The family of the late Chief Benjamin Owonibi has grown from within the Oda quarters of Aiyetoro. His oldest sons, namely Mr. Ademola Benjamin, and Mr. Kehinde Owonibi, have married and settled there. The late Grandpa Benjamin’s younger children moved to live in Kaduna and Suleja areas. His daughters married outside at Okoro-Gbede (MEO); Aiyetoro-Gbede (Mrs. Grace Ologe), Igbotu in Ese-odo local government area of Ondo State (Mrs. Taiye Ebiekuraju); and Ipaoin Ekitiland (Dupe). His grandchildren live at Aiyetoro-Gbede, Igbotu, Kwali-Abuja, Abeokuta, Owo, Ota, Johannesburg, Europe, and in North America.


Foundation years

MEO’s personal story was that of a devotion to love and family she built with her husband, late Chief Joseph Tolorunleke Omotowa. Their relationship started in her teenage years. They met when MEO was at the last lap of her primary school education. He expressed an interest to explore the development of a relationship with MEO. Early in MEO’s life, she lived with her newly married aunt away from her hometown, Aiyetoro-Gbede; and ended-up starting her primary school in 1953 at the age of nine. However, MEO worked very hard and achieved excellent performance in class examinations. This earned her unusual series of promotions so that she completed her primary school education in flying colors within five years by December 1958. Primary school education was normally a seven-year program in British colonial Nigeria of the 1950s.

MEO achievement in the primary school spurred her to plan for her future; and to eventually earning a University degree. By January 1959, MEO was working very hard towards the March 1959 College [secondary school] examination; praying and studying day and night.

At some point MEO reviewed the sequence of events ahead towards achieving her end goals; the uniqueness of each stage that she had to go through in her life; who would be responsible for the financing, and wondered to herself, “why?”, and “what is the worth of starting a relationship with any man at this point in my life?” Her mind was unsettled on the prospects.

Although, MEO turned down the idea, her decision did not change his mind and JTO did not relent. He persisted to purse her attention despite the negative attitude that she put up, with intent to discourage him. He focused on making MEO understand that, the span of their individual lives would shape the potential strength of a love relationship between them.

Meanwhile, MEO succeeded in the examination and finally received the letter of admission to the college of her choice in October 1959. This made her very happy, and subsequently, she welcomed his advances for a relationship. Nigeria got her independence from Britain on 1 October 1960.

They commences a six years courtship in January 1960. MEO attended Kabba Women Teachers Training College from 27 January 1960. By August the same year, JTO got admission into the Forah Bay College (a University) in Freetown, Sierra Leone. They maintained a long distance relationship by regular surface-mail letter communication. The distance did not destroy their relationship because they had established a godly relationship.

MEO’s three-year Teacher Training Course spanned January 1960 to December 1962, and she performed brilliantly in the final grade. Her successful completion of the training triggered an automatic job placement as primary school teacher with the, then, Kabba Division Joint Education Board (KDJEB). In January 1963, MEO was employed to teach Class 5 at the Aiyetoro-Gbede Primary School, where she taught in the school for nine months.

MEO got married to her husband on September 16, 1963. The District Officer, Mr. Gordon Rogers administered the Court Registration of the marriage license on September 16 at Lokoja, the capital city of Kabba Province, in independent Nigeria. Pastor J. D. Bejide, Pastor-in-charge of CAC Kabba District performed the church wedding on September 20 held at the Christ Apostolic Church in Okoro-Gbede.

After the marriage ceremonies, her husband, she, and one of his nieces, Ms. Sarah Obagbemi, immediately left for Lagos to process the necessary documents for traveling to Sierra Leone, where he attended the Forah Bay University in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

On 10 October 1963, the team traveled from Lagos to Sierra Leone by an Elder Dempster Ocean Liner. On their arrival, the government of Sierra Leone welcomed them as ‘free’ laborers traveling on our own individual initiative, and they embraced it. That government recognized MEO’s Nigeria Teacher Certificate, and eventually, she secured a teaching job at a primary school of the Freetown city’s Christian Mission.

Career

MEO and her family returned to Nigeria in the mid-1960s to work for the Northern Nigeria Civil Service, and were stationed in Kano. They apparently arrived into the famous Kano riots. The unease distressed and demoralized MEO and her husband. In the middle of all the pandemonium, her husband traveled to the United Kingdom for a nine-month graduate study at the University of Durham. MEO had to travel to their hometown of Okoro-Gbede to live there with their little kids. The terrorism in Kano gave them great concern, and they decided not to return to Kano afterwards.

MEO elected to remain with her husband’s family in Okoro-Gbede until he returned from England. She had no job there, and her husband was gone away abroad. This situation exposed their young family to significant financial hardship and fatigue. In her subsequent narration, MEO credits the Lord for grace to see her young family through all the tough experience.

