By Emmanuel Fashakin, MD
“I owe everything to the Lord. I have beaten tremendous odds in life. A boy raised in one room with a family of seven in the slums of Idumota. I never lose sight of that. Higher Hands are leading me — I owe everything to the Lord.” – Emmanuel Fashakin
In 1972, I finally convinced my dad that I could improve on my 23rd position out of 72 students at St Gregory’s College Lagos if I did not have to spend two hours in traffic to and from travelling from Ebute-Ero and Ikoyi, with my white uniform turned brown in overcrowded buses.
My dad looked at my grade after two terms in Form 3, 48th out of 72, and shook his head. Only 36 students would make it to the Form 4 science class, the other 36 to Arts Class. That was the way at Greg’s those days. Since I was like five years old, my dad had told me that he wanted me to be a doctor. He threatened to stop paying my tuition if I don’t make it to Form 4 Science. I started reading my books again, and in one term improved from 48th to 23rd for the entire set.
Encouraged by my progress, my dad applied for me to be converted from Day to Boarding Student. I arrived at the Boarding House after the Easter Break in April 1972, at the beginning of the Second Term. I was informed by fellow students that the only Boarding room with a spare bed for a Form 3-4 student was Senior Selekere’s dorm room, so I packed my stuff there.
In the evening, all hell broke loose. Senior Selekere, the Dorm Prefect, approached my bed and was snarling, huffing, and puffing. “You cannot stay here. I don’t want Akuba in my dorm. You are a troublemaker. I don’t want trouble here”. I was confused.
A boy in year three, Adeyemo Sodipo followed me outside. “You have to go and talk to the Senior Prefect and the resident Warden. You cannot sleep in the corridor.” I took his advice and explained my plight to the people.
I recognized Senior Selekere’s problems. In my first two years at Gregs, I was bullied a lot. They made fun of my ordinary non-designer shoes, my repeatedly overworn uniform, often brown from rumble in the buses, sometimes torn or frayed at the edges. I did not belong at Greg’s, they told me. Go and find your type of school, poor boy! I stood my ground. That was the lesson you learn at Ebute-Ero — never back from bullies. Selekere did not want a warrior in his dorm. It did not help matters that I decided to shave my head completely, which instantly made me resemble the clean-shaven tough guy “Akuba” in the Roman film.
I was involved with frequent fights in and after school. You hit me once, I will make sure to hit you back. My grades suffered in the first two years. The students loved soccer stories. They were in boarding houses or safe in protected houses in Ikoyi/VI. I spent more time watching live soccer: Stationery Stores with Yakubu Mambo, Haruna Ilerika, Ajavon, Yomi Peters, etc. and I would regale them with stories of how Yakubu Mambo tore down the right flank, passed to Haruna who dribbled two people before slotting the ball into the net with his left foot.
Then in year three, I discovered something else. I was the star student at my Primary School, Holy Trinity Parish School Ebute-Ero. Always at or near the top. I passed the common entrance exam and was admitted to Prestigious St. Gregory’s in Standard 5, skipping the last year of primary school, an unusual feat those days. At Greg’s, my grades suffered. Long bus commutes, Association football, etc. Then something happened.
Throughout the period of my “academics sabbatical”, I remained good at Maths. Unlike other subjects, I did not have to read it afterwards. Once we were taught in class, that was it. I remained hot till the tests and exams. I did poorly in most subjects except Maths. I usually got nearly everything right. The rich boys would crowd my desk, Manny Fash, how did you do number 3, number 4? The only time they showed me any respect. So I told myself, won’t it be nice to do well in ALL subjects, then these blokes would respect me ALL the time?
Back to the story. After the conference with the Senior Prefect and the resident Assistant Boarding House Supervisor, Selekere relented. I was allowed to pack my things back to my place in the middle of the dorm housing about fifteen students. I went about my business diligently. After a sub-par first three years, I had a lot of grounds to cover.
