Seven People Who Passively Influenced My Life As A Teenager

Four weeks ago, I was having a gist with my son about how adorable and important girls are and also the boundaries that need to be set while relating with them which was being buttressed with the story of Samson in the bible. While the gist was going on, events of my teenage years flashed through my mind. As I began to travel down memory lane, I discovered if I were not Iteoluwakisi’s father, I would have been like a role model to him just the way a number of people were to me years back; they contributed to whatever good I am today. Then this question came up in my mind; aside from what parents can do to train, do we still have role models these days that can positively influence our kids?

This made me appreciate the people (I call them egbons) that God brought my way at one point or the other. Surprisingly, they will be shocked reading this piece because they have no idea what they did. The things I’m about to share may sound petty and miniature to some people but I am the one in the middle of the show and I know how their acts shaped my life. Besides, if we have these set of people in this generation, be rest assured that we can go and sleep with our two eyes closed. Don’t get me wrong, I am not presenting angels to you here, they were never perfect and they had their issues too which some were not really open to me. But the fact remains that I looked up to them and their lives and acts motivated me a lot. I am using this opportunity to say a big thank you to all of them. Please meet my “egbons” as I introduce them one after the other in no particular order.

 
 

Akinkunle Akerele He was the first role model I had and it started right from when I was not yet a teenager in primary school. A very easy-going but firm person who never shouted at me but the firmness in his voice always drove down the message. His house was directly at the back of mine which made it easy to always be in his room almost every afternoon, fiddling with his books and everything on his table. One of the things that shaped me from his lifestyle was his commitment to his studies. As soon as he was back from school, he would eat (likes bread like tomorrow no dey), rest and study. He made me look forward to going to secondary school and imbibe his lifestyle too. I remember having a running battle with my mum because I was bent on going to the same secondary school he was attending but it never happened. It took my father to silence me on that. Part of the motivation he gave me was to promise me a gift if I did very well in my transition examination to secondary school. My name came out as the third on the list of successful candidates and he actually fulfilled his promise. I got a black woven belt and 20 kobo which was a lot of money then! I am sure uncle Kunle has forgotten all these. I would tell him things going on in our house then and I still remember vividly his exact words when I told him my mum had problems with a guy that came to stay with us who happened to be a son to my daddy’s friend. He said in his very calm but firm voice that “Toyin, that’s none of your business. Your mum will sort out herself with your dad and the guy. So go and read for your test”. I didn’t like that type of response because it was like I got an insult for a gossip job, but today I know that was the best anyone could give to a very young and curious boy I was then. Uncle Kunle, you have no idea the impact you have made in my life; you could have capitalized on my naivety and abuse me just like we hear stories these days! I must tell you I owe you part of my success story. Thank you and God bless.

 

Niyi Akerele

 Niyi Akerele & Dayo Omotoye Hmmm...I am going to make this to be two-in-one and talk about these two men at the same time due to the fact that they did virtually the same thing and were in the same class but different arms; form 5A and 5D (Uncle Niyi was in Class 5A being pure science class while Uncle Dayo was in class 5D, which used to be a mixture of both science and technical subjects). I was in JS 1 when I spotted them in their class 4 and was fascinated by their exceptional brilliance and focus. They were the two guys representing the school in quiz competition which I tried to emulate but I couldn’t get to that point because of some powers that be in my set too. The best I could do was to represent my school in inter-school debate. Let me quickly say this that Uncle Niyi was the person who taught me the substitution method of solving simultaneous equation while Uncle Dayo brushed me up in light under Physics. When I realized they sat for G.C.E. in form four and cleared their papers with distinctions except for Uncle Niyi who had F9 in Physics because he was absent for the practical session, I became motivated and made up my mind to do the same thing.

Dayo Omotoye

If they got that result in their fourth year, you can imagine what they got by the time they sat for their real WAEC in form five. It was just a work-over for them. It didn’t stop there, their JAMB results were good, Uncle Dayo got admission into UNILAG to study Electrical/Electronics Engineering while Uncle Niyi was asked to study Industrial Chemistry against Medicine which he opted for. I remember him telling me that he must read Medicine by all means and I was like what a hell is wrong with this bros! To cut the long story short, he wrote JAMB till he was going to 300 level (hope I am right) before he got it. Today he is a successful Medical practitioner outside the country while Uncle Dayo is an engineer turned banker but they influenced my life and I learnt a lot from their focus and tenacity in life. All these attributes of theirs made me sit tight and wanted to be successful academically by all means because it made me stretch myself beyond what I felt I was capable of doing. Thank you and God bless you both.

 

 Kehinde S. Olumo Uncle Kenny, as he is normally referred to till today always had his way around me with words. Each time he talked to me, it's like he was directly addressing my soul because the words would always sink. I can say he deliberately came for me and mentored me as a teenager but how I came in contact with him is what I can’t explain till now. He was one of the people who coached me to have C6 in English when I sat for GCE in SS2. Every week, bros. would ask me to write either an essay, solve a summary or a comprehension exercise from any of the past questions and bring for him to mark. You know what? I dare not evade the assignment for anything in life. Who does that these days free of charge? His cousin that stayed in the same house was in the same class with me and I am not sure he was patient enough to get as much as I got from this man. He would mark, comment and rate me according to the WAEC standard because he was connected with our English teacher then who used to mark WAEC papers, so he had information. Asides these, He was always direct in his approach by sitting me down in his room those days and ask me straight forward questions. He would tell me a lot about girls, the no party and no alcohol sermon if I really wanted to make it in life. For those of you who found it difficult to believe I never tasted alcohol, this is one of the people that catalyzed that decision of mine and I think he deserves to be celebrated. He was the one who counselled me that I had no business attending every inter-house sports competition from other schools. Kai, I am very happy that I didn’t disappoint him. Thank you so much Uncle Kenny for talking distraction out of me!

