Opinion - Olasore: One of Offa Grams' giants

Date: 2012-08-03

The passage, on June 1, 2012, of a foremost banker and traditional ruler of Iloko Ijesa, Osun State, Oba Oladele Olasore, is no doubt a huge blow to Nigeria, even if this great loss was clouded by the Dana tragedy that occurred two days after. To us old students of Offa Grammar School, Offa, Kwara State, it is a bigger blow.

Offa Grammar School may not be in the class of the Kings Colleges, Barewa College, Queens Colleges and Methodist Boys High Schools of this world, but clearly the school has made quality contribution to the roll call of men and women that shaped and are still shaping Nigeria.

From the military are General Alani Akinrinade, the man that played a central role in bringing order to Nigeria and averting the greater disaster that would have followed B.S Dimka’s coup of 1976, to General David Jemibewon, Group Captain S.A Latinwo, Air Commodore Bayo Lawal and Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye - the last two, like Akinrinade, also former service chiefs.  From the judiciary, Offa Grammar School has given Nigeria the embattled Justice Isa Ayo Salami, the late Justice M.B Belgore, the current Emir of Ilorin, Justice Ibrahim Gambari, all former Appeal Court  Judges.

From the academia, the first African professor of Geology, Professor M.O Jamiu Oyawoye tops OGS’ list of distinguished alumni, a list that has no fewer than five vice chancellors, including Professors A.B.O.O Oyediran and S.A Adeyemi, former VCs of the University of Ibadan and Federal University of Technology, Minna, respectively.  The list is endless.
But if OGS old students were picked at random and asked to pick the greatest product of the school, I am willing to guess that Oba Oladele Olasore will feature top of the chart. That is how much we respect this banker, who was not only very active in old students’ activities but also a former president of the national body.

When the Pa James Osanyin-led Offa Grammar School admitted the 16-year-old boy into the school in 1951, little did it know a future shiny star had just been enrolled into the community secondary school.

Like a prince that he was, Olasore was not the most gentle pupil in the school, as Chief Emmanuel Adesoye of the Okin Biscuit and Adesoye College fame, and a one-year junior to Olasore in OGS, narrated how the prince used to send them to buy wine outside the school in the mid-1950s.

Interestingly, today, both men are founders of two of the most successful private secondary schools in Nigeria, Adesoye College, Offa and Olasore International School, Iloko Ijesa.

Olasore completed his secondary education in 1956. He proceeded to Ghana and thereafter England for further schooling. He returned to Nigeria to pick up a job as an Accountant in British Petroleum Nigeria Limited before venturing into banking as a director in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Suraj Oyewale, 
Edinburgh Business School, Former President, 
Offa Grammar School Old Students Association (2000 set)

Source

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Olatunde Jare     Gwanara     Alagbado     Arinola Fatimoh Lawal     Kwara State Sports Commission     State Bureau Of Internal Revenue     Mufutau Olatinwo     Yahaya Dumoye     Bio Ibrahim     Abiodun Jacob Ajiboye     Adesina Simon Sodiya     Abdulrauf Aliyu     CUTI     Baba Idris     Omotoso Musa     Kaosarah Adeyi     Olajumoke Monsura Gafar     Abdullah Janet Amudat     Rotimi Oyedepo     Kwasu     Ayo Adeyemi     V.O. Abioye     Oro Grammar School     Wahab Issa     Abubakar Baba     Savannah Centre For Diplomacy, Democracy And Development     Mope Dasuki Belgore     Damilola Yusuf     Kwara Basketball Association     Ilorin West/Asa Federal Constituency     Cornelius Adebayo     Abdulahi Abubakar Bata     Oluronke Adeyemi     Khadijat Ayoola Yusuf     Sadiq Umar     Abdulsalam Firdaous Amosa     Kayode Oyin Zubair     Isiaka Saka Opobiyi     Owo Isowo     Oko     Oke Sunna     Ilesha-Gwanara     Shonga     Yusuf Amuda Aluko     Saliu Shola Taofeek     Trade Lenda SME Fair     Dan-Kazeem     Oyedun Juliana Funke     Alumni Association Of The Federal Polytechnic Offa     Agbarigidoma     Muhammadu Buhari     Kamaldeen Gambari     Kwara State Internal Revenue Service     Aishat Sulu-Gambari     Kawu Baraje     Lai Mohammed     Ahmed Saidu Rufai     Chief Imam Of Offa     IHS     Tricycle Owners Association Of Nigeria     Iponrin     Sunday Fagbemi     Flights To Ilorin     Sa\'adu Salahu     Overland     Elerinjare-Ibobo     Seed Technologies     Umar Ahmed Gunu     Oba Abdulraheem     Samuel Olusegun Adedayo     Ilorin Talaka Parapo     KWASIEC     Magaji Nda     Lithium Deposit     Cassava Growers\' Association     Moses Salami     Wale Oladepo    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Abatemi-Usman     MATTA Girls Foundation     Yusuf Abdulraheem     Special Agro-industrial Processing Zone     Makama Of Ilorin     Amusa Bello     Femi Oladiji     Sulu Babaita Isiaka     Bond     Henry Makinwa     Balogun Ajikobi     Benin Republic     Dar-Al-Handasah Consultants     Economic And Financial Crimes Commission     Kwara State Coalition Of Business And Professional Associations     Salihu Yahaya     Afin Descendants Union Of Odo-Owa     Abdulmumini Sanni Jawondo     Taofik Abiodun Ahmed     Agbarigidoma     John Olajide Adedipe     Yusuf Lanre Badmas     Rice Farmers Association Of Nigeria     Sulyman Tejidini     Omar Bolaji Gambari     Mary Arinde     Amosa     Ibrahim Agboola Gambari     Afonja Descendants Union     Babajide Ajayi     Playing Host     Shuaibu Yaman Abdullahi     Okiki     Ilorin Central Mosque     2017 Budget     Abdulraufu Mustapha     Abubakar B.M     Adamu B. Yaqubu     Emir Of Yashikira     Ibrahim Akaje     Kamoru Kadiri     Salami Adekunle     Akanbi-Oke     Abatemi Usman     Galadiman Ngeri     Veterinary Teaching Hospital     Gobir Organization Foundation     Akanji     Kwasu     Nigerian Medical Association     Sheikh Alimi     Babata     Ita-Nmo Market     Markaz Arabic And Islamic Training Institute, Agege     Risikat Lawal     GANZY     Saadu Gbogbo Iwe     EFCC     Chief Imam Of Ilorin     Solomon Edojah     Ado Bayero     Falokun-Oja     Baba Issa     Lukman Adeloyin     Salihu Ajia     Durbar     Mohammed Kamaludeen     Femtech     Haliru Yahaya     Kola Shittu     Makama Of Kaiama     Ayinke Saka     Okin High School     Apado     Kehinde Baale     Akume     Haruna Tambiri Mohammed