A former governor of Oyo State, Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo has disclosed that he made bombs and denoted them during his secondary school days at Government College Ibadan.
Olunloyo, who revealed this in an interview with Nigerian Tribune to mark his 85th birthday, also stated that back then he was more brilliant than his physics teacher.
He said, “Some of us made bombs by taking sticks of sodium, which is very flexible, you cut it with scissors and you get some nitric acid and set everything ready and get the bunsen burner.
“Then you put the sodium into the nitric acid and push it into the bunsen burner and after about three or four minutes, there is a loud explosion and we did it in-between classes and the whole class would be filled with smoke.”
He stressed further that he made bombs to the extent that the Chemistry master, Mr. S O Semietan, who had a nasal accent, will ask: “who are those making bombs?” and added almost immediately, “I suspect Awosika and Olunloyo are people who are likely to be doing this.”
In the interview, the former governor also explained how he created a rumpus once during his secondary school days.
“The principal wrote one question on the board and wanted to go to the administrative office. He had and said we should call him if we had any difficulties. As he was writing down, I went to the university to see senior boys during the weekend. I learned some methods from Adeyemo and Harolds who are wizards in Mathematics.
“So, as the principal was writing the eighth question, I was writing down the answer. ‘So, if you have any difficulty, could you come to the principal’s office?’ So, I said I had a question, he said ‘what is Olunloyo; you don’t make trouble here again; you face the work you have been given’ and I said I had finished and he said it was impossible and I said I had finished and that as he was writing the eighth question, I was writing the eighth answer.”
He, however, disputed the question of the possibility of his pranks being a basis to suggest that he was unruly.
In reply, he said: “No we were sure of ourselves. Soyinka was in the same class as Ladipo Akinkugbe, a very brilliant man called Otapete from Ilesa, Akinkugbe, Abel Goubadia (a former INEC boss), he had a Ph.D. in Physics; all these boys were in the same class. You know the English are very permissive; that’s all you can say. We were very confident.”
He also noted that the country began to derail from the path of the high standard of education when materialism became a priority.