 

 Gennie Yemi Aina I know this is going to shock the hell out of her and some of my mates but the truth remains she motivated and influenced me positively and that is the truth which no one can tamper with, not even Sister Yemi herself! Even though I was close to quite a number of ladies that were older than me, she was the only one that took steps to go further than what I had expected. Her mum, before she passed on was my mum’s god-mother so I was always going to her house on errands from my mum and that’s where she picked interest in me. I became very close to her and from my observation, I think I was the only stranger she allowed into her room severally! She was very brilliant o, chai and can speak good English! I didn’t like speaking English anytime I was with her because she must pick out something to correct. I remember that it was when I started getting close to her that my love for novels developed. All the James Hardley Chase and Pacesetters novels I read were gotten from her. She made jest of me when I tried to graduate into reading one of her voluminous novels which wouldn’t take her two days to finish but I couldn’t measure up. She was the first person to teach me Organic Chemistry which became my best aspect in Chemistry till I dropped it. One very remarkable impact she made in my life was to always drag me along to OSCAS anytime she was going to read. She got admitted into Unilag to study Biology but would sit for JAMB again because she was bent on studying Medicine too. I learnt how to read for long hours because if she wasn’t through studying, I couldn’t leave! Today, I know she never knew she went this far influencing me positively. At least, she can now understand why I hit the ground running immediately she needs me to do anything for her right from UK! Thank you anti mi, for playing your little part in me, thank you for not abusing and exposing me to negative vices like we have these days and thank you for stretching me beyond my assumed capacity to success!

 

 Bayo Olubimo I think It would be safer to say he was my school father in secondary school. Bros so much took interest in me to the extent that he had weekly time table for coaching me. He taught me Physics, Inorganic Chemistry and Mathematics a lot. Is anyone still conversant with Ababio and STAN Chemistry text books? I was one of the few students that used them for my SSCE in my set. He gave me Ababio but helped me borrow STAN Chemistry from his female cousin who was a set ahead of us in SSCE programme. We were the first set of SSCE in public schools then, so we had no clue of what was ahead but this man went as far as getting me the question papers from the Federal Government College. I duplicated and circulated them among my classmates which we used for practice. After I was done with my exams, he encouraged me to try talk to my parents so that I could be released to do JAMB coaching in the university where he was studying then. He said he wanted me to be in the university environment because according to him, I was a mummy’s boy and as God would have it, I was allowed. Aside all these, his life was a great challenge to me; he was dressing well, had a salient sense of humour and I never saw him with any negative vices. He equally encouraged me to listen to a lot of gospel songs, Panam Percy Paul being his favourite naija gospel singer. Another thing he did was that he was always giving me money for keeps every week. How much? Just 50kobo to N100.00 depending on what he had and that was a whole lot then. I am really grateful. He is a pastor in the US now and once in a while, he still calls me to ask after my welfare. Egbon Bayo, I honour you for the sacrifices you made for my life to be better!!!

 

 Aiyegbusi Franklin Biodun Believe it or not, all through my sojourn in Ikare Akoko, Ondo State, this bros and I were two parallel lines that never met…we never came to a point where we would even exchange greetings. But I had always admired him from the distance for some reasons which I would share here briefly. Though his countenance was never welcoming at all because of his beer-parlor-I-hate-you looks but his personality thrilled me at least with the limited information I had about him. He was already in higher institution by the time I was in secondary school and whenever he came home for break, I would always see him around; he would stroll out with his peeps almost every evening. One sunny afternoon, I was having a gist with some senior ladies where I was taking afternoon lectures and his gist came up too about a girl that was having crush on him and wasn’t even matured about it. They started making jest of the girl then because bros wouldn’t give a damn about her! Kai!!! I became more interested because I never knew any handsome guy could be in the university and still be shunning girls. Prior to that, I was saving my own escapades till I get to the higher institution. I became bothered but began to respect him. I wasn’t considering if his rejection was because the girl in question wasn’t his 'specs' or not but I was just wowed that at least he was making a statement with his principle. I began to aspire to get to higher institution too. I became more dedicated and I remember that was the point I started revising JAMB and WAEC past questions so that I could gain admission on time and be doing shakara for girls like Uncle Biodun! Secondly, there was this evening I went to visit Taiwo and Kehinde Akerele (they are the twin sisters to Uncle Niyi Akerele I mentioned above) and I was sharing with them while escorting me home how frustrated I was with sciences and we bumped into him around St. James’ School. He didn’t even know I was the one with the complaint but he just cut into our conversation and said if you do not like what you are doing, just try and manage to pass your papers first then find an equilibrium perhaps with social sciences. Till today, I have those words on my head verbatim and I have to use this opportunity to let him know that was part of my saving grace. I truly found an equilibrium and I am grateful! So amazing how someone you never spoke to modeled you in a way! Thank you bro!!!

The stories I related above are the abridged versions of what happened. And let me ask again do we have such people around today that youths can look up to and be motivated to succeed? I am celebrating these people today but can someone celebrate you this way because of how you have positively affect his or her life? Thank you.

 
                                                                                                 (C) #RealitywithTID