the English language. He was respected in that community as an educated person. So I felt that I would be respected and treated as a literate person like him if I got educated. Hence, I enrolled in his school. He was so pleased to see me come to his school to enrol and he encouraged me. When I returned from work, I joined them in school at about 3pm. So it was evening classes that I attended but I did well in the examinations.

Do you remember any day that one of your teachers flogged you?

Never! They never flogged me. I was a disciplined student and I respected myself. Since I attended school at an advanced stage, I did not behave like a child. Also, I avoided doing things that would make them treat me a child. But I remember one day something happened. I did not know Mathematics very well. There were days that because we were to do Mathematics in school, but I did not attend school as I feared being in Mathematics class. I did not know that my headmaster had noticed that I did not come to school that day. When he was passing through our classroom the following day, he saw me and called me, “Oyewale, I did not see you in school yesterday and the day before yesterday. Why did you not come to school?” I did not know what to tell him.

What were you wearing when you were in school?

There was no uniform then. I could wear any clothe. I was wearing flip-flop and not sandals. Not many people were privileged to wear sandals those days as not many parents could afford that for their children and for me.

When you graduated from school what did you do?

After I finished from that school and at the beginning of the Second World War, on December 17, 1939, I left Ibadan for Ofa. When I got to Ofa, I did not want to go to farm again. I began to trade in bicycles parts. My brother was a bicycle repairer. I bought some bicycle parts and carried them to Oke-Ode at Offa for sale. I rode on a bicycle to Oke-Ode. I spent seven days there and sold goods worth 1 and 9 shillings. But I was a smoker then. A stick of cigarette was half a penny and I smoked cigarettes worth two shillings. Hence, I made a loss of three pennies. I then decided to return to Ofa. And that was what I did; I returned to Ofa.

How did you source for the capital you used to fund the business?

Don’t forget that I worked while in Ibadan. I got the capital from the money I made when I was in Ibadan. On returning to Ofa, I went to our farm at Niger area and met my people who were there. I went to the place to do feasibility studies on cloth selling. An aunt of mine in that line of business invited me and encouraged me to come into it. That was how I started cloth selling business. I bought cloths worth seven pounds, six pence. A piece of seven yards of cloth then was three and six shillings. I bought 10 pieces of cloth and started hawking on bicycle. I went to many places on bicycle selling clothes. I also went to many places to buy clothes. I went to Ibadan, Lagos and even Offa. I made some money from the business. I spent about five and half years in the cloth business. I later left the business and returned to Offa to open a provisions store.

How did you get married?

During our time, parents could marry wives for their male children. My mother married one wife for me and my father married another one for me but the women never came to my house. They stayed in their parents’ houses.

When did they come to your house?

They never came into my house. Then, you might not know your future wife. The parents would arrange everything. Some girls were even betrothed at a tender age. When I finally saw those women my parents arranged for me, they did not please me and I did not love them. Hence, I did not accept them as my wives. But in 1946, I met a woman I loved and I married her.

What happened to the women married for you by your parents?

We had nothing together. They did not come to my house. They were in their parents’ houses. I also married another woman later. Since I married those two women of my choice, we have been living together peacefully and they gave me many children. I also have many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

How did you settle quarrels between your wives?

They did not quarrel many times. They lived harmoniously.

Would you advise young people to marry more than one wife today?

Some of my children have one wife while some have two wives. People are now educated. I cannot impose my choice or decision on them. It is left to young people to decide the number of wives to marry. But if I may advise them, they should marry only one wife.

What is your favourite food?

I love pounded yam and amala.

What was social life like when you were young?

We had parties. We danced yearly during the Eid el Kabir (Ileya festival). We would dance round the town. When I went to parties, I did not like to mingle with girls. I tried to stay away from them.

There are religious strifes and uprisings nowadays. What is your take on this?

This is not proper and encouraging. We all worship God. Christians and Muslims should live peacefully. Why should people be killing one another in the name of religion? There is no religion that encourages violence and killings. All religions preach peace, mutual and harmonious co-existence. We should be one another’s keepers. We should love and help ourselves instead of killing and fighting one another.   We will gain a lot by living peacefully and united.

What is your greatest achievement in life?

I thank God. He blessed me with children and they are doing very well. God has blessed me with many grand and great grandchildren. I have also built a house.

What is your advice to the youth today?

They should live together peacefully. They should love themselves. They should be honest and be good to one another.

What qualities do you like and dislike?

I love hardworking and honest people. I love people who are good to other people. I love people who send their children to school. I love those who have good families, live well with their neighbours and help their relatives to become good and great people. I do not like people who engage in criminal and evil acts.

When was your happiest day?

I have had many happy days so that it may not be easy for me to point out a day as my happiest. But the days I married the wives of my choice were very unique in my life. We live together and happily.

When was your saddest day?

It was the period I was sick because of guinea worm. During that time, there was no General Hospital in Ofa. The illness was so serious that I thought that I would die. I nearly gave up because it was very tormenting. They carried me to the hospital at Ilorin. They treated me.   When I recovered and I was not deformed in any way, I was very happy.

Are you happy with the way Nigerian is now?

I am not happy with the state of the nation now. There is not much development and business people find it difficult to transact their business. Also there are many young people who want to be engaged in but there is no job for them so they roam the streets and some of them engage in unwholesome practices. The way politics is being played now was not the way it was when politics began in Nigeria.

Were you ever involved in politics?

I was very involved in politics for 30 years.

Which party did you belong?

I was a member of the Action Group which belonged to Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I brought politics to Kwara, even to Ilorin. I brought politics to Kwara in 1948. I brought Action Group to Kwara. Then, if the colonial government knew someone was involved in politics, they would be arrested. There was no governor then, it was only commissioners. One commission was at Ibadan for Yoruba people, another one at Enugu for Igbos and the other at Kaduna for Hausa. There was one Governor-General, Sir. James Robertson.

What is your advice to leaders of today?

Leaders must listen to the people. They should make it possible for young educated Nigerians to get jobs. When they make electoral promises, they have to fulfil them. They should know what to do and vote for people that will fulfil their electioneering promises. We now have professional politicians; which should not be. Most of them now pocket all the money they should have spent on the people. They even take the money to foreign land and stash them away in the banks there for their selfish use. That is why we do not have much development. Nigeria is blessed with great resources, human and material. If they are well used, Nigerians will be living in luxury. But instead of making policies that will benefit Nigerians especially the masses, the leaders engage in acts and policies that would only benefit them and their children and some of their friends. Our leaders should love the people and make policies that would develop this nation. We say we are giants of Africa, it should truly reflect in our lives. We should have more development than we have today. There should be better roads, water and electricity as well as other infrastructure. There should be security of lives and property. May God help our leaders to lead the nation aright.