“Omo Igbobi ole, Omo Igbobi amugbo, Omo Igbobi agbefiri, Omo Igbobi ofọọn (Igbobi  Boys are thieves, Igbobi Boys are hemp smokers, Igbobi Boys are light-fingered, Igbobi boys are rascals), but Igbobi boys I love you.” 

 - Opening sentence of valedictory speech of Mr. Talabi Esubiyi  who taught in Igbobi College from 1936-1975.

In the Tradition of public schools in England such as Eton and Harrow after which Igbobi College was modelled, there is usually one Master whom students would never forget. He would be a repository of the inherited English public school ethos and the Igbobi College traditions. This enduring relationship was aptly illustrated in the classic British Film ”Goodbye Mr. Chips”, which told of the love and the bonding that existed between schoolboys and their Master as he sometimes taught generations of one family. And just as it was in the case of the fact-based movie, Baba was not an Old Boy of Igbobi. I am informed on good authority that he attended Government College, Ibadan, a one-time alter-ego of our Alma Mata, ICY.

Pa Talabi Esubiyi (or Talabi Esugbayi) of blessed memory as earlier students knew him was one Master most Igbobi College old Boys will never forget. He joined the school in 1936, just four years after it was founded, and retired in 1975. Through the thirty-nine years in which he taught in which he rose from junior master to Vice Principal, his disciplinary style though strict was never harsh or cruel. I knew him to teach Basic Science but my father says he taught them Religious knowledge, English Language and one other subject which I forget now.

By the time I entered Igbobi College in 1970; second generation in my family to do so after my father and his brothers, Baba as we called him was a living legend in the school. He dressed as the old Colonial Officers did but without the Kepi. During school hours he was dressed in an immaculate white short-sleeved shirt over a pair of baggy khaki shorts almost down to his knees, calf-length brown stockings complemented by a pair of shining brown sandals in the old style of two broad straps crossed in an ‘x’ shape with the toes just peeping out. His sandals were never dusty however much he walked around the school. A balding, fairly tall man, he stood out not only by his dress and comportment but even his speech was antiquated. He voice was a ringing and stentorian baritone, and he had this way of stretching his vowels and emphasising the final consonant of his words, which made his sentences seem like judicial proclamations from the famous British Judge, Lord Denning.

In those days the biblical injunction not “to spare the rod so as not to spoil the child” was strictly enforced in this missionary school. Caning was considered an essential form of discipline then, and a sine qua non to the development of focused, disciplined and promising young men. (Remember that in the earlier days unlike nowadays, the average age for starting secondary school was about 15 years. Some men, yes, men were about 23 when they finished their Higher School. Nowadays, most secondary schools are not allowed to punish children, as corporal punishment has been outlawed in the name of modernity. It has been known for a Minister of Education to remove a revered Principal of a top-flight Federal Government College in Lagos because the son or daughter of an influential member of society was rightly disciplined. The result is a breakdown of discipline such that students and their parents beat up teachers at the flimsiest excuse. Students form gangs, use drugs openly, flout school rules and even break the laws of the land with impunity. Such is the chaos in which we find the educational system today. It is hoped now that we have an Igbobian with a record of performance as the Lagos State Commissioner of Education that perhaps he may bring some sense back into the system.

