I got to know him as Achalla, whether this was his his real name, I cannot recall but what ever real names he may have had, the name Achalla, must have eclipsed the real names of our then School Captain (just as the name, Gadaffi eclipsed the real names of our mate and brother, Enwezor, Flavian Obidigbo up till this day).
Achalla, as School captain, was a matured upper sixth form student, who, (from my then youthful estimation), must have been in his late thirties or early forties; it is possible he was a former soldier of conscience and fought to defend his short-lived Country, Biafra, during the civil war and came back to complete his studies thereafter. He could have had a wife and children, then. Who knows?
Achalla, as School Captain, was anything but friendly; he was no student’s favourite and neither laughed nor was seen smiling throughout his reign as School Captain. He was feared for five reasons: *his age, *baritone voice; *his class – upper six (were in their own world in our School then, pursuing advanced level certificate, A-level, while others battled for a-yet-to-be-obtained ordinary level certificate, O-level); *his burly, huge frame and *his -never-smiling -posture like Tunde Idiagbon of blessed memory.
You had nothing to cheer about this Prefect of Prefects and prayed that he never visited your dormitory or class on a normal day or during Saturday inspections where he would almost always see or conjure reasons/infractions to School rules to punish even a whole class or House. He was feared more than our teachers. Achalla was an enigma of a student, I should say.
Even the ‘Day students’ mainly from Owerri Town, with a history of mindless truancy, artful dodging, and outright absence from School (just to evade one punishment or another) were not spared by Achalla. Once you have been booked for an offence, he would hunt you down no matter how long you avoided School or dodged Assembly sessions. He was persistently flawless in his effort towards preserving the age-old norms and forms of our great School.He was as persistent as the mosquito in doing this job, ably assisted by a crop of carefully-selected Prefects. He certainly deserves our collective honour and garlands as Ogssians.
Upon entering the dining hall during lunch, he reaches for the bell, which he hardly rang, but faintly makes a mild sound with it while flashing his usual trademark of never-smiling- face menacingly, around the hall; you could imagine the ‘sound of silence’ that would envelope the once noisy market place of a refectory (where boarders are struggling with their cutleries as well as senior boys shouting at the top of their voices at the junior- student sharers for their own shares, equivalent to lion shares of the food. )
His address in the Dining Hall in a baritone voice, is brief and laden with trepidation, authority, power, inspiring fear and anxiety: ‘Immediately after this meal’, he begins, ‘run straight to your dormitories, carry your knives and make your way straight to the Masters quarters, where the Prefect on duty would show you what to do. If for any reason, I repeat, if for any reason, your name is brought to me for not doing your work, you would have your self to blame’.
He then prays for the food : ‘For the food before us, we thank thee O Lord’ ,after ensuring that all those who started eating on all tables before his prayers are summarily punished by the Prefects there.
Thereafter, he heads for his cubicle where his boy would usually ferry his lion-share(more than a fair share of five students’ ration usually dished out from the pantry – a rare privilege) despite our paying the same N20 boarding fee and school fees of just N18.
Achalla never ate in the dining hall but inside his hallowed chambers – Cubicle attached to one of the Houses, I think, Owerri House. Even the House was dreaded by students while the cubicle was ‘strictly out of bounds’ to students.
The School captain’s boy was the envy of other students because if the School Captain had no visitor who ate with him, there was no way he would consume all that ration in his lion or elephant share, if you like; the lucky boy would always have more to eat and share with his mates and seniors alike. Not withstanding I did not envy him, as he was not immune from the usual wrath of the ‘Top Bully’ from time to time. No body was spared.There were clear instances.
Some of us avoided this ‘Top Bully’s known routes for fear of running into him or kept a safe distance when he’s in front because he would always see something to punish you for; flying your shirt, wearing the wrong day dress, keeping a bushy hair, not obeying the bell, walking while you were supposed to be running, everything about him was discipline and good conduct .
ACHALLA AS SCHOOL GOAL KEEPER
That very year, our School would have done pretty well in soccer after beating IFE Grammar School, in Mbaise and despatched visiting Priscilla Memorial, Oguta at Owerri Sports Stadium; but our winning streak was cut short by HOLY GHOST COLLEGE : HOGOSCO, or ARUGO HIGH SCHOOL, our usual kill-joy.
Achalla, was our goal keeper in this team that suffered a humiliating defeat in the hands of HOGOSCO, by letting in three goals but because of the usual awe that surrounded his person, this humiliation was never discussed openly in the school (rather in hush-hush tones) for fear of the possible accompanying wrath of this ‘burly bully’, Achalla.
What a School Captain!What a man! What an Ogssian!, What a reign of terror, if you like.
However right or wrong, this man, Achalla, helped in no small measure in preserving the age-long tradition of discipline- punctuality (and time consciousness), respect for constituted authority, obedience to lawful order before complaint, respect for seniority, high academic standards of my School, your School and our Alma Mater- Government Secondary School, PMB 1006 ,Owerri, and we really owe him a debt of gratitude.
But where is Achalla today?
Achalla has long, gone and is past; his sun set in the year 2015, nearly five clear years today. Sadly he died unsung despite leaving indelible good conduct and discipline in our psyche. Other Achallas, whose sun also has set is Jerry Iwuala, aka O Jerry, the Ogwa-born School Prefect and wordsmith , whose words set a high tone for discipline: voluntarily, compulsory, juvenile delinquency, assassination of character, crass arrogance and gross misconduct, escaping justice and running into injustice, disobeying constituted authority, flying out of tangent and descending on a student with utmost alacrity etc, etc, all set the tone for good conduct on us in our days. Jerry Iwuala or O Jerry’s sun, set in 2013, also unsung.
Fellow Ogssians, the only way we can immortalize these Achallas is to uphold the virtues for which they lived and died and for which we, Ogssians, remain the ultimate beneficiaries.
To live in the hearts of those you touched their lives positively is not to die.
ADIEU ACHALLA,
ADIEU, JERRY IWUALA, aka O Jerry
Tribute first published in ogssian news magazine, 2019 edition.
Dike Jude, an alumni was a member of Njemanze House. He can be reached on +2348036709789
