Let me add to your snippets, particularly on Justin Obi and Sam Okoye. Both were not your usual smart fellows; they were absolutely brilliant minds.
You may recall that a first class at UCI was a rarity then, particularly in the pure sciences. Whilst Sam Okoye, an absolutely disciplined man, sailed through, Obi’s first class was highly debated by the university administration, before the final award, because he didn’t attend sufficient lectures while still attaining that level academically. He subsequently went to the University of Wisconsin and never actually settled down to earn a PhD, even though he was accorded the rank of professor.
During the civil war, he took up a teaching position in the most prestigious girls’ secondary school in Monrovia, Liberia. An alleged amorous overture to a white American colleague was said to have been rebuffed. The resulting face-off didn’t go well. Obi was reportedly deported to the USA. On arrival in New York, he met me at Columbia University and asked me to take him to the Chemistry Department. After about an hour’s discussion, he was offered appointment as a research professor in his field, Crystallography, a rare field bordering on Physics. That was the mark of his brilliance.
Unknown to me, he went back to the same school in Liberia looking for the same former colleague. It was in an attempt to arrest him a second time that he sought refuge in the Bishop’s residence. The Bishop handed him to the police, who deported him a second time. He went back to Liberia a third time with a gun and shot the bishop dead.
He was convicted for murder, but incumbent President Tubman had a personal policy of not approving the execution of persons on death row. President Tolbert, who came to office in 1971, approved the execution of persons on death row, including him in 1972 or so.
His talent was not limited to academics. Even in our primary school, St. John’s at Onitsha, the murals he painted on the walls were masterly, particularly, for a primary school child. He was also the leader of our boxing club in OGSS.
Following his kidney failure, Sam Okoye was for many years the Education Adviser at the Nigeria High Commission in London. I believe his field was Astrophysics.
It is noteworthy that the Class of 1952 which included Sam Okoye and Justin Obi may be among the most brilliant in OGSS history.
Of the 29 who sat for the Cambridge school certificate exam, 20 passed in grade 1, 8 in grade 2, and only one person failed. The policy then was that one needed to obtain a Credit in English to earn a grade 1. A Pass in English, irrespective of the number of distinctions in other subjects, earned a grade 2. Failure in English, irrespective of the number of distinctions in other subjects, earned a failure in the overall exam.
Those nine in the class that had grade 2 or failed had an average of about five distinctions each. Thus, the class would otherwise have had a 100% score of grade 1, if not for British colonialism!
Two great minds, several other bright personalities! Up OGSS.
His Marjesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Obi of Onitsha is of the class of ’55.