I digress; let us take up the subject of Baba’s disciplinary methods. Pa Talabi Esubiyi’s reputation for discipline was awesome and fearsome. Not because like some masters he would flog one mercilessly all over the body until their arms got tired. Also, not because he would cane a boy six strokes, jumping up as he exerted himself in order to maximise the force of the stroke. On the contrary, Baba was different. His punishments were corrective, not punitive and the lessons were for life. An old Boy, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi once told a gathering that when he was serving Minister of Foreign Affairs, on being informed by his secretary that a certain Mr. Talabi Esubiyi was on the phone and not even in his office, he automatically checked to see if his shirt was properly tucked in! I benefited from that respect for Baba even as a Third Secretary on Secondment as Portuguese Interpreter in Supreme Headquarters in the mid 1980s. Baba sent me several times to an old boy now late, Vice Admiral Oduwaiye who was the Chief of Staff to the Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari. He tried his best to get the Vice Admiral to influence the then State Military Governor another Old boy, Late Air Commodore Mudasiru to return Igbobi College to the Missionaries. Such was his love for the school even in retirement. Admiral Oduwaiye’s office was in the inner sanctum of Dodan Barracks, whereas; State Protocol where I worked was in the outer section. You needed to penetrate a lot of security gates to get there. Few people had the clearance, and those of us that did, did not go there unless official duties demanded it. I was received grandly each time and feted formally by the Admiral in the corridors of power as if it were Baba himself and not a young man in his mid twenties. I remember those days with fondness. Back to Baba’s discipline.

If you erred as a group, Baba would not cane you all in some orgy of mass caning, he would give you a group portion of grass to cut and the heavens help you if you failed to finish the job by the stipulated time. If however you fell into the unfortunate circumstance of being a lone offender, you would receive just one or two strokes of Baba’s cane, which might seem like a good thing at first examination. Not so! People dreaded receiving Baba’s cane because his strokes were delivered seemingly without effort, but they cut deep and the pain lasted for ages. You would not be able to sit properly for a week if you received one stroke of Baba’s cane. And if you had to receive two, God save you. Baba’s experienced strokes from decades of application would fall one on top of, or within millimetres of the last. As a result, the pain was so much that no one, absolutely no one could do “awọ”, (“leather” - a situation considered heroic among Igbobi schoolboys then, when you could receive a flogging touching your toes without flinching as if your buttocks skin were hard tanned leather. This was particularly heralded if you were being flogged in front of the whole school during morning assembly) for Baba’s caning. There would be no shouts of “awọọ”, “awọọ” from mates as each stroke landed (in the class as would be the case with Baba). I never saw him cane at assembly, and I never saw him give more than three strokes until I left the School. His caning was so painful and effective that more than three would be wickedness, and Baba was not a wicked man. Anything you did that warranted Baba to cane you more than three strokes was serious enough to warrant you a suspension or outright expulsion.

I had the misfortune of receiving Baba’s cane in my first week of Form One in Igbobi College. He caught me one early morning writing with chalk on the wall just outside my class, Form 1c. “Come here Boy, Whaaa-t is your naaaaa-me?”, “Count III sir” was the reply”. “Whooo is your fatheeeerr”, “ Mr George Oludotun Count, sir”. “Ahaaa, I thought sooooo. Seee meee in my offiiii-ce at breaaaa–k! I discovered painfully later, that when Baba said “See me in my office at break”, it meant report for a caning. On the dot of 11.01am, shaking with dread from the stories I’d been told by seniors and classmates alike, I reported as quickly as I could after the break bell in the Vice Principal’s office. He stood up, picked up his cane and uttered one of the famous statements for which he had come to be known, as he did it for all whose forbears he had taught. “Cooouuunnnn-t, under this very roooo-f I caned your fatheeeerr and he crieeee-d, nowwww I shall cane youuuu and you shall cryyyyy. Beeeennn-d! I bent over and touched my toes, he caned me only one stroke and I cried. I was very careful after that not to get into Baba’s trouble and succeeded until one unfortunate day, two years after.  The only other time I received Baba’s cane was in Form III when he was the MOD (Master on Duty) for the week I was to wait at table in the Dining Hall. I was the only Waiter missing at breakfast as I’d decided to skip breakfast that day as it wasn’t one of my favourites. I enjoyed some meals and hated others. If my memory serves me well, Monday morning’s I didn’t particularly care for. Monday morning in my time was Moinmoin and eko. I hated it as much as I hated Thursday morning’s hard boiled yam with oku eko (iced fish) in pepper stew and watery, tepid Bournvita). I loved Tuesday morning’s beans, Wednesday morning’s stewed corned beef and ibeji bread, Thursday night’s ‘dodo alone’ Friday night’s white rice with egusi, and of course Sunday’s breakfast of Ibeji with scrambled egg. Those were ‘soccer’ meals - but that is a story for another time. A message was sent to me after breakfast in the dorm, to see Baba “at Breaaa-k” and I did, with the expected result. Ouch!

