By Sonnie Ekwowusi
Last Saturday, for me, was a memorable day. I attended the Annual National Convention of the Immaculate Conception College (ICC) in Benin-City, my alma mater. The event took place at the Nigeria Air Force Officers’ Mess on Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Convention was organized by the Old Boys Association of the College. Finding myself in the company of several old classmates and school compatriots, most of whom I had not seen for dozens of years, I was lost in deep thoughts and reminiscences about the path we had trodden in the past. Some philosophers identify life simply as mere activity. Yes, life brings with it an activity, but life cannot be reduced to mere activity. To be alive means to exist in a concrete way. And if we must exist in a concrete way, we cannot continuously move forward and forward, unsure of where we are going. Someday we must return. Those who do not manage to return are lost forever in the abyss. Last Saturday, I found myself returning. I was returning to the College where I was weaned.
Founded in 1944 by Patrick Joseph Kelly, an Irish missionary who was also the first Catholic Bishop of Benin (Kelly also founded the College of Immaculate Conception (C.I.C) in Enugu, St. Patrick’s College in Asaba, and Maria Goretti College in Benin-City), ICC was distinguished for imparting character and learning suitable for human flourishing .
In those good days, ICC was the college to attend. At ICC, there was keen competition in academics, Sports and other extra-curricular activities. Only the best and the brightest excelled. By the way, at ICC, you were adjudged one of the best and the brightest students if you were in the Science Class. Little did they tell us that a History major, for instance, could excel in this competitive world. We were meant to believe that carrying a Physics or Additional Mathematics book up and down was the best way to strike success in life. At ICC, studying late at night after the School Lights Out was dubbed “awoko.” Doing “awoko” was punishable, but somehow some stubborn students knew how to beat the law and do “awoko.” For instance, Christopher Salami was a ‘bookworm’. He was an “awoko” specialist. Prior to any Physics exam, for instance, Salami must have read the Nelkon Physics textbook from cover to cover.
There was keen competition in cleanliness. The four Houses at ICC, namely St. Martin de Porres House, College House, St. Kizito House, and St. Mulumba House, competed for neatness every week. I was in Porres House, the Blue House, and the best House in ICC. Up Porres House!
Our School Principal was the legendary Dr. Joseph Itotoh (of blessed memory). He was a strict disciplinarian, a wordsmith, an orator, and a consummate wag. Dr. Itotoh held students spellbound with his oratorical speech during the Morning Assembly. He was a grammarian. After the Saturday cleaning-up, Itotoh would swagger around the Houses with his walking stick to conduct what was known as the Saturday Inspection. Itotoh inspected everything: the students’ beds, the way the students dressed, the walls, the grounds, the ceilings, student lockers, and so forth, in search of dirt. Penmanship featured in my time at ICC. Students enrolled in the Penmanship Competition. The winners received various prizes. Godwin, one of our classmates, was the best in Penmanship. His handwriting was splendid. He wrote as if he were a printer. We used to admire his writing in his notebooks. Our teachers, some of whom were foreigners, were dedicated teachers. They knew our names by heart. I remember Mr. & Mrs. John, an Indian couple who respectively taught Biology. I remember Mrs. Nweze, who doubled as both our English Teacher and Literature in English Teacher. She was a soft-spoken and angelic-looking lady. Unlike the useless novels recommended for Nigerian students to study today, at ICC, we studied Macbeth, Things Fall Apart, Mine Boy, Jane Eyre, Zambia Shall Be Free, Treasure Island, and other intellectually engaging literature books. Something happened the day we read the portion of Things Fall Apart where Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna, the boy who called him father. Throughout that day, all our classmates were in mourning mood. While some maintained ominous silence, others simply refused to eat anything. “How can Okonkwo kill Ikemefuna, the boy who calls him father?, many queried.
Speaking Pidgin English, the Vernacular, or the Native Tongue was forbidden at ICC. The punishment for speaking Pidgin or the Native Tongue was the uprooting of a big tree in the School Orchard. Anthony Agho, a school footballer, was not very fluent in English. He could hardly utter an English word without multiple Bini words slipping off his tongue. As a result, he was always seen from morning till evening uprooting one big tree or another, the punishment meted out to Vernacular/Mother tongue speakers. Poor Agho! He uprooted many trees for speaking the Vernacular language.
All in all, at the heart of ICC’s philosophy is the all-round formation of the human person, which is why the College places so much emphasis on the academic, cultural, spiritual, human, moral, and scientific formation of its students. Special emphasis was placed on moral instruction at ICC at that time, to the extent that an ICC student who failed the Moral Instruction Exam was not promoted to the next class, even if they excelled brilliantly in subjects like Mathematics, Physics, History, and others. At ICC, you are not asked whether you are intelligent because that is already taken for granted. Rather, you are asked whether you are excelling along the line of the Motto of the College, “semper et ubique fidelis” (Always and everywhere faithful) in practicing the core values of service, humility, responsibility, human refinement, prudence, kindness, integrity, courage taught at ICC.
Speaking of courage, ICC is built upon the Benin Moat. The Benin Moat, traditionally known as Iya, was built around 1280-1295. It is said that the Benin Moat is the largest man-made earthworks in the world. Its remains consist of deep gullies dug with crude implements by the Bini Natives to protect the Benin Empire from European imperial invaders who were hunting for native slaves. Sighting the remains of the Moat from the ICC compound was dreadful. But casting fear aside, the Boys Scout Movement of ICC applied to cross the Benin Moat with bare ropes. Our principal granted them permission. Surprisingly, one Saturday morning, the members of the Boys Scout Club Movement, fully attired in their Boys Scout uniforms and led by Scout Masters Joseph Musa and Ikpefan, were seen marching towards the Benin Moat and intoning; “Baden Powell, he was a leader, he used to wear khaki; Paden Powell, he was a leader who used to wear khaki!, khaki!! Khaki!!!” All the students gathered and cheered the courageous Boys Scout members as they crossed the Benin Moat with ropes.
ICC has long been known for excellence in sports. In fact, sporting activities complement academic studies at ICC. I remember Rabbit Field, where sportive students competed in shot put and javelin. The four Houses competed favorably in various sports such as athletics, pole vault, football, badminton, volleyball, javelin, and shot put during the College Inter-House Sports. Our Vice-Principal, Epelle Ebedi, was always seen in his white sports attire jogging in the field every evening. You were not a complete student of ICC if you were not a sports student. Oladipo Okpeseyi SAN, for instance, who delivered a keynote at the Convention last Saturday, excelled in various sports at ICC. I may be wrong, but I think Oladipo once won the school’s victor ludorum. Peter Mordi was always seen in colorful sports attires. ICC football strikers Obaze, Polycarp, and Olise mesmerized and penetrated all starchy defenses during football matches. Even though he was in junior class that time Obiora, son of a previous ICC Vice-Principal, kept a clean slate in goal. Athletic-built Ologbesere was ICC’s 100 meters best. He won medals in the local 100 meters dash and 400 meters relays. At that time, ICC was always victorious in the Junior Table Tennis Championships, with Sixtus always demolishing his opponents.
It is impossible to say goodbye to ICC. Once a student of ICC, always a student of ICC. ICC is not just the name of a college. ICC is life. ICC is a way of being. It is an ideal that is lived every day. I look forward to returning to my alma mater. Semper et ubique fidelis.
