Professor Roadfarer at 85!

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You won’t believe it. But there she was. A woman of average build, modest in stature and gait, one the French would describe as “elle petitt”, resplendent in golden colour dress while the others were in the chosen “aso ebi” colours of white and chocolate…

Sorry to cut you short. Why are women so crazy about “aso ebi” and “Colours for the day” while inviting guests to social engagements?

What’s my own in that? As for me, “aso ebi or no aso ebi”, me I fit attend any party provided the INVITE does not say only ASO EBI worn by the guest ADMITS.

Na iku be that.

How do you mean?

How can I come from AJANGBADI to attend your party in MAKOKO on top of the lagoon and you are telling me say na “aso ebi” alone go “admit bearer”? For where? You go pay me money for transport?

Take it easy…

Sorry to interrupt you again. Owanbe party no be for declaration of surplus?

Enough of this your ELONKOKO…Pls, o to ge e e. E doooo! Well, as I was saying
before…

Before kinni? At least I did not interrupt you rudely, abi I did?

Na your body dey suspect you. Abi you be “elefo aatan “ (DUMPSITE VEGETABLE SELLER)? Na your conscience dey worry you. It’s just a way of talking. I mean no harm.

So, “leekan si”, (one more time), as I was saying before you leapfrogged into my mouth. The focus of attention for this BIG DO in a small enclave along the IGBOBI College Road, this Holy Saturday, April 4, is Professor Florence Ajike Osanyin. Many of us may not have met her physically before this special day in her life but those in the academia already knew who she was before this day. Moreover, if you had heard of the famous playwright, actor and teacher of actors, Professor Bode Osanyin, then you must have enough construct of the OLOJOBI, ‘Birthday Girl’ Extraordinaire.

Why?

They are two sides of the same coin.

Come again! Do they trade in coins and Pennies or what?

Peni-what?! Fathead you are. I just told you the man, who is late…

Late for the party?

Bushman Hottentot! I mean the man is deceased. Not late for the birthday party. Olodo!

Oh, sorry. What a pity! I never knew. When was that?

That was about two decades ago and for both the celebrant and her guests with well-wishers, the 85th birthday anniversary was yet an opportunity to remember the great Bode Osanyin.

Really? Yarn me ‘tory, make I hear. Will you?

Why not, if not? Born Florence Ajike Onibonoje to im mama and im papa for “Ujebu-Ujesha”, as they pronounced im papa and im papa town…

Indeed that’s a mouthful! Isn’t it? ONIBONOJE!! Na “GBAs gbos” of a name be that. Abi?

Yes, it is but it’s a famous name in the book publishing industry in those days. A very pragmatic man who loved books and encouraged his children and relations and, by extension, WE, “the wretched of the earth”, to keep FAITH in books, not only for enjoyment but also for the sake of acquiring knowledge for our TODAY and our TOMORROW. And here she is, a professor of Education who specialised in early childhood education especially of the GIRL CHILD.

I can see where you are going to…

Shhh…Know where I’m coming from first. You be Nostradamus, the man who knows (Osanyin’s) tomorrow?

Not like that. Just trying to deduce from the premises you have already laid. Is that not logical?

Okay, Woli Eke. But “jenwi temi”. Let me say my own. Ajike’s life is a classic thriller. She, ONIBONOJE fell in love with He, OSANYIN, and eventually they got married. What do you call that?

A woman for all seasons! An exemplar of discipline and a source of inspiration for those who cross her paths on the Road of Life.

Wedlock of the gods! One, a god of the creative arts. The other, a goddess of pedagogy!

Akiika! That’s a bull’s eye! Her husband, a playwright and novelist of note, would naturally concur to that your out-of-the-blues, and very apt caption. In our own days that’s what we were wont to chew in the mouth as “shagbadiwere” stuff, whatever that means.

Thanks. Can you, pls, regale us with some of the good stuff from Baba Osanyin himself?

Look at you! “Kini won nko Bello se ni Ilorin?” (Bello is a common name in Ilorin). His works are legion, like they talk am for Bible.

Wedlock of the gods! One, a god of the creative arts. The other, a goddess of pedagogy!

Really?