I cannot round up this piece without referring to one other famous saying among the many anecdotes about Baba Esubiyi such as,  “when mammy goes to the market…”, ”yawn properly, young buffalo”, “…and the like”. We dared not call him Baba to his face, and generations before us had called him that name behind his back. We met that name. But it was during our time that I heard, and not first hand this time, that Baba Esubiyi stumbled upon some students unexpectedly and one of them raised the alarm, “Baba”, “Baba”, to his hearing. He is reported to have said, “You call me Babaa, Babaa, I fatheerr no-bodyyy. This we learnt was due to the fact that he and Mrs Esubiyi (Mama) as we called her had no natural children of their own.

Sir, wherever you are today, and I know it is in heaven for there lies a good teacher’s reward, I beg to differ. You may not have had issues through madam but you certainly fathered thousands. I know I speak for many Igbobians who came under your guidance in your thirty – nine years of teaching at the school that you were more than a patriarch to us. We called you Baba, Baba, and you fathered us all, Baba Wa.

Comments Page: 1 posted on 02-04-2009, 00:34:03 AM Omowa2 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) Up I Say cececeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee As Baba Esubiyi, the Integrated Science teacher would ssay "Under this roof I caned your father" bend and the poor boy would receive a few strokes of the cane. He was one teacher who canes three generations of the same family. Igbobi College must mean so many things to many of the boys who are now men. Who every Friday contributed to SDF ...Student's Denial Fund and the class with the highest amount kept the shield for one week...did that value endure? What of the capitalist ethos? And the children of well heeled men and women who attended the school. How did that mix shape their perception "Where ever there is an Igbobian there is a noble Nigerian" Omowa2 posted on 02-04-2009, 00:41:23 AM Oluwato Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) Igbobi college.... memories. posted on 02-04-2009, 03:13:54 AM Ttonjo Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Sir, wherever you are today, and I know it is in heaven for there lies a good teacher�s reward, I beg to differ. You may not have had issues through madam but you certainly fathered thousands. I know I speak for many Igbobians who came under your guidance in your thirty � nine years of teaching at the school that you were more than a patriarch to us. We called you Baba, Baba, and you fathered us all, Baba Wa. What a moving tribute to a deserving teader, Baba Esubiyi. I wish same could be said, not only of our selfish and greedy political leaders, but also of some of our pastors, who unlike Baba Esubiyi, wouldn't wait for their reward in heaven, but grab everything in sight at the expense of their followers. Count 1, I do hope that you will be a good ambassador to the memory the great disciplinarian, 'Baba Esubiyi' in the MORALLY BANCRUPT society called Nigeria. That will be the best tribute Baba Esubiyi, of the blessed memory could be proud of. Thank you for sharing a very loving memory and life long lessons you gained from one of the rarest and decent human beings that ever emerge from Nigeria. Who knows whether we shall ever see the like of Baba Esubiyi, in our midst again, (that is if the current wave of the devilish youthful exuberant of CULTISM, ARMED ROBBERY, FORGERY, WICKEDNESS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER ETC), hasn't get to him before the decent society benefit from him. I also thank my mother of the blessed memory, (just like Baba Esubiyi), despite being poor, but was contended with whatever she could afford, and thereby instilled the discipline of contentment in us children. I can honestly assured you that up till today, none of us has NEVER involve in any shady deals or anything that could tarnish our names. I do hope that something good like Baba Esubiyi, could still come out of our 'Nasareth', Nigeria. posted on 02-04-2009, 05:30:17 AM BOE Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) !!!! Upic !!!!! posted on 02-04-2009, 06:59:02 AM Ewuro Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) Count 1, What a movong tribute! I had this belief that papa Esubiyi was the principal at the time. His