Former Wema Bank Executive Director
and Obasewa of Ijebuland, Oluneye
Okuboyejo, who recently retired from
the board of University Press Plc, tells
OLUFEMI ATOYEBI how he survived with
his family during the first coup in Nigeria
How did you spend your youth?
I was born on May 21, 1933 in Ijebu-
Ode but I spent my youthful days in
Sapele and Warri. Because of the typical
Ijebu background my parents had, they
went as far as the then Mid-Western
Region to trade. I was with them and
attended St. Luke’s Primary School,
Sapele. Reverend Odunuga from Ijebu-
Ode was the headmaster then.
I also attended the prestigious Hussey
College in Warri. After passing my
Cambridge School Certificate
Examination in 1953, I left Sapele and
moved to Ibadan. Before we left
secondary school, five of us were picked
from Hussey College and sent to the
Ministry of Education in Ibadan as
officers. I was there until 1958. The
present Olubadan of Ibadan, Samuel
Odulana was my boss in the office. He
was known as S. Lana and I did not
know his full name until he became a
king. He cherished punctuality and
accountability. My aim was to use the
opportunity to gain admission to the
University College, Ibadan, now
University of Ibadan. The competition to
gain admission was so tough because
there were just two major tertiary
institutions in Nigeria at the time. I did
not gain admission at my first attempt.
What did you do after failure to gain
admission?
While studying for the examinations, I
played for Hercules Football Club in
Ibadan. I met Dr. Lekan Are there and
we became friends. He is from Oke-Are
and I was living in Amunigun. The team
was the best in the city in the early 50s.
Are was brilliant and gained admission
to the UI while I was still waiting. I
then called my parents and explained to
them that I could no longer wait and
that I wanted to travel abroad to study.
In 1958, I left for the United Kingdom
to study. My parents wanted me to
study medicine but after examining the
lifestyle of my brother and his friend, I
decided to study law when I got to the
UK. Being medical doctors, my brother
and his friend had no time for
themselves. They were the first set of
doctors at the University College
Hospital in Ibadan and they slept there
often because of the pressure of the
job. I wanted my freedom and
moreover, my friends called me ‘The
Law’ in school because of the way I
dressed and argued. I also loved being a
lawyer because of the respect lawyers
earn in the society.
But I had a problem convincing my
parents to allow me read law so I called
an uncle and told him to beg them on
my behalf. I think my father reluctantly
agreed but he continued to pay for my
tuition and send money for other needs.
What about your mother?
Because my friends called me ‘The Law’,
our neighbours and her friends called
her ‘Mama Lawyer’. So I knew she
would support my decision and I was
right. But she did not argue with my
father when he said I should study
medicine.
At 25, how easy was it for you to adjust
to a new culture and environment in the
UK?
I was determined to succeed, so it was
not so difficult for me. The condition in
the UK for law candidates was that they
must have passed Latin language at
Advanced level. I was a science pupil in
Nigeria and although I did a bit of Latin,
I was required to spend one year
studying Latin and other subjects which
I did. I was then admitted to the
Holborn College of Law, London in 1960.
The college, which is now a university,
was an external institution that was
feeding University of London and
training students for the Bar Final.
Were there other Nigerians in the
school?
We were many and I can easily
remember that the former Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of Nigeria,
Mohammed Uwais, was in the same set
with me in the college. In 1963, I
obtained my certificate and at the same
time I earned my university degree. At
that time, if you were called to the bar
in the UK, you could practice in Nigeria.
But a few months before we completed
our study in the UK, there was a change
of law which required us to attend a law
school in Nigeria. We protested at the
Nigerian High Commission but we did
not have our way. But the protest
reduced the duration of study at the law
school to three months and on arrival in
Nigeria, I was in the second set of
students of the Nigerian Law School that
was at the time located at Igbosere area
of Lagos.
Did you practice in the UK?
Before I left London in 1963, the
Western Region Government in Nigeria
sent representatives to London to
interview and offer employment to
some of the best Nigerians studying
there. I was offered an appointment
but my wife and child were with me and
I was not in a hurry to return. The
government then promised that the
appointment would be deferred until I
returned home and that the ticket fees
for my family would be paid. I
eventually returned immediately after
my study. I was offered the position of
the state counsel. But before I
resumed, I met Afe Babalola, whose
wife is my wife’s youngest sister. Afe
was in the UK when I was also there.
He advised me to join him in his
chamber in Ibadan but the government
paid for my ticket to Nigeria and it
would be dishonourable for me to walk
away. I joined the House of Chiefs as a
senior officer. But in 1966, there was a
coup and the legislature was disbanded.
On my request, I was transferred to the
administrative arm of the government
where I could rise to the position of a
permanent secretary.
How much was your first salary?
As a graduate coming from abroad, I
earned N620. I was given an
accommodation in Agodi and later
Eleyele and Iyaganku. I was also told
that only two people in the civil service
earned what I was being paid. But the
region was desperate for my service.
How much of your first salary did you
give your parents?
I gave everything to my parents. That is
the tradition in Yoruba land. The father
will distribute the money among
members of the family and give the rest
to the child. Then they will all pray for
the child. That was what happened to
my first salary.
