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.

Mustapha Akanbi     Bukola Saraki     Hassan Oyeleke     Kwara State Fish Farmers Association     Ilorin Central Mosque     Maigida Soludero Transit     Doyin Agbamu     Ishak Mohammed Sabi     Mahe Abdulkadir     Yaman     Tunde Idiagbon Road     Nnazua     Kwara Poly     Iyaloja-General     Yomi Adeboye     Baaziki Sulaiman     Alaro     ARMTI     Lukman Adeloyin     Roheemat Hammed     Elerinjare-Ibobo     Bureau Of Lands     March 28     Kwara State Infrastructure Development Fund     Olabode Towoju     MalHub     Onilorin     Shuaib Olarongbe     Dasuki Belgore     MAI Akande     Ibraheem Adeola Katibi     Coronavirus     Abdulfatah Ahmed     IYA ALFA NLA     Aminat Omodara     Busari Alabi Alausa     Donatus Ejidike     Bello Abubakar     Chief Imam Of Omu-Aran     Tosin Saraki     Nurudeen Mohammed     John Mayokun Dada     Usman Rifun     CACOVID     Christopher Odetunde     Forgo Battery     IESA     Oloye     Alabe     Nigerian Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs     Saheed Akinwumi     Junior Secondary School Certificate Examinations     Ajayi Okasanmi     Alliance For Democracy     Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq     Noah Yusuf     Kwara State Pension Board     Oba David Oyerinola Adedunmoye     Toun Okewale-Sonaiya     Revenue Court     Ishola Moses Abiodun     Olateju Lukman     Yaru     Innocent Okoye     Kwara State Internal Revenue Service     Yunus Lawal     Olaosebikan     Bello Oyedepo     Abdullahi Atanda     Oasis Muslim Care Foundation     Issa Manzuma     Ojo Fadumila     Jeunkunu-Malete-Bani     Mahfouz Adedimeji     Olugbense     Tafida Of Ilorin     Durosinlohun Kawu    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

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

Guber Aspirant     Alaaya     Ayodele Olaosebikan     Jide Oyinloye     Kayode Ibrahim     Shehu Alimi Foundation     Inside Kwara     Alfa Yahaya Road     Oke-Oyi     Akom Construction And Engineering Synergy Ltd     C2c@kwarastate.gov.ng     Sulaiman Gado     CKNG     Nigerian Correctional Service     Sheikh Ridhwanullah El-ilory     Alaiye     Lawal Arinola Kudirat     Ilorin West     Opolo Global Innovation Limited     Bayo Mohammed Onimode     Jumoke Gafar     James Ayeni     Henry Makinwa     Shehu Jimoh     Zulu Gambari     Gobir Organization Foundation     Umar Sanda Yusuf     KWAFFA     Saidu Yaro Musa     Abubakar Atiku     Kulende-UITH     Femtech     Yakubu Dogara     Aminu Ado Bayero     Dankaka     Ezekiel Yissa Benjamin     Ibrahim Abdullahi     Sabi     AbdulRasaq Abdulmajeed Alaro     Kazeem Adekanye     Millennium Development Goals     Vishvas KOZ Tractors     Hassanat Bello     Malete     Kwara Politics     Sulyman Tejidini     Yusuf Abubakar     Shaykh Luqman Jimoh     Abdulwahab Olarewaju Issa     Tsaragi-Share     Saduki Lafiagi     Nigerian Medical Association     Kwha.gov.ng     MATTA Girls Foundation     Akanji     Is\'haq Modibbo Kawu     Adamu Jemilat-Baki     Adamu Ibrahim Sabi     Muritala Olarewaju     Emir Of Ilorin     Shuaib Abdulkadir     Aso Ofi     Muhammad Yahya     Niyi Osundare     Isiaka Abdulrazak     Adeniyi Ojo     Rafiu Ajakaye     Salaudeen Oyewale     Adanla-Irese     Alimi Abdulrazaq     Village Alive Development Association     Mahmud Babatunde Baker     Mansurat Amuda-Kannike     Ilorin International Airport     Hamza Usman     Mohammed Yahaya Barki     Abiodun Musa Aibinu