Fortunately, when her husband returned from his foreign trip a year later, the Northern Nigeria Ministry of Education transferred him to Government Secondary School, Keffi. As a result, MEO transferred her teaching service to the Baptist Primary School, Keffi (currently in Nasarawa State, Nigeria). MEO remembered a peaceful and friendly time in Keffi.
Eventually, as the result of career civil service transfers for both of them, MEO moved with her husband and children to Government Secondary School (GSS) Okene (1968-1973), (GSS) Dekina (1973-1974). By 1970, their family size had increased to include our four boys, Dele, Bola, Babs, and Seyi.

In 1972, MEO gained admission to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria to earn her Bachelors in Fine Arts (awarded in 1975). MEO completed her degree training at ABU, Zaria in June 1975. On her return, she automatically became an Assistant Education Officer (AEO) and posted at Okene Teacher’s College, Okene.

MEO reported duty in a new school to teach Fine Arts. She taught in the school for six month of June-December 1975. A career transfer of her husband to Ilorin, the capital city of Kwara State (Nigeria) in 1975, caused her accompanying transfer to Government Secondary School, Ilorin to teach Fine Arts.

MEO’s husband assumed his duty at the Kwara State Ministry of Education in Ilorin precisely on the first day of work in January 1976. However, because the schools in the State had not re-opened after the Christmas and New Year holidays, MEO waited until January 11, 1976 to assume her own teaching duty position at the Government Secondary School, Ilorin. After working there for one month, the Kwara State Ministry of Education transferred her, again, to Queen Elizabeth School (Queen School), Ilorin.

While teaching at Queen School Ilorin in 1978, MEO gained admission to New York University (NYU) in the USA to earn a Masters degree in Art Education. She left Nigeria for New York on September 16, 1978. In her own narrative of the events,

“Initially, when the admission came through my spirit weakened within me at the thought of the reality that I will be separated from my family for a long time. Although, my husband gave me strong encouragement and promised to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone that I was going to leave behind, particularly the boys; it was the spirit of God that comforted me, saying, ‘Go, I am with you and the family’. Then I made up my mind to go through with it. I left everything in the hand of God and my husband.”

“The last day before my flight, we all went to Lagos; I could not believe that I would be leaving the children behind. The time came that I was heartbroken I could not look at the children. Babs and Seyi accompanied us to the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA). At the MMA; when my name was called to board, I could not answer. I walked like a dumb person and stood in line. I did not notice that my co-travelers to New York boarded the plane until someone actually tapped me and said “woman, move forward!”

During the direct flight to New York, I became very sad. Overwhelmed by my predicament, and in anticipation of the experience ahead of me, I could not speak with anyone when the plane landed at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport, in New York. I was able to gather myself properly only after seeing my name on a tag pinned in the front of a young man, who moved forward to where I was standing. He asked if the name on the tag he was carrying was mine. After I answered in the affirmative, he searched for my luggage, cleared them, and drove me to New York University NYU’s Foreign Students Affairs Office. It was then, at the office that it dawned on me that I had arrived at an entirely different environment; unfamiliar to my recent contemporary convenience.

“During what I termed ‘the welcoming interview’, I was asked several questions, in quick succession by the staff of the NYU Foreign Students Affairs Office. Later, I was later taken to my hostel. The first thing I did was sit to down in the room, prayed, and thereafter, started writing a letter to my husband, asking about each child. What happened when they had arrived back in Ilorin after seeing me take off from Lagos? I asked about the food they ate, and how they felt, etc. This was the period of history when telephone communication between the individuals in the United States and in Nigeria was very limited, and could be very expensive for an average student.”

Paying for my education in New York University was a great thorn in my flesh. Before I left Nigeria, I had attended an interview for scholarship with the Kwara State Government. I expected a positive outcome, and that the result would be out in good time, so that I will be able to pay my school fees without any strain. Eventually, the Kwara State Government released the result when I was writing my last examination in fall semester of 1979. Thanks to God, I had remitted one-year fees for fall 1978 and spring 1979 semesters to the school before I left Nigeria. When there was no sign that I would have scholarship from Nigeria to pay my fees for the approaching second year I quickly wrote to my husband to sell my car, that I had parked away before I traveled, and send the proceed to me. Upon receipt of my letter, he did just that, and quickly too.I was then able to pay for my studies, and completed my studies on schedule in mid-February 1980. I returned to Nigeria on February 20, 1980, the day after I wrote my last examination paper for the M. A. degree in Arts Education. In June 1981,The family size increased to  five(four boys and one girl),Dele,Bola,Babs,Seyi and Atinuke.

The M.A. degree triggered MEO’s promotion from an Assistant Education Officer II position to Assistant Education Officer I with the Kwara State Ministry of Education at the Ilorin Teachers College, Ilorin for her National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) assignment. Immediately after the NYSC service year, MEO posted back to her former station, at the Queen Elizabeth School, Ilorin.

