Opinion - Olasore: One of Offa Grams' giants
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)
Cloud Tag: What's trending
Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.
IPSAS Afonja Descendants Union Salaudeen Oyewale Femi Ogunsola Abubakar Olusola Saraki Wahab Issa Obuh Arandun Bolakale Kawu Barakat Community Secondary School Lawan Maigida Galadiman Ngeri Ridwan Agboola Ita-Ore Isiaka Rafiu Mope UNILORIN Alumni Gani Saadu Siraj Oyewale Danhawa Teachers Specific Allowance Abdulrauf Yusuf Alabere Metro Park Maja Shehu Raheem Adaramaja Rueben Parejo Labour Party Bluenile Associates Bilikis Oladimeji Ilofa Olota Of Odo-Owa Micheal Imodu-Ganmo Road Khairat Gwadabe Oniwa Ibrahim Sulu Gambari Moshood Kashimawo Abiola Javed Khan Saliu Oluwole John Obuh Abubakar Baba Sulaiman CACOVID Trade Lenda SME Fair Kumbi Titiloye Ilorin.Info Ayoade Akinnibosun Mohammed Ibrahim Issa Oloruntogun Stephen Fasakin Razaq Atunwa Yusuf Badmus Kwara 2023 HAMFAT Clinic And Maternity Baba Adini Of Kwara State Young Progressives Party Taofik Abdulkareem Babaita Joseph Bamigboye JMK Construction Company Limited AbdulRauf Keji Turaki Of Ilorin Offa Poly Osi Awodun Rotimi Oyedepo Oko April 11 Mohammed Saidu Olatunji Ibrahim CELF Twitter Funmilayo Oniwa Afolasade Opeyemi Kemi CUTI Al-Adaby Toyin Saraki Nnazua KWIRS