I had no idea that Selekere had a close eye on me. I just went about doing my schoolwork. I kept my area neat. Got up on time. Shower. Dining room. Class. Siesta. Light games. Read into the night. Sleep. But after two weeks, Selekere called me to his corner. I approached with trepidation. “Akuba,” he began, “I have watched you very closely these past weeks. You are a cool boy. All business. Is this how you have always been? I am sorry. I thought that you were going to cause me trouble. I apologize for my behaviour”
Senior Selekere needed not to bother. In the next exam in August (Gregs had no exams in First Term), I improved my position 19 places from 23rd to 4th, and in the only exam we have in Form 5 (we had only six months of Form five as for the first time school year now ended in June in 1973, instead of December), I improved to 2nd, missing first by 0.2% points. And in WASC, got the best result! First!!
When I look back and reflect, I tell my children about the “Selekere Syndrome”, things are not always what they seem, but we must be careful not to give people the wrong impression about ourselves. Truly, Appearances can be Defective!
***
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Dr. Emmanuel Olusegun Fashakin, graduated from St. Gregory’s— Nigeria’s first Catholic high school —with the highest score in the School Certificate Examination in the school that year and gained admission into the University of Ibadan the same year at age 16.
In a class of 188, the year was 1979, Fashakin again became the best graduating student from the Medical School of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan. He won among others the: Sir Manuwa Gold Medal, the Nigerian Medical Association Award for best graduate, The Dean’s Prize, Distinctions in the subjects of Pathology and Pharmacology; and Departmental Prizes as the best student in Pathology, Physiology, and Pharmacology.
After an internship at the State Hospital, in Akure, Ondo State, and one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at Toro Health Center, Toro, Bauchi State, Fashakin returned to the College of Medicine, Ibadan, and did a one-year residency in Pathology between July 1981 and June 1982.
After a brief stint as a Medical Officer in primary care at St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, Dr, Fashakin in February 1983 enrolled as a Surgery Resident at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife. In four years, he completed the surgical residency and passed all the examinations for the award of Diplomas of both the Nigerian Medical College of Surgeons and the West African College of Surgeons without dropping any examination – a record at the time. Emmanuel Fashakin also passed the primary examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in an overseas examination conducted at the University Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana. He was appointed Attending Surgeon and Lecturer in Surgery at the Obafemi University Ile-Ife, Nigeria at 31— the youngest to attain such a position.
Fashakin relocated to the United Kingdom in May 1989 and five weeks later, sat for and passed the Final Examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (the pass rate for the examination was 9-11%). Thus, he became the very first person to be awarded the Fellowships of Nigerian Medical College of Surgeons, West African College of Surgeons, and a Royal College of Surgeons in the United Kingdom by examinations, passing all eight examinations for the award of the Fellowships in record time and without failing any examination at any level.
After four years working in various hospitals in England, Fashakin immigrated to the United States in July 1993. Following the requirement for additional training before a Foreign Medical Graduate could be allowed to practice as a specialist in the US, he switched to primary care and enrolled as a resident in Family Practice at the Jamaica Hospital in July 1993. Again he broke the record for the school for the annual examination conducted for residents by the American Board of Family Medicine in 1995, scoring an all-time high 99th percentile. He was appointed Chief Resident in 1995 and completed Family Medicine residency in July 1996.
Ever hungry for knowledge, Emmanuel Fashakin enrolled as an evening part-time student at the School of Law of St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York in August 2003. He placed first in his class every semester examination since enrollment and in July 2004, was awarded the Dean’s Scholarship, a sum of $10,000 applied to tuition, as the best student in the evening section. Dr. Fashakin won the Dean’s Scholarship every year thereafter, completing the hat-trick in August 2006. He graduated magna cum laude from Law School in January 2007, with a GPA of 3.78, coming first and winning the CALI Awards in eleven courses taken in the Law School. Thereafter, he took and passed the Bar Examinations in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, all at the first shot, and is now a licensed Attorney and Counselor at Law, admitted to the State Bars of New York, New Jersey, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Dr Fashakin has remained active in the practice of medicine since 1979 and in April 2012, he was conferred with the highest honor as a Family Physician as a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, FAAFP. On April 5, 2013, Emmanuel O. Fashakin was certified as a Civil Surgeon by the USCIS to conduct Immigration Medical Examinations.
Emmanuel O. Fashakin, MD and Attorney at Law, a registered soccer referee in Nigeria, UK and the US, plays the piano, guitar and violin. He is also an avid golfer with a handicap index in the low twenties.