In February 1988, the Kwara State Ministry of Education promoted MEO to the status of a Principal Education Officer and designated as the Vice Principal at Government Day Secondary School Tanke, Ilorin. From this post, she applied to undertake study and research towards a doctorate degree in Educational Technology at the University of Ilorin.

MEO was on this program when, in May 1991, the Federal Government of Nigeria carved Kogi State out of former Kwara and Benue states. Her hometown is in the new Kogi state.
She was on a Study In-Service program of the Kwara State Government, and needed to complete her course in Ilorin before going to Kogi State to work.
MEO remained the Vice Principal of Tanke GDSS and a student of the University of Ilorin until the University of Ilorin awarded her the PhD degree in January 1993. Immediately, she joined the Kogi State Civil Service as Vice Principal at Government Day Science School, Kabba. By this time, her husband had retired as Chairman of the Kogi Teaching Service Board, and they settled down in Okoro-Gbede. From there, MEO traveled 16 miles daily round trip to work in Kabba.

By 1994, in an unfortunate turn of events, her husband became ill. MEO now had to be shuttling between Ilorin and Kabba (on one-way trip was 200 km), working two weeks at Kabba, and spending the other two weeks attending to the needs of her sick husband. After shuttling for some ten months, her own health began to wane.

The situation was very awkward and disheartening. MEO decided to disengage her service with the Kogi State Government, with the goal of completely devoting her time to take care of her sick husband. At 50, she became a full time caregiver to her husband in their home in Ilorin. This involved helping him to get to his hospital appointments and to administer the doctor recommended home care.

By February 1996, the Kogi State Government offered MEO a term appointed as a Permanent Member of the Schools Primary Education Board (SPEB) in Lokoja. Her husband encouraged her to leave for Lokoja, some 325 kilometer away.
By some providence, his health had improved to the point that she could risk going to work in Lokoja with monthly return trips back to Ilorin to see, and attend to him for a few days. There was no downturn in his health while MEO was at this job to the end of the 2-year term on the Board. The Board worked hard and forged an excellent team that improved the curriculum, educational standard and physical infrastructure of the state primary schools. The Members interacted with parallel administrative Boards from other states during meetings at the national headquarters of the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) in Kaduna, Nigeria. MEO left the Board in September 1998, and returned to Ilorin.

By 2000, Babs, one of her children, who was working for Royal Dutch Shell and was posted, that year, to their office in Aberdeen, Scotland, facilitated a foreign treatment for her husband in the United Kingdom. On 2 February 2002, her husband and she traveled out of Nigeria for medical treatment at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Aberdeen, Scotland. They returned to Nigeria, where she continued to care for him until he died in their home in Ilorin, Nigeria, on 29 April 2003.

The last seventeen years

Since her husband’s death in 2003, MEO settled into their home in Ilorin as her primary residence. However, in her devotion to the mission of her husband and herself, to raise godly children to God (see Malachi 2:14-16), she traveled to rocky American- and lofty Scottish mountain land, lived the risk in her travels around the world just to care for her grandchildren. Indeed, their lives were fruitful, and we give all the glory to God. Her travel retinue for children & grandchildren tell it all: Moscow, Idaho, USA (1998-1999); Aberdeen, Scotland (2002); Aberdeen, Scotland (2004); Idaho Falls, USA (2004-2005); Jerusalem pilgrimage (2009); Idaho Falls, USA (2009); Aberdeen, Scotland (2012); Dubai, U.A.E. (2012); Idaho Falls, ID (2013-2018); Aberdeen, Scotland (2014); Aberdeen, Scotland (2017); Edinburgh, Scotland (2017); and Aberdeen, Scotland (2020).

Along the way, she became a Jerusalem pilgrim (“J.P”) in January 2009 and a citizen of the United States in October 2018. Her participation in the community included her volunteering as a Docent at the Museum of Idaho for over four years, and at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, in Idaho Falls, USA. She was in road travels that snaked through the plains of many American states. She was a member and choir at the United Missionary Theological College (UMTC) Chapel in Tanke, Ilorin; member of Gethsemane Baptist Church, Idaho Falls; and the Redeemed Church in Aberdeen, Scotland.

One of those that she had witnessed to has given testimony that her ministry has returned him to church after almost three decades outside of it. That ministry resulted in the healing of significant family rift. If only this, we are pleased that her life meant something to God. We are sure that there could be more testimony to her credit that already give glory to God.

On 24 May 2020, a message came through to her children, that, “Good evening brethren. Trust that you all are keeping safe. With a heavy heart I confirm the passing of mum this evening around 8pm at home (Nigeria time)”. Another followed that, “She had breakfast and lunch. By early evening, when they went to get her from her room for dinner mom was found in a praying position on her knees, but unresponsive to call. She was rushed to the hospital, where a doctor pronounced her dead on arrival.” We thank Almighty God for her life and pray that her soul rests peaceful with our Lord.