Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has disclosed that he was not an ‘A’ class student in his secondary school years.
He said in Chapter 2 of his new book, “Journey of Service”, while recalling events at his secondary school days at Provincial School Bida, now Government College, Bida.
He said, “Looking back now, some 62 years after we left school, it is evident that we enjoyed ourselves at Bida. We studied hard but also enjoyed ourselves. I was far from being an ‘A’ student. At best, I was a good average student! Even at that time, I had no illusions about my capabilities. I knew what I thought my strengths and weaknesses were.
“But I also knew that collectively, the class of ’62 made the best of its years at Bida, partly because, as I said earlier, our teachers compelled us to soar even beyond heights that seemed hitherto unattainable.”
IBB said his classmates would remember him for different reasons.
They include, “The so-called ‘rebellion’ I led, I believe, in 1959 when we were in Form 3 (or was it Form 4). At that time, Bida was unbearably hot.
“Whenever that happened, senior students would camp their beds outdoors at night to escape the heat, abandoning us, junior students, in our steaming hot rooms.
So, one day, in defiance of the seemingly unfair established rule, I led the junior students to move their beds outside to enable them enjoy the cool air too. Suddenly, all hell broke loose.”
The former military president recalled that the head boy, Garba Paiko (Dada), the son of his primary school Arithmetic teacher, Yakubu Paiko, confronted him.
“The head boy had known me from Minna, and his father had put me under his care. But that
didn’t stop him from taking umbrage at me for ‘leading’ the protest and breaking an established school convention,” he said.
General Babangida said after they deliberated on the matter, he gave in to his point of view and allowed the junior students to stay outside whenever it was unbearably hot, saying the incident probably earned him the respect of a handful of students.
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