Did your children do the same?
I trained my children the way I was
trained. I have six children who live
abroad. Each of them brought their first
salary to us although with the kind of
economy we have now, we could not
touch their money. We just prayed for
them and support them whenever they
need any assistance. God has been very
good to me in everything. I am not rich
but I can afford whatever I want to eat
at my age.
Where were you on the day of the 1966
coup?
I was at home in Eleyele, close to the
military barracks. My wife was a
teacher at the military school. In the
night, we saw people running around
and there was confusion in the barracks
as gunshots were reeling out
constantly. My wife called me and
expressed her worry. For a couple that
just returned from Europe, coup was
strange to us. When we realised that a
coup had taken place, we dashed under
our bed with our two children. What
made the neighbourhood volatile on the
day was the fact that the Premier of
Western Nigeria, Samuel Akintola, lived
across my house. There was battle for
control in his house and he was killed in
the coup. After the state creation of
1976, I was posted to Ogun State with
my friend, Abayomi Oduntan, as
permanent secretary.
What were other challenges you faced in
the new environment?
There were few but the major one was
individual ambition. When I left in 1984,
I was not due for retirement but I was
at the peak of my career. My salary and
allowances could not be increased again,
meaning that I could seek a new
challenge elsewhere to better my
earnings. I approached the governor,
the late Olabisi Onabanjo, with my
proposal to retire voluntarily. He was
instrumental to my appointment as
Executive Director of Administration,
Wema Bank. The bank was just being
taken over by Western Nigerian
Marketing Board and it was in shambles.
I took over a dilapidated structure but
with the effort of the good people on
the board, we were able to put it on a
sound footing. My friend, Lekan Are,
came in as a shareholder when we
diversified governments’ holdings and
privatised the bank. He was always
critical when we held meetings but we
listened to him and his contributions
helped the bank. I left in 1993 with the
aim of returning to full legal practice. So,
I set up a chamber in Ijebu-Ode. But it
did not take off fully fledged as I
planned because I was called to help
resuscitate Merchant Bank in Lagos.
They had liquidity problem but I used
my goodwill in Central Bank of Nigeria
as a former director of Wema to help
Merchant Bank.
How did you become University Press
Plc director because it’s a different
industry from what you were known for?
Are is the Chairman of UP Plc board and
when he called me to fill a position on
the board, I accepted it. I took over
from Ola Vincent, the former CBN
Governor and I retired fully in March
this year. I am happy that the company
is very healthy now under Are. His
ingenuity helped the company’s
survival. With a share capital of N150m,
the turnover has reached N2bn without
borrowing money from the bank.
How did you meet your wife?
My wife, Olubanke, is the daughter of
the past Awujale of Ijebu land, Oba
Gbelebuwa Adesanya. We met through
school activities. She attended Anglican
Girls Grammar School, although I did not
attend school at home, I was a member
of the Association of Ijebu Students.
That was where we met and we became
good friends.
What encouraged you to approach a
princess and how did you gain entrance
into the palace when you visited her?
It was not easy to reach her or get to
the palace but God had destined us to
be one. The king normally had his rest
close to the back door of the palace in
those days so nobody was allowed to
use the door. But my wife’s mother
liked me so she allowed me in through
the door each time the king was not
there. When he got to know about it, he
realised that our relationship had gone
far so he just approved of it. I later
moved to the UK and she joined me
there. She actually came to study and
she stayed with her brother, Tayo
Adesanya, who attended King’s College
in London. That gave us the opportunity
to nurture our relationship and get
married. But her father died soon after
she came to London in 1960.
Did you face any challenge or
competition marrying her?
There was no competition involved but
there were other challenges. In Yoruba
land and other African cultures, marrying
a princess is never an easy task. My
friends called me and were almost
telling me that I could be swimming in
difficult waters because my royal in-laws
would dominate me after marrying their
daughter. But my wife did not make a
show of any of the royal paraphernalia
she was bestowed with. She was
submissive, gentle and kind-hearted.
You hardly could hurt her. Before I sat
for my final paper in London, we got
married in 1961. Before leaving Nigeria,
she was a teacher.
Did your parents immediately accept
your wife when they knew you were
dating a princess?
The truth was that they thought I would
have difficulties later on. But the
moment they saw how she was relating
with them, they accepted her and loved
her. They gave her gifts regularly and
she bought things for them.
What has touched you most in life?
That was the day I got the result of my
final law degree examinations in
London, June 1963. There were many
Nigerians who had to come back for one
paper or the other. The result was
published in a newspaper but because
of fear, I did not buy the paper. My
classmate who bought it called me and
congratulated me. I was in the toilet
when I heard the good news.
What are you doing now?
I have always been deeply involved in
community service. I am the chairman
of Ijebu-Ode Development Board of
Poverty Reduction. It was founded in
1999 in collaboration with the Awujale
of Ijebu land, Oba Sikiru Adetona and
Akin Mabogunje. It was meant to ease
the difficulty of the less privileged
people in the society.
What is your favourite food?
I like amala and ewedu because I lived
in Ibadan for so long. I also thank God
for my good health even though I have
always been busy.
Punch
