The passage of my former principal — by Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu
Pa Reuben Fasoranti, Patriot, Scholar , Educationist, an ordained Reverend and Activist has now transitioned to an higher calling.
A first impression of my former Principal at Olivet is that of some intense withdrawal of exemplary leadership that had no reason to announce its authority. No reason to holler his presence.
He was without the slightest forcefulness of the authoritarian whip, without menace, without the fury and storm of those ephemeral characters that must strive with the eternal God for eminence.
In the totality of his persona, in the summative truth of his human corpus, he invoked a quiet, genuine, urbanity; an unfathomable aura of an unpronounced mastery of will and purposefulness that needed no hollering of it’s capabilities.
He was wrapped in some incredible self-effacing presence; apparently resolved in some inner , inscrutable courage that would not succumb nor bow before the flung challenges of fate.
As the hardened old disciplinarian Pa Lafinhan was making his way out of Olivet , we mistook the urbanity of the soft spoken, seemingly harmless new Principal for weakness. We welcomed him with a food riot, hurling our plates of food all over the principal’s compound, including on top of his Mercedes Benz. But the young Olivetian scholars chose not to spill the food . We merely emplaced the plates laden with chicken and rice all over his house.
It was a rebellion without cause. We roused a storm . But Pa Fasoranti was unshaken . He did not wield the stick . Nor the bludgeon. He simply ordered everyone to go home and explain to our parents what we did . And to be readmitted , we had to write letter of apology and an undertaking never to repeat the rupture of the peace of Olivet. And we had to drag our parents along too for assurance of redemption and good behavior. And we equally came back with cutlasses to weed the vast expanses of the sprawling lawns across the the fertile greenery of Olivetian heights.
That was chastening.
Till I left Olivet Baptist High School at Olivet Heights in Oyo , an uncommon peace prevailed from the dormitories to the classrooms, from the football fields to the verdant stretches of the cricket pitches of Olivetian Heights.
And when his daughter Funke who was my classmate was killed by some deranged Fulani herdsmen on her way to her father’s Ondo residence, Fasoranti displayed the same equanimity of will, the same inner strength; the same quiet assertion that did not curse nor collided against the heavens.
He brought the same characteristic phenomenon to the leadership of Afenifere.
He preferred the back room maneuvering than the theater of the public glare. He was a great conciliator, a healing holy man whose focus was often about problem solving, peaceful engagement rather than the combative theater of the streets. And he was always effective because he did not provoke fear nor venom. He inspired hope, trust and goodwill. It is impossible not to be smitten by the non-intrusive charm of such a great soul. He sleeps well now in the bosom of the Nazarene.
Prince Shodipe-Dosunmu, an Olivetian Alumnus.
