The vice president (diaspora) of the ’85 Set, Mafograms, Darasimi Okusuga displaying the shared books.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The atmosphere all through the 3-day celebration period was electric. Old acquaintances, friends, then popular and not so popular students, the quiet, the loud and people who were then ‘a collection of rascally, energetic and talented young minds’ made the trip to gather first at the premises of the now Mafoluku Senior Secondary School, Mafoluku Oshodi, Lagos.
The occassion was the 40th graduation anniversary of the ‘boys and girls’ who passed out of the then Mafoluku Grammar School, Mafoluku Oshodi, Lagos State in 1985. It was a veritable occassion for the men and women now in their late fifties and early sixties to rekindle friendships, retell old stories, reminisce and generally thank their maker for the opportunity of bringing them together then while still sustaining their lives until the moment.
The pioneer principal of f the school, Mrs. Olubunmi Onabolu left with Mrs. Kehinde Obidake, the current principal at the commissioning of the Solar equipment at the ICT centre. Behind them is part of the installed solar energy equipment.
Friday the 14th of October was like any other day for all the students at the Mafoluku Junior and Senior Secondary School, Mafoluku Oshodi, but all that soon changed around 9 o’clock in the morning when canopies, chairs, tables, musical equipment were set up inside the school premises.
When cars of different make started driving in that morning, the curiosity of the young minds became heightened. Again, the trooping in of many middle aged men and women wearing red t-shirts with the school’s logo on them, on top of jeans trousers with white caps to match became a spectacle to the children.
The chairman of the organising committee of the anniversary was the energetic Kunle Shorinwa and he tried very much to control the near raucous situation where old friends who were seeing themselves for the first time in 40 years made so much noise.
The old students in their recommended Ankara fabric. (Yours truly is right in the middle)
Mr. Shorinwa thanked every member for coming from far and near to witness the occassion as he was also full of praise to them for the cooperation given him and his team while the preparation for the celebration lasted. As many as ten old students from the diaspora and over forty others from within Nigeria attended the 3-day event.
The event at the school’s premises was primarily to welcome everybody and to get the the pioneer principal Mrs. Olubunmi Onabolu to commission the project that was executed at the school by the ’85 set who were also the foundation set of the school. The project was the purchase and installation of Solar backup system for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) room comprising of 5KVA Solar Inverter Backup System with 2×5 KVA Batteries, 8x550w Solar Panels and 1x AVR. All these and the installation cost over ₦5.8 million naira.
It will aslo be recalled that in addition to many other humanitarian and give back to society measures that have been adopted by these old students of the school, in 2023 , they had purchased and equipped the ICT room with 10 units of all-in-one desktop computers, 2 units of laptop computers, 1 printing machine, 11 chairs, 11 tables and 6 electrical junction boxes plus the coating of the ICT centre.
Darasimi Okusuga, the vice president (diaspora) took charge of the event that morning in the absence of the president, Opeolu Oyewole who could not travel down to Nigeria from his US base. She deftly steered the activities with intelligence and humour while the then principal, Mrs. Olubunmi O. Onabolu, the current principal, Mrs. Kehinde Obidake, the teachers, students and the members of the ’85 set present watched with glee and hearty laughter.
The day’s event reached its peak with the presentation of 1,000 excercise books and 1,000 ball point pens to the students and of course the commissioning of the solar equipment by Mrs. Olubunmi Onabolu. Mrs. Onabolu fondly called Mama Onabolu by all members of the set said after the commissioning that she is filled with joy at what the members of the ’85 set of the school have become and the fact that they are giving back to their alma mater.
She also referenced the acheivements of many other people who have passed through the school as she spoke about some students of the school who were past winners of mathematics and quiz competitions at state and national levels.
At the All Saints Anglican Church, after the thanksgiving service.
There was a Thanksgiving service at the nearby Ansa-ur-Deen mosque after the commissioning.
The second day’s activities started Saturday at around 11.00am with a reunion physical meeting. Members trickled in at first, but the hall of the Welcome Centre Hotel become almost filled up as the meeting progressed.
Meal time at the restaurant at the end of the 3-day event.
The first president of the association is Pastor Biodun Ogunneye who said the opening prayer. He thanked God for his gifts of life to all, love for one another, the school and for bringing each and every attendee together once again.
Kunle Shorinwa, the chairman of the organising committee also took out time to thank everyone for making it to the celebration and of course their cooperation in the course of preparing for the occassion.
The secretary, Dili Utomi (your’s truly) made a speech about the history of the association and the concerted efforts of every member towards achieving the objectives of the association.
Mr. Utomi concluded by saying “As we meet ourselves once again after so many years, the secretariat is happy to be involved in all the activities of this association, we wish each and everyone of us many more decades of good health of the mind and body in great riches and happiness”.
Darasimi Okusuga, the vice president of the association who took charge of the activities noted in her speech while welcoming everyone to the occassion that the “the 2-yrear tenure of the executive committee members will expire in April next year and an election shall be conducted to have a new executive committee members in place.
There was a health talk by Florence Gbadamosi on the topic ‘Sepsis’, an autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to overreact by trying to protect the vital organs while limiting the protection of the limbs thereby causing the limbs to be diseased and maybe eventually amputated.
The reception proper which took place at the same venue in the evening of the day had a full house of attendants.
The back tapping, noisy greetings and the huge expressions of surprise continued in the evening at the reception held for socialising and relaxation and it was a grand event as Mrs. Onabolu as well as the daughter of one of the then teacher, Mrs. Emecheta and many others again graced the occassion.
Students of the Mafoluku Senior Secondary School displaying the excercise books given to them by the members of the old students association.
There were more members of the old students this time with all wearing the recommended aṣọ ẹbi. There were lots to eat and drink and the joy of meeting each other again after so many years was more fulfilling to all present than any kind of meal as they expressed their happiness.
Again, the members expressed their delight at the cooperation and and participation of members and eagerly asked those not present to try and be part of the group.
The Sunday morning was a period of thanksgiving at the All Saints Anglican Church, Oshodi. The final event took place at the Ilé Iyàn restaurant at the Ikeja GRA where as many members as possible turned up to have launch to cap the celebration.
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