I knew Prof.E.A.Adeniyi when I was a young teenager at OLOFIN ANGLICAN GRAMMAR SCHOOL IDANRE fondly called "OLO GRAMMS". He came in 1968, I think, to do his teaching practice, as an NCE student teacher. He was a handsome, good looking, and ever-smiling enthusiastic teacher. He was soft-spoken and you will be anxious to look straight into his brilliant shinning eyeballs. The radiance from those eyes always attract us and gave us hope. This is in sharp contrast to what you'd see when you dare looked into the frightening and dreadful eyes of some of our teachers. You can trust how students would make fun of their teachers in the hostels at the end of each day. In deed we 'love to hate' some of our teachers just as you'd 'hate to love' some. This is because a mere mention of their names would send jitters down our spine. In deed our principal then Chief J OLADIPO alias '1616' noticed this among us. So whenever any of us misbehaved, as kids would always do, our principal would simply refer us to such 'dreadful' teachers who in deed are professionals in leaving trademarks of indiscipline on our buttocks and backs. The term 'Child abuse' was not in any dictionary then. In deed, the trademarks were to make us good leaders of tomorrow. I cannot agree any less. As rods flew out of the windows of our classrooms, so do indiscipline, lack of manners and even gangsters quickly zoomed in. After all there is no vacuum in nature!! Mr Adeniyi fondly called 'Manner' never canned us; and we obeyed him. How he managed us by then as kids without canning us and yet we obeyed him and were always fond of him at that time was still a mystery to me! His nick name was 'Manner'. Oh! Now I can see!! May be there was a link between his nick name, 'Manner', and the way he taught us manners! We were usually well behaved when we had contact with him or at any time we had to do with him. I remember an occasion when I got into trouble. Gari, sugar etc were regarded as 'private food' in those days especially if you were a 'boarder' and not a 'day-student'. A 'boarder' was a student that lived and studied in the school- he/she is in the Boarding house; while the day-student would come to the school for his lessons and go home at the end of each day. Boarders were usually respected by their classmates/school mates as it was a mark of how affluent your parent was. You have to be a rich/affluent parent/guardian in those days to be able to pay some between fifty and seventy pounds, and some extra shillings and pence to keep your child at school as a boarder in one whole year! Now to my story of how I came close to 'Mr. Manner'. One of my seniors in the hostel had ordered me to give him some Gari and sugar. I refused. Then he yelled at me "You must be a Buffon!! I demanded gari from you and you declined. Do you know that 365 days is not a joke? Now multiply that be 2!" (I was in class two; my predator was in class 4" He continued "Now, I will show you what seniority means in this school. I will make a caricature of you and you will know that I am as constant as the rock of Gibraltar". All the bullets of his English Grammar and the pangs of a predator would not make me bulge. Now the whole drama took place during the week. On Saturday of each week, we would be at the Assembly Hall by 7:00am to be allocated what to do. Usually it was cleaning the ever beautiful and neat campus of "OLO GRAMS" However if you had gotten into trouble during the week, then you would be "sentenced" i.e. receive appropriate punishment. The punishments would range from cautioning, canning, washing of plates, to cutting portions of grass or uprooting some shrubs/ cutting trees within the campus. God helped you if you were caught 'stealing out' i.e. going out of campus into the town without permission. You could be suspended or at least uproot a tree. The punishment were usually proportional to your offence. Prof. Adeniyi (then as Mr Adeniyi) was the teacher 'on duty' that weekend. In his usual calm manner, he called out names of culprits, announced their offences and their punishment clearly out. My name was called out. My offence was that I was caught taking private food, Gari and sugar in the hostel. My assailant had twisted the story to suit him and enable him get me into trouble. Professor Adeniyi then said "...IKUSIKA, instead of you to be taking Maths, Maths, Physics, you were taking Gari Gari Sugar!" He continued. " ..I am not going to cane you. You are going to cut grass..!" He did not cane any of us that Saturday. We were given one form of punishment that were meant to correct us never to abuse us. I went to University of Ibadan. Again I met him as Dr E.O. Adeniyi. Oga was always eager to encourage us. He would warn us against taking part in student demonstrations characteristic of the 70s in our universities. His warnings were keep us out of trouble. He would remind us of how ruthless the police, riot police and military boys could be. Prof Adeniyi was a motivator. He would call me young doctor when I was still in the 4th year out of a 5-year Veterinary Medicine course. Oh mine! My eyes would glow whenever he called me so! He was always willing to write me a reference letter or referee any application I brought to him. Prof Adeniyi is an emblem of humility, honesty and dedication to his community. Any native of Idanre Community, who was privileged to know you, will always be proud of you. You remain ever glowing in our memory! Till we meet in His bosom, Continue to rejoice in His glory. Yours Pastor WOLE IKUSIKA DVM, PhD London