It was the period between the end of the Civil war and the Oil Boom. A
small outpost harboring an Airport, a military base, a railway station
was in transition.Oshodi, the center of Lagos, or as we say, the center of the universe, since it was believed that it was impossible for the pre -Fashola Oshodi Market crowd, which ebbs and flows 24/7, to be so busy without the presence of ghosts and spirits, who, it was claimed by most with religious conviction, came to buy and sell at Oshodi, especially at night.
We relocated to Oshodi from Lagos island in 1972, and a few days later,
the kids we met in our new neighborhood, introduced me to a man that
would play a major role in my childhood and early teen years.
He was known as baba ibeji the barber. his shop was located at the end of our street, Olusoji- Shobiye, but was facing Adedeji street.
He was a barber and a bicycle repairman, but to us kids, he was the bicycle renter, if there is such a word.
Everyday after school, and all day on holidays, my friends and I would report at his shed to rent bicycles for an average of fifteen minutes for one kobo. He had an assorted range of the old school winding clocks to track us. We would pay for fifteen minutes, but would ride around the neighbourhood for an hour.
Upon our return, he would seize our sandals, or shirts, or knickers in lieu of payment, and we would be on full prostration begging for our stuff, until an adult would either plead or pay on our behalf, with a stern warning not to do so again.
The very next day, we would do the very same thing, the very same way.
You could therefore, imagine my feeling of nostalgia when I saw Baba a couple of days ago at Oshodi, admonishing little kids the same way and for the same offense we used to commit with criminal regularity forty odd years ago!
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Now well into his eighties with grown up children, Baba told me he has been in that location since he returned from the war in 1970. Baba has continuously refused his kids attempt to retire him, saying he would die if he were to sit around all day doing nothing.
He still operates the barbershop, still repairs and rents out bikes and still admonish defaulters in that firm, but now frail, military voice, forty five years later.
Baba Ibeji Onikeke represents that generation that sees an honest day's labour as a virtue not a burden, and whose ambitions in life are anchored on contentment, not greed.
i am sure there is a moral lesson there, somewhere.
My Ten Kobo.
He was known as baba ibeji the barber. his shop was located at the end of our street, Olusoji- Shobiye, but was facing Adedeji street.
He was a barber and a bicycle repairman, but to us kids, he was the bicycle renter, if there is such a word.
Everyday after school, and all day on holidays, my friends and I would report at his shed to rent bicycles for an average of fifteen minutes for one kobo. He had an assorted range of the old school winding clocks to track us. We would pay for fifteen minutes, but would ride around the neighbourhood for an hour.
Upon our return, he would seize our sandals, or shirts, or knickers in lieu of payment, and we would be on full prostration begging for our stuff, until an adult would either plead or pay on our behalf, with a stern warning not to do so again.
The very next day, we would do the very same thing, the very same way.
You could therefore, imagine my feeling of nostalgia when I saw Baba a couple of days ago at Oshodi, admonishing little kids the same way and for the same offense we used to commit with criminal regularity forty odd years ago!
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Now well into his eighties with grown up children, Baba told me he has been in that location since he returned from the war in 1970. Baba has continuously refused his kids attempt to retire him, saying he would die if he were to sit around all day doing nothing.
He still operates the barbershop, still repairs and rents out bikes and still admonish defaulters in that firm, but now frail, military voice, forty five years later.
Baba Ibeji Onikeke represents that generation that sees an honest day's labour as a virtue not a burden, and whose ambitions in life are anchored on contentment, not greed.
i am sure there is a moral lesson there, somewhere.
My Ten Kobo.
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