‘I Played Pranks And Got Spanked’

The Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, says he played a lot of pranks while growing up and got spanked in the process.

The ex-Lagos State governor disclosed this while recalling his childhood experience during an interview to commemorate his 60th birthday celebration recently.

He said,”I admit that I played some pranks and got spanked while growing up. Yes, I indulged in some pranks like trespassing into other people’s gardens to pluck oranges, despite warnings not to do so. I would spend my allowance on bicycle renting.

“I told a couple of lies. For example, I would collect money from big uncles for the purchase of five books-Dic, Tion, On, Na, Ry, instead of one dictionary! It was only one that I needed. I did that so as to have enough money to play around, rent bicycles and buy sneakers.

“I would play football, go and play at the lagoon, and turning out very dirty and rough in the evenings. There were so many of such pranks. I would seize football from my mates and take it home. The boys would come to the house, asking for the football and my parents would spank me and order that I return the ball to its owners,” he said.

He said that there was a time he asked his late uncle, Kafaru Tinubu’s dispatch rider to lend him his motorbike to ride, adding that he was locked up severely flogged when he was caught.

“One day, he gave me the motorbike to ride. As I got back home, my uncle, who had travelled and was not expected back at the time, had arrived. He caught us and ordered that we be locked up. It took a while before he released us, and I was severely flogged.

“There were instances in which I and few of my friends would sneak into the truck of musicians, like the late Adeolu Akinsanya and Roy Chicago, without knowing where they were travelling to for musical performances. We would hide ourselves in their instrument trucks. There was a particular day when we did that and found ourselves in Ado-Ekiti, somewhere I had never been before.

“We did not know that he was going to perform at Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti. We had no money to return to Lagos and were stranded there. We couldn’t follow them back to Lagos because they were headed for another location, where they had a show. We managed to get to Lagos by jumping on a cocoa truck that was coming to Lagos,” he stated.

Speaking about those friends with whom he played pranks with, he said,”Tunde Badejo, Bolaji Agaba, Tunde Adeyemo, the late Sola Popoola… We really had a good time. There was a particular time 11 of us packed ourselves in a Volkswagen Beetle and headed to the University of Ibadan through Majidun/Ikorodu Road for the Havana Nite. As we were going through Majidun, one of the car’s tyre burst and we had a serious accident. I thank God that I am alive today.”

—Henry Ojelu