IGBINEDION THE MESSENGER

Osawaru soon became bored with the rural environment and before long he sought and secured another job in Benin City, this time as an office messenger at the City Council. In an interview, Chief Igbinedion disclosed that his attraction to city life influenced his decision to quit teaching at the Okoro Village II School and to opt for any job including that of a messenger in the city. Although he was “never officially employed as a messenger”, he served in that capacity at the Council.

His friends at the time confirmed that the young Igbinedion displayed qualities that made the humble job appear an honourable one. He dressed neatly, usually formally, and the general outlook he wore made it easy for him to associate freely with personalities of much higher substance. He had a personality carriage that far outweighed that of his colleagues on the job and before long he became engaged in other assignments that brought him out into the limelight.

As a messenger on a monthly salary of £3:16s (three pounds and sixteen shillings) he also served in the Local Adult Education office where he became involved in the circulation of an adult literacy campaign newspaper “Ebe Ukpalaghodaro” (Progress Book), introduced in 1955 by the Education Department to eradicate illiteracy in Benin Division. Patronage of the paper was poor because of the lack of effective coverage of the area by the organisers of the programme. Although they were supplied with motor cycles for the purpose, some of them could not ride the motor cycles; and some others who could, had no license to do so.

This was where the young Igbinedion again showed leadership qualities. Before long he identified the problem and confronted same with his usual determination. He borrowed a motor cycle, dressed neatly in his shirt and tie, and travelled around all the adult education centres playing the role of an Adult Education Officer. He visited school heads, regularly addressed teachers and pupils alike that the newspaper which sold for one penny per copy was compulsory for all. By this strategy the sale of the paper increased tremendously to the extent that the Benin Divisional Council won for two consecutive years, the Western Region’s Adult Education Cup for effective campaign against illiteracy.

The significance of this particular event was not only in the increased sale of the newspaper, or in the increase in adult literacy level in the communities served as a result of the activities of young Igbinedion. Rather, the remarkable issue was the ease with which Osawaru, the messenger, adjusted himself to the position of an Adult Education Officer and succeeded in accomplishing a task which the officially appointed adult education officers could not perform. A quality that earned him this ability was his overall progressive carriage. He was always neat, presentable and organised. He knew what he wanted and knew how to go about it. As he disclosed in an interview, he knew that the job of a messenger did not befit him, but he had to make the best of it. He seized on the job of an Adult Education Officer as a way out of his predicament and succeeded in remaining prominent on the job partly through his efficiency and partly by out-witting others who were on that schedule. He disclosed in the same interview that his ability to ride a motor cycle placed him at an advantage over his counterparts who did not know how to ride. In the end, the paper they claimed was not selling tripled in sales.

This phenomenon was to become a trait in his future life in his quest for survival in a very competitive world. Obviously, this appears to be one of those attributes he acquired from his father. As a messenger he was unduly meticulous, watching out keenly for details about himself and his job. A source revealed that the young Igbinedion carried out his office duties with ardent concern. About himself, other than dressing neatly and properly, he at times refused to ride his bicycle either because he did not want his well ironed trousers creased or the bicycle (which he kept in immaculate condition) stained. According to his former classmate, Mr. A Gbajumo: "He would rather walk along with his bicycle and his brown messenger's shirt or coat hung on it so as to concentrate on exhibiting the full glamour of his outfit, comprising an immaculate white shirt, a good tie and well ironed pair of brown trousers." It is not being suggested that the young Igbinedion always had new clothes on. In fact, he hardly had the money to purchase new ones. What he was known for was his ability to preserve the little he had in such immaculate condition that it remained presentable for a long time.

A discussion with some of his contemporaries revealed some consistency in the story of Gabriel Igbinedion's early life. It is obvious that it was generally true that the young man had a very difficult start in life; that this early hardship fatally obstructed his drive for higher education; while on the other hand, it armed him with the ability to exploit other avenues to life with maximum tenacity; and that the attributes he inherited from his parents or acquired on his own along his hazardous path to life eventually became the corner-stone of his success story.

:: EARLY LIFE AT OKADA

:: LIFE AT SCHOOL

:: IGBINEDION THE MESSENGER

:: IGBINEDION THE POLICEMAN

CONCLUSION

This website has attempted to unfold Chief Osawaru Igbinedion from the cradle to manhood and from a humble beginning to a position of enermous affluence...READ ON