name was always coming up in discussion amongst Igbobians. Papa Esubiyi was synonymous with Igbobi College in those days. Those were the days that if you attended certain secondary schools, it would be a shame on your whole family if you got expelled for any reason. Your school certficate results, though highly valuable, was as important as the testimonial written by the principal. It was not a question in those days if you would pass your school certificate if you attended schools like Igbobi College. The question was would come tops with a distinction or grade one results. Before the government forcefully took over schools in 1976, the question was which school would beat Igbobi College in the number of grade ones and above. No doubt you would find many Igbobi College graduates in highly sought and competitive university departments like Medicine and Engineering in the seventies. This is why it was good for a school like mine to have one on IC, we always beat them in a final principal cup match. I can remember on one occassion where our grade one results was a bit better than Igbobi, we all went out with chips on our shoulders. Count1, you have done wonderfully well paying tribute to your old teacher and mentor. The ideals with which people like papa Esubiyi brought young people up are lost to greed, indiscipline and laziness today. Papa Esubiyi's ideals are eternal for progress. posted on 02-05-2009, 03:16:36 AM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) Admin, So who's the Igbobian in admin? Whoever you are, thanks. The pictures add a certain fillip to the write-up. Especial thanks for the photos of our ubiquitous \"Umbrella tree\". I remember we used to hold an open air assembly under it when we outgrew the Chapel and the Rev, Angus Memorial hall was not yet ready. I was in class \"ghosting\" the night lightning struck it less than 200 feet away from me in 1972. It was an awesome firework display and an even more stupendous thunderous roar. The scar of where the lightning ran to ground is still there. Luckily the tree survived and no one was passing at the time. The School Chapel also holds fond memories for me. I was a member of the choir and a Chapel monitor. Serving communion was such an uplifting experience. The feeling of holiness was sustained even through the mundane task of washing the tiny cups thereafter. UP I. C. !!! [B]Omnes Unum in Domino - All are one in the Lord! Wherever there's an Igbobian, there also is a noble Nigerian! Count 1[/B] posted on 02-05-2009, 03:41:57 AM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Up I Say cececeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee As Baba Esubiyi, the Integrated Science teacher would ssay \"Under this roof I caned your father\" bend and the poor boy would receive a few strokes of the cane. He was one teacher who canes three generations of the same family. Igbobi College must mean so many things to many of the boys who are now men. Who every Friday contributed to SDF ...Student's Denial Fund and the class with the highest amount kept the shield for one week...did that value endure? What of the capitalist ethos? And the children of well heeled men and women who attended the school. How did that mix shape their perception \"Where ever there is an Igbobian there is a noble Nigerian\" Omowa2 Omowa2, You sound like you're omowa (Igbobi). I can't speak for anyone else regarding the enduring or otherwise of the SDF ethos vis-a-vis the Capitalist pathos. Essentially, it taught us to deny ourselves to help the needy. I believe that has endured among Igbobians. It certainly has for me. We found out the effect of the Ikoyi and VI children mixing with the Shomolu and Mushin children, during my tenure with the national ICOBA Executive. This was at a period that the Lagos State Government had just handed the Schools back the proprietors. School fees were reintroduced, Lagos State promised to pay the fees of the remnants of the Free Education students until their eventual graduation and the Old Boys tried to undo the damage of the \"Takeover\" years. Until then Schools admissions were restricted to the \"catchment\" areas which meant nearly everyone came from the High density, low-income areas of Shomolu and Mushin. No-one from Ikoyi or VI. Consequently, there were no high standards of diction, elocution and breeding to be emulated and so