Yes, but just a cursory thing for now. A taste of the “ikokore and eberipo” is in the eating. So, you may keep your bifocal lens or binoculars on his creative outputs like THE NOBLE MISTRESS, WAISTLINE BEADS (AND OTHER STORIES), LET ME TEACH YOU A NEW THING, ADAMUORISHA OF LAGOS (a study in ritual drama), SERARO AND JOY and, wait for this, RICH GIRL, POOR BOY!

Why should we wait for this? Is it because it’s not the other way round?

Good you ask. Have you not heard of his RICH GIRL, POOR BOY also?

What about? Who is rich? Who is poor?

It is a novel that explores the themes of love, class and social status in contemporary Nigeria but whose title may confuse or mislead people into thinking that it is a “shop lifted” idea from Robert Kiyosaki’s best seller, a book published in 1997.

Is that not the case?

Fa fa fa…foul! Over the bar!!

Itumo?

Meaning that’s far from the truth. Bode Osanyin’s RICH GIRL. POOR BOY was actually published in 1984. While Osanyin’s fast paced narrative full of unexpected twists and turns, and gripping nerve-on-edge suspense have made it a timeless classic, according to critics, RICH DAD, POOR DAD is a popular counter shelf book that focuses mainly on financial literacy and wealth-building strategies.

Basic difference in a nutshell?

Good question. While Kiyosaki’s RICH DAD, POOR DAD is factual and practical, Osanyin’s RICH GIRL, POOR BOY is a work of FICTION exploring social dynamics.

Hmmm…so, where is Mama Osanyin here?

Her birthday bash (without Bash Ali in attendance) was a free flowing of art and life, poetry, literature and dramatic sketches were the main items on the menu with egg-heads and people in the mainstream, alike, paying glowing tributes to the lovable and loving woman of substance that we all turned out to celebrate. Some see her as “humility personified” and a pedagogue with love for the under privileged kids who for no fault of theirs are often denied early education. Others admire her for her love for physical exercise, pounding both the macadamised and undulating, powdery roads of her estate every day! This she has been doing for 39 good years, recording an average 10,000 steps before retiring to her AJIKE LODGE where she often embarks on another exercise, the mental one to keep fit “upstairs”.

That’s keeping a healthy mind in a healthy body but, come o, I have just done some “mental arithmetic” on this disclosure that she covers at least 10,000 steps everyday as a “roadfarer” who traverses any terrain to sweat out.

Yes, “be e ni”. She does it every day except Sunday.

Which means conservatively she covers at least 60,000 steps a week, 240,000 per month, and in a year, she has a total of 2,880,000 steps in the account. In 39 years, she must have registered a credit of 112,320,000 steps to finance her health ‘project’ in her private “health farm”. What a stoic woman, full of energy and vibes, analogue or digital! A woman for all seasons! An exemplar of discipline and a source of inspiration for those who cross her paths on the Road of Life.

You are laffing? Not a laffing matter, at all. The dividends of her “jogging democracy” are obvious and, indeed, they were on this Holy Birthday Bash on a Holy Saturday. She was all over the place doing “meeters and greeters”, shaking hands firmly, hugging the “hugables” and throwing banters. She was the WOMAN OF THE MOMENT.

A well organised party you had there?

Yes. I give the organisers kudos especially in the sitting arrangement with everything “painted” (?) white and shades of red.

Really?

Yes, and you know what? The ushers did a good job by politely leading us to the tables set aside for the UMRA (Unilag Magodo Residents Association) guests without asking for which FACTION or FICTION of UMRA we belonged to before allowing us to take our seats. Sounds like a good takeaway.

Why?

If there is no reason Yoruba people don’t name their women KUMOLU.

KUMOLU Johnson ke?

Look at this “omode yi” who is calling GBEKUDE, rapped with leaves, VEGETABLE SALAD. Shiorrrr! Alaimokan!

Yarn me ‘tori’ jorrr, you who “mokan” (knows).

Softly, softly….That’s a matter for another day. Meanwhile let Mama have her day devoid of political shenanigans. Happy birthday, ma. Hope you had a memorable day, and here’s wishing you many more happy returns of April 4. “Igba odun, odun kan (ni) lori Kalenda Eleduwa”. Two hundred years is just like one year on the Divine Calendar.

Ire o!