Grace Speaks for Every Young Person, Excerpts from the Will to Win, the Story of Biodun Shobanjo

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By Dotun Adekambi

Grace speaks for every young person.

As a young man, Biodun Shobanjo – later to become one of Nigeria’s foremost advertising practitioners – had his ‘moments’… the kind of ‘down time’ that tends to derail destiny. But out of adversity, he found redemption.

Let’s chill this Sunday morning with excerpts from my book, The Will To Win: The Story of Biodun Shobanjo published by Havilah Book Merchants.

Come with me…

“In 1959, while in Form 2, he accompanied members of the school’s debating team to a literary and debating society event. After the major debaters had spoken, the topic was thrown to the floor as the judges tallied scores. He volunteered to speak. His contribution won him applause, honourable mention before Chinwah and a regular place in the school’s debating team. But his contribution was not as spontaneous as his schoolmates had thought. Unknown to them, he had thoroughly rehearsed what he would say before they left Odogbolu. Over the years, the habit of making thorough preparation before any major private or professional event remained his trademark.

His new-found fame greatly boosted his level of confidence. He believed he could do just about anything. As proof of his can-do spirit, he chose to explore life in town and was intent on enjoying himself doing this, never minding that the school’s promotion examinations were due to start in a couple of weeks. The annual ‘Oro’ festival, which was just hitting a crescendo at the time in Odogbolu, provided a good avenue for him to act out his dream. In the company of his friends, Shobanjo gave wings to his earnest desire and he was lifted to the peak of excitement by the music and songs of the occasion. Before long, he danced himself to a hospital bed when he fell into a ditch and made light of the abrasion on his foot. The wound festered into a sore that caused him to be admitted in hospital. He prayed that his father would not know the real cause of how he landed in hospital, for if that happened, his goose was cooked.

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He was discharged from hospital just in time for him to write his exams. Not surprisingly, his grades were extremely weak but he was very lucky that he got promoted ‘on trial’ to Class Three. His father never saw the results because, unfortunately, he had died by the time they were released. But his uncle, Israel, was greatly infuriated by the poor performance and he expressed his disappointment in very clear terms, just so Shobanjo would sit up and concentrate on his studies.

The unsparing reprimand worked; indeed, it brought about a dramatic positive change in the boy. The change, however, did not come about so much by what his uncle said. On the contrary, he was challenged by the resentment he felt regarding how the message was scathingly driven home. Israel’s entreaties at this point brought forth a fighting spirit in his nephew, who had now come to terms with the fact that fate had dealt him a bad hand and, as such, he needed to ensure that constructive things emerged from his adversity.

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He, however, was perceptive enough to realise that the ominous clouds of crises did not gather overnight after the death of his father but long before then. 1959 consequently became the turning point in his life, for he had just been pulled back from the brink of failure.

As he would later admit: “Something in me snapped, which made me realise that once you are on your own, you are on your own and you have got to fight for your own survival. I think it is fair to say that from that moment on I learned to take on life face to face.”

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He returned to school in 1960 more refined, a stanza of the OGS School Song played over and over in his head with profound clarity:
What trouble have we seen
What conflict have we passed
Fighting without and fears within
Since we assembled last.

A lot of things changed about him, which everyone immediately noticed. He began to learn how to lead people, how to take charge and how to assume responsibility. In his mind, he ascribed the role of a surrogate father to Chinwah in addition to his position as Principal.

From that moment, too, he became one of the front-runners in his class. From that time, he started to carefully nurture an attitude of winning, one that manifested year-on-year in his winning of prizes in Proficiency, Geography, Scripture (Bible Knowledge), Yoruba, English Language and English Literature. He, however, missed the Top 3 slots because of his weakness in Mathematics. In 1962, he was appointed the school’s acting Senior Prefect and the substantive Senior Prefect in his final year in 1963, second only to Christopher Ogunlana, in the six-year history of OGS.

…Shobanjo lived up to his billing as a ‘Fine Boy,’ which was his nickname in the early years when he lived with his uncle at Iwaya in Mainland Lagos. Many of his acquaintances then recalled him as the young man who loved the good life, who dreamt a great deal and who wrote ‘plenty English’.

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He did not particularly fall in love with the neighbourhood that had electricity but no television; where there was no pipe-borne water and where he had to walk long distances because there was no vehicle available for his use. But the neighbourhood was pleasant and simple. His motley crowd included his cousin, Adegboyega and friends like Terry Torlowei and the late Gboyega Ladeinde. He, however, received severe beatings at home because of his friendship with Ganiyu, who was more popularly called ‘Omo Baba Eleegun’ because his father had several masquerades. His uncle could not fathom how a well brought up Christian boy could get mixed up with the son of a traditionalist…”

To read more, order your copy Paperback: N10,000 (exclusive of delivery charges pan-Nigeria):
Online:
www.thewilltowin.ng
www.dotunadekanmbi.com
www.amazon.com

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