boys graduated almost as raw as they came in. Which was not the case in our days when a boy could come in releasing grammatical salvos that sent people diving for cover each time he opened his mouth to speak. By the time he graduated in form 5, he would be speaking faultless English sometimes with an affected \"English accent\"! He could also dine with the Queen and comport himself like a Prince. Fortunately, the quality of Igbobians has been restored with the reforms instituted by the Proprietors, the Boards of Governor's the trustees and the ICOBA national Executive. Nonetheless, it is still of great concern to us that the foremost Secondary Schools in Nigeria today in real terms are barely ten years old! There is still a lot to be done. UP I. C. ! Count 1 posted on 02-05-2009, 03:46:17 AM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Igbobi college.... memories. Oluwato, Considering that Igbobi was a boy's school and we have been led to and indeed believe that you are of the opposite gender, the mind boggles at what exactly it is you remember. What is his name, where did you meet, in what circumstances and what happened? posted on 02-05-2009, 03:51:45 AM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: What a moving tribute to a deserving teader, Baba Esubiyi. I wish same could be said, not only of our selfish and greedy political leaders, but also of some of our pastors, who unlike Baba Esubiyi, wouldn't wait for their reward in heaven, but grab everything in sight at the expense of their followers. Count 1, I do hope that you will be a good ambassador to the memory the great disciplinarian, 'Baba Esubiyi' in the MORALLY BANCRUPT society called Nigeria. That will be the best tribute Baba Esubiyi, of the blessed memory could be proud of. Thank you for sharing a very loving memory and life long lessons you gained from one of the rarest and decent human beings that ever emerge from Nigeria. Who knows whether we shall ever see the like of Baba Esubiyi, in our midst again, (that is if the current wave of the devilish youthful exuberant of CULTISM, ARMED ROBBERY, FORGERY, WICKEDNESS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER ETC), hasn't get to him before the decent society benefit from him. I also thank my mother of the blessed memory, (just like Baba Esubiyi), despite being poor, but was contended with whatever she could afford, and thereby instilled the discipline of contentment in us children. I can honestly assured you that up till today, none of us has NEVER involve in any shady deals or anything that could tarnish our names. I do hope that something good like Baba Esubiyi, could still come out of our 'Nasareth', Nigeria. Ttonjo, May God calm our fears and turn our weeping to rejoicing in all these things, Amen Count 1 posted on 02-05-2009, 03:56:31 AM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: !!!! Upic !!!!! SCHOOL FOOTBALL SONG WE ARE THE BOYS OF THE GREAT I. C. WE'RE THE BOYS OF THE I. C. Y. OMNES UNUM IN DOMINO ALL ARE ONE IN THE LORD OUR BOYS., BE OF GOOD COURAGE VICTORY LIES AHEAD OUR BOYS, BE OF GOOD COURAGE VICTORY SHALL BE OURS. U - P - I - C. UP I. C.!!!!! posted on 02-05-2009, 08:56:06 AM Ewuro Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: SCHOOL FOOTBALL SONG WE ARE THE BOYS OF THE GREAT I. C. WE'RE THE BOYS OF THE I. C. Y. OMNES UNUM IN DOMINO ALL ARE ONE IN THE LORD OUR BOYS., BE OF GOOD COURAGE VICTORY LIES AHEAD OUR BOYS, BE OF GOOD COURAGE VICTORY SHALL BE OURS. U - P - I - C. UP I. C.!!!!! I remeber you guys would also shout: IC Rockets, teach them soccer! To which we would reply: Finbarr's boy are here again, to teach them how to play soccer. Oh Oh Oh! Akoka Conquerors! It was wonderful, those principal cup days. posted on 02-05-2009, 09:54:05 AM Omowa2 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) This Count 1 is an agbalaba...a real senior somebody ooooo You were even in the national executive wow!!! So after Baba who are you going to write about? What of Fakore? What of Baba Thomas the Art Teacher and there escapade to Federated block...what of Iya Opolo and Baba Opolo, the Bus Driver, what of J. O Olatupa (aka Olatunbosun), and Mrs 'beautiful' Odunsi or the Chemistry teacher whose husband is now in the Senate. If the women were beautiful they were beautiful......let me not say more here oooooo Haaaaa what of the White French teacher? What