Meet Benedy The Law, Nigeria’s oldest law student

Pa Benedy Ogbole

At an age close to 80 years with a child of his already a lawyer, Pa Benedy Ogbole Igene has just finished his first session second semester law examination. He shares with Features Editor, Wole Efunnuga, how his life has been an embodiment of crises and why he, at his age, ventured into a law programme.

PAPA. That is his sobriquet among his peers. No other sobriquet appears more apt. He is a Papa among other Papas and Mamas at the Ibadan Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Though blessed with a boyish and sportsmanlike figure, both the centre overseer, facilitators and other grandpa students call him Papa and bow when greeting him. A close contact with him will show that, indeed, the difference is clear. If former President Olusegun Obasanjo were to be in his centre, he would have no option than to call him Egbon, meaning elder.

His sojourn in life has not had much of pleasant experiences. Rather, his life has been like someone who had his umbilical cord tied to crises when coming to the world. Said he to Mid-Week Tribune: “The period I was in my mother’s womb was a mystery. I was born long before what doctors now call Expected Delivery Date (EDD). When I was born, villagers who knew of my birth did not rejoice with my mother. Some days after, some of them came to my mother and asked Ogbole? meaning can he survive? Others called me Izagodo, meaning empty vessel. For four months, I was not christened. My mother addressed me as Omo, meaning my baby. It was when I grew up that my mother told me all these.”

Into the pool of turbulence he was born and he swam through the thick and the tin to make ends meet. In his resume, he has to his credit, so to say, work experiences as a house boy, gardener, cook and shop sweeper to mention a few. But he was resolute and dogged. “As a houseboy, I was eager to go to college. When they sent me out to go and sell kerosene or bread, I will stop at the market and help some women to sweep their shops for a fee. I used this money to purchase form and wrote entrance examination into Immaculate concession, Benin but I didn’t have money to go for the interview. This propelled me to take a job at the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrua as a general labourer for about three years”, he recalled.

Despite all these efforts, his best did not come and it has been his resolve to make it in life. With his Standard IV certificate, he went for his pre-General Certificate in Education (GCE), GCE ordinary and advanced levels and to the University of Ibadan where he studied combined honours. “I made up my mind that in nine years, I will become a graduate and God granted my prayer because I had the strong will and determination,” Papa Benedy said.

He did not stop at that, between 1978 and 1980, he applied for post graduate course in Theatre Arts and subsequently, Masters degree in Theatre Arts which he later abandoned due to another problem. “As a person, I have had many problems in life. And each time a problem comes, it is from there that I will pick up to the next level. I will give an example. I was a victim of the 1980 Ibadan flood. Then, I lost everything I ever had to flood. My car was carried away. In fact, I moved away from the house. On getting to the gate of the house, I looked back and tears rolled down my cheeks. I thanked God for taking all I thought was my own and then I thanked him for what he left for me – my intellect”, Papa told Mid-Week Tribune.

Very recently too, he was a victim of another flood disaster that consumed his house via University of Ibadan second gate, his one-month old car and swept off all the fishes in his pond valued at over one million naira. “I blame government for this because if there had been proper channelisation in the area, the havoc would not have been severe”, he noted.

Why study law
“I choose to study because of the question of relevance. I have always been relevant whereever I find myself. I believe if I become a lawyer, I will be more relevant to the society in terms of solving societal problems and helping the poor, I hate oppression and I will always stand against oppression. I have had financial might in the past and I have helped so many people. In fact, I have been a motivator, particularly academic motivator, to many people. As a professional photographer, many people have studied photography because they want to be like Benedy and Sons Photo. I have trained many people in that field. My life has served as motivation for them. But I think I can still be more relevant in the profession of law. Without money, I can help the oppressed to know their rights and on many other things. Making people better is enough for me.” Notwithstanding his tales of woes, Benedy has, at one point in time, been comfortable by Nigerian standard. Houses of his own. Cars of his own. A heavily-equipped photo studio. He sponsored his late mother to foreign trips abroad thus making her the first person (then) to travel abroad in their village, Afuda. Six children, all graduates, one a lawyer. When asked if he would not be shy to address his son as my senior colleague when eventually called to the bar, he said “that is the joy of the profession.”

Role models
“There are three personalities who are my role models. The first person is Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I have told people times without number that aside Jesus Christ, Chief Awolowo is my lord. Not only because he was a lawyer but because he came to help this country. Without him, I wouldn’t have been here. Awo was a lord to my community. I was born into a hostile community. I suffered guinea worm problem among other problems. Awolowo came and rescued my community. Later, I got to know that he was a lawyer and began to see how he became a lawyer. I read about his plights and determination. Since then, I have always been using his philosophy. The two other personalities are Justices Olu Atake and Adewale Thompson (all of blessed memory). I have their pictures in my house. Every morning, when I wake up, I look at their pictures and say God, let me be like these men of honour.

His date of birth
Like his counterpart in Abeokuta centre whose date of birth is always a subject of controversy, a lot of controversy surrounds Pa Ogbole’s date of birth as there were no records to indicate his precise date of birth. All he could remember is that he was already grown up during the second world war and he remembers Hitler very well.

Life as a photographer
It was courtesy of photography that he made good impact in life. He owes his photography life to one Mr. Oyelami who, during his apprenticeship days in Ibadan, used to collect his (Benedy)’s salary, only to give him only 10 shillings for his upkeep per month. The remaining amount saved on his behalf by S. Oyelami became the source of Benedy and Sons Photo Laboratory. Destiny, according to him, made him to become a photographer. If he had not been sacked from the farm at Irrua for agitating for increase in workers’ wages, the need to come to Ibadan would not have occurred to him. The demise of his mother at a period he needed her most is something that will, for long, linger in his mind. A mother who used to trek four kilometres in search of maize for his (Benedy)’s survival. A mother who would look at a big problem and say ‘this problem will not consume you’.

Attitude in school
Barrister Adetayo Ademola Taiwo is one of Benedy’s facilitators at NOUN. He teaches Legal Methods I & II. According to him, “Benedy’s physical appearance can make one refer to him as Papa but his contributions in the class is so super. He contributes like a 25-year-old. His colleagues always bow when he contributes. “Papa has good attributes of a lawyer. One of the tools needed in legal practice is language and Benedy is a custodian of language. He has all it takes to become a lawyer. He has good reasoning perspective. I have no doubt that granted good health to complete his programme, he will prove his worth.”