Much has been written about two of my boyhood classmates – Sam Okoye and Justin Obi – notably by our revered Agbogidi and respected Prof. Anyakoha.
Both described them as geniuses.
They were indeed and the traits were recognizable as early as our junior years in Owerri.
Sam Okoye and Justin Obi were my classmates in the Class of 52b. We arrived the School on October 6, 1952.
Like many others, I came through Owerri Motor Park and accessed the School with a bicycle taxi which was the prevailing mode of transport at the time.
My box was securely tied on the rear
carrier, with short sticks to extend its carrying capacity, while I sat on the frame between the handle of the bike and the rider’s seat.
On arrival in OGSS, I was shown my accommodation which, as I later realized, was an ad hoc dormitory. It was allocated to the 10 smallest boys among the fags (name given to freshmen).
It was there that I met Sam Okoye and Justin Obi. Our special dormitory was supervised by Uduh Patrick – a Class 3 boy.
We shared our dormitory with Infant 1 kids of Government School, Owerri. It was our dormitory from after lunch to before breakfast every School day and weekends. On School days, we moved our bunks and beddings out before breakfast to let it be the Classroom for Class 1 kids and after lunch we regained it as our dormitory. This was our daily ritual.
Our beds comprised two stands and two pieces of plank each measuring about 5ft x 1ft.
The Infant Class of Government School, Owerri moved out in December 1952 marking the end of our School’s transition from Middle School to Secondary School.
Okoye S and Obi J were remarkably brilliant students. However, while Sam was quiet and avoiding confrontation, Justin was very quarrelsome and combative.
In all our years, results of both of them were consistently in the top five but not necessarily always at the top of the class.
It is noteworthy that in our years at Owerri, gradings in the Easter and Christmas terms were based on Mark’s Collection (impromptu tests conducted at the discretion of the teacher) and not the formal planned examinations.
Exams which were at end of the school year were the basis for promotion. Obi J and Okoye S were enthusiastic sportsmen. Indeed, Obi was a good boxer. If Boxing was an inter Collegiate Sports in our time, Obi would have made the School team as he did in Athletics.
Okoye while not being in any School team got Standards in some Athletics events.
Both were House Prefects in PykeNott and Owerri House respectively.
We did the West African School Certificate in November/ December 1957 and expectedly they both passed in Division 1.
We returned for HSC in January 1958.
They passed the entrance examination to University College, Ibadan, and moved on to graduate with 1st Class Honors.
These two academic stars of OGSS ’52b died young and couldn’t live to their full potential. Regrettably though, the circumstances of Obi Justin’s death weren’t a credit to the Old School although reminiscent of his aggressive and combative nature.
And so, Class of ’52b and OGSS prematurely lost two stars. May their souls rest in peace.