of Zaki, the History teacher, what of Baba Ajayi the Chaplain, What of Baba Odutayo, alias Witty... Haaaa Igbobi College was a forest of stories waiting to be told Did you break bound? Did you chew grass...Maybe you left before Ojutiku of you gonna chew grass came Igbobi college and the high powered social capital that has not worked for a lot of us. Has the nation really benefited from what she gave these boys? Are they active in national politics? Someone told me that if you want your child to be a future president of Nigeria then make sure you send that child to where the standard of education is so low since most presidents Nigeria had had a brain dead. That is one of the pre-qualification to be Nigeria's president or a Governor....please leave the Lagos state one out of this...dat na tory for another day Omowa2 posted on 02-05-2009, 19:54:53 PM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: I remeber you guys would also shout: IC Rockets, teach them soccer! To which we would reply: Finbarr's boy are here again, to teach them how to play soccer. Oh Oh Oh! Akoka Conquerors! It was wonderful, those principal cup days. Ewuro, finally the clanger drops! So you were in St Finbarrs's! Anyway thank you for the nice things you said about my write up on Pa Esubiyi. He never did become Principal I guess because he was not a graduate. We remember him with great fondness though and generations of Igbobians owe their sense of discipline and decency to the traditions he epitomised. Father Slattery more than deserves a write up of this nature! He was an expatriate Principal who did so much for St Finbarr's that we came to dread that name in Igbobi College. Why don't you do it? In fact I heard then that your soccer prowess was due largely to his support for the game. I was at the Principal's cup Final that we lost to you guys I think in 1971. We lost it to Zumratul in 1970 or was it the other way round? We got to the final 12 consecutive times and lost! I remember the name Emilio John. He was the striker that cost us the match also with the connivance of the referee of course. We had a song for that match. Sukuru pe pe pe ---Iya! Ejo Igbobi ko------Iya! Referee yen l'o run wa o-----iya! posted on 02-05-2009, 20:05:56 PM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: This Count 1 is an agbalaba...a real senior somebody ooooo You were even in the national executive wow!!! So after Baba who are you going to write about? What of Fakore? What of Baba Thomas the Art Teacher and there escapade to Federated block...what of Iya Opolo and Baba Opolo, the Bus Driver, what of J. O Olatupa (aka Olatunbosun), and Mrs 'beautiful' Odunsi or the Chemistry teacher whose husband is now in the Senate. If the women were beautiful they were beautiful......let me not say more here oooooo Haaaaa what of the White French teacher? What of Zaki, the History teacher, what of Baba Ajayi the Chaplain, What of Baba Odutayo, alias Witty... Haaaa Igbobi College was a forest of stories waiting to be told Did you break bound? Did you chew grass...Maybe you left before Ojutiku of you gonna chew grass came Igbobi college and the high powered social capital that has not worked for a lot of us. Has the nation really benefited from what she gave these boys? Are they active in national politics? Someone told me that if you want your child to be a future president of Nigeria then make sure you send that child to where the standard of education is so low since most presidents Nigeria had had a brain dead. That is one of the pre-qualification to be Nigeria's president or a Governor....please leave the Lagos state one out of this...dat na tory for another day Omowa2 Omowa, you're a true Igbobian! Some of these comments should be repeated on the website. www.igbobicollege.org . Tinubu tried in returning schools to the proprietors. It was something successive military governments after Jakande could not do. It is ironic that it was a civilian government that took over schools and an equally muslim civilian government that returned the schools. Up Ashiwaju! Great job Dr. Leke Pitan! (former Commissioner for Education). Count 1 posted on 02-05-2009, 20:15:34 PM Ewuro Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Ewuro, finally the clanger drops! So you were in St Finbarrs's! Anyway thank you for the nice things you said about my write up on Pa Esubiyi. He never did become Principal I guess because he was not a graduate. We remember him with great fondness though and generations of Igbobians owe their sense of discipline and decency to the traditions he epitomised. Father Slattery more than deserves a write up of this nature! He was an expatriate Principal who did so much for St Finbarr's that we came to dread that name in Igbobi College. Why don't you do it? In fact I heard then that your soccer prowess was due largely to his support for the game. I was at the Principal's cup Final that we lost to you guys I think in 1971. We lost it to Zumratul in 1970 or was it the other way round? We got to the final 12 consecutive times and lost! I remember the name Emilio John. He was the striker that cost us the match also with the connivance of the referee of course. We had a song for that match. Sukuru pe pe pe ---Iya! Ejo Igbobi ko------Iya! Referee yen l'o run wa o-----iya! Emilio John was our football captain in 1969. He had wonderful skills. I have heard Igbobi boys blamed him for that 1971 loss. There was too much expectation on the young chap. Your old boys promised him a scholarship. I remember it was Adebanjo who lost the penalty. The footballer no one forgets is Tunde Martins. He was an all-round sportsman. The thing is Igbobi was unlucky with the principal cup. Finbarr's never lost a final match in my time. I guess that was luck also. You are right about father Slattery. He was strict on academics. He loves football. In his time if you fail in your school subjects, you must stop football or be withdrawn. Yes I will gather some resources to do a tribute on him sometime. posted on 02-05-2009, 20:18:00 PM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) IGBOBI COLLEGE YABA SCHOOL SONG (1st Stanza) Teach me thy best that all the world may know what it is to have come from thee Teach me that I into the world may go struggling ever for thy fame Igbobi Give me a torch which shall shine and pour on all afar and near its radiance divine Let hill and vale these tidings bear. Wherever there's an Igbobian there also is a noble Nigerian! UP I. C. !!! posted on 02-05-2009, 21:05:03 PM Purple Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) Count1, your piece on your alma matter helps me put in context my papa's immense and ongoing pride in Igbobi College. Hin no dey allow us hear word. Efry tin na Igbobi College. With the calibre of staff and faculty like Pa Esubiyi, I can now see why. posted on 02-09-2009, 06:46:30 AM Eja Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) Ce Ce Ce Ce Ceee!!! I remember the PE teacher who told a student "O***, hmmm, O***, count your books O, or are you waiting to eat your fader's twenty?" This was also the man who used to terrorise us as he would stalk the corridors looking to spring into any class that was getting rowdy so he restore order with his cane; a task that he relished....I can't remember his name now.. But, I remember the food-fights with inedible rock-hard moin-moin, being in classes while assembly was being held and, being in the assembly hall while classes were being held. I also have fond memories of Four-by-Four where we got our afternoon rice (after which we would catch the 12 O'Clock Chinese/Indian film at Rivoli or Rainbow Cinema) and, my right palm almost itches when I think on the cashy games we played by the wall that abutted the road to Shomolu. I remember the teacher we called "Joy Girl" (de woman fine O!) and the geography teacher who dragged me into the staff-room (during break) for a collective lynching after she opened my school-bag and found that it contained nothing but comics. No text-books, no exercise books.... IC, IC, towards the end, I couldn't wait to leave but all these years later, I look back with great fondness at all the times I spent within your walls... posted on 02-19-2009, 06:12:33 AM Count1 Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Ce Ce Ce Ce Ceee!!! .......... IC, IC, towards the end, I couldn't wait to leave but all these years later, I look back with great fondness at all the times I spent within your walls... Ah, Eja I just saw this. Its a lie! You're an old Igbobian! It shows! The PE Teacher is \"Cashy\" - Mr Fakorede. \" Kam to my house and see pickshure of me when I dinner with the queen. After all, Picture doesn't tell lie. Foto o'n pa 'ro!\"He went on to become the Football coach for Oyo State where he also garnered a Law Degree. I'm sure we will meet sooner than later. CE CE CE CE! Count 1 posted on 02-21-2009, 13:37:38 PM Eja Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Ah, Eja I just saw this. Its a lie! You're an old Igbobian! It shows! The PE Teacher is \\"Cashy\\" - Mr Fakorede. \\" Kam to my house and see pickshure of me when I dinner with the queen. After all, Picture doesn't tell lie. Foto o'n pa 'ro!\\"He went on to become the Football coach for Oyo State where he also garnered a Law Degree. I'm sure we will meet sooner than later. CE CE CE CE! Count 1 Yes Count1, it was Cashy I was talking about.....Funnily enough, I did remember the nick-name but, I could not recall his real name. In fact, the whole time I knew him, I cannot remember ever hearing anyone call him by his real name (he left IC sometime during my third year). It was always "Cashy mbo! Cashy mbo!!".....and then, boys running to get into their seats and make up a convincing "I don't need/deserve to be caned today Sir" expression. Thanks for the additional info about this remarkable person. It is funny the things we come to realise later on: Because a notable portion of that formative period in life was spent watching strong authority figures like Baba, Cashy (and others) closely and, tailoring ones persona to deal with what you knew they could spring on you at any time, who we are today is partly a result of what they compelled us to become in those early years. Count1, I do look forward to meeting you at some point. posted on 03-06-2010, 12:38:21 PM Maverixz Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) Fellow noble Igbobians I hail o! posted on 03-06-2010, 14:20:14 PM Okorodudu4eva Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Who every Friday contributed to SDF ...Student's Denial Fund and the class with the highest amount kept the shield for one week... SDF - Self Denial Fund. I remember that I was the 1st class captain of a form five arm to collect the Shield. The trend was for the younger classes to contribute to the Fund. What did senior boys care for if not 5by5, tuck shop, Iya Monday's irresistable food and movies at the nearby military hospital? Having been forced by the Physics teacher to become the class captain (she stood outside observing us on Day 1 and saw me sweeping her desk area in order to prevent her from sitting in the middle of rubbish), I was forced to find ingenuous ways to get my classmates to adhere to a sweep-roster. The penalty for not sweeping on your designated day was 5 kobo. I assured my classmates that the weekly cash so collected would be our contribution to the Fund, and they agreed. However, if you didn't pay up then I would engage you in fisticuffs, or find someone else in class that was eager to trade punches with the culprit. Slowly but surely the penalty box made money while fisticuffs became another innovative way to make money. A gate fee was charged in order to watch, and of course boys wanted to watch. Friday afternoon Frays became quite popular in class and I suddenly became "Don King". Well, one week we made so much money that we won the Shield. And Oga couldn't for the life of him understand why or how form five boys had become interested in SDF! ce ce ce ceeeeee....... ceeeeeeeee!!! Despite our unruly ways, this Feb my Set donated and installed a new steel roof for the Science Block, worth N25M and hope to be a part of the movement to re-structure the school such that Nigerians abroad would be eager to send their kids home for a sound Secondary Education. posted on 03-06-2010, 14:24:16 PM Okorodudu4eva Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) QUOTE: Yes Count1, it was Cashy I was talking about...... Kashy - Boys, I say enter your shoe and wear the bus and let's go to the bottom of Lagos. "ko si bata e ko de wo moto ka wa lo si isale Eko" Omnes unum in Domino - All are one in the Lord. Noble Nigerians, una well done o!!! posted on 03-06-2010, 14:28:00 PM Maverixz Re: Igbobi College 77th Anniversary Celebrations - Pa Talabi Esubiyi (Baba) SDF, Tuckshop (Scone & 7up) and Iya Monday's rice.......... wonderful memories of those good old days. I remember the days when I used to jump down from the form 5 block windows or crawl along the ledge to escape going to the assembly. Go to the Full Discussion Thread Comments Page: 1