Last year, I received a routine call from my son in Canada. Just a check-in. A son keeping his father up to speed with life yonder.
But his opening gambit blew my mind: “The Jagaban of the Ojeifo family!”
I laughed. “Where did that come from?” I asked him.
“Sir, you are a good man,” he replied.
And then he went on. About his planned postgraduate studies in robotics engineering. About the several thousands of dollars I had spent to sponsor him in Canada. About how, with his Permanent Residency permit, he would now pay just under $20,000 CAD instead of about $100,000 CAD. About my fatherly care, commitment, and what he called my “large-heartedness.”
He was amazed. How did a journalist father, whose only trade is pen-pushing, manage to see himself and his three siblings through private schools — from nursery and primary through secondary, to the university, and now postgraduate programmes?
To the glory of God, the scorecard speaks for itself. The first three have graduated: from Covenant University, Afe Babalola University, and Bingham University. The last is in Bingham Medical School in Jos.
That phone call has stayed with me. It forced a reflection I had not planned.
—The Philosophy I Inherited—
My decision to commit all I had to their education did not start with me. It has a historical context.
I watched my father, the late Pa Isa Ojeifo. A clerical officer with UAC, and later a manager with JOF Ideal Farms in Owo, Ondo State. I saw how he carried not just the burden of his own children’s education, but also that of his late elder brother’s children, and other extended, indigent family members who desired to be educated.
That was the tension, the social condition, that shaped me. It taught me one life philosophy: prioritise your children’s education above all else.
So at the intersection of school fees and life’s many temptations, I had already settled it in my mind. The best legacy I could bequeath to my children was sound, quality education.
I was not influenced by the fact that I attended modest primary and secondary schools in the ancient city of Owo. What mattered was breaking the cycle and consummating the gift of good education for my children.
—Stereotypes Dismantled, A Legacy Built—
As I turn 60 on Thursday, August 6, that lived legacy stands tall. It speaks eloquently of the kind of father I chose to be: expansively pro-education for my children.
In the process, I shunned many lifestyles. I dismantled stereotypes. I said no to many things so that I could say yes to school fees, textbooks, accommodation, and visas.
The children have been given platforms upon which they can move the world. With the education given to me by my father, I have been able to chart a productive path — journalism, my journalism. That is why I look forward to my 60th birthday with gratitude, not anxiety.
So my first son was right in his summation. I am the Jagaban of the Ojeifo family.
As I step up to the sixth floor, _cogito ergo sum_ — I think, therefore I am. And to preclude any confusion with the title borne by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I have decided to prefix mine with “real.”
I am the real Jagaban of the Ojeifo family of Ujagbe/Ewu in Edo State.
—The Celebration: Service, Not Fanfare–
This intervention is deliberately timed to set the tone for August 6.
I will not be hosting a jamboree. Instead, I will be visiting an orphanage — to show love, to share experience, to offer counsel and advice, to pray, and yes, to do a bit of shindig with my colleagues.
I became a certified orphan in 2024 when I lost my mother at the age of 92. On my birthday, I will be with the 36 children at Gifted and Talented Orphanage in Lugbe, Abuja.
Because leadership, even in a family, is about service, my son’s verdict resonates deeply. Jagaban, in the original Hausa, is about the one who leads the vanguard. The one who clears the path for others- leader, commander.
My father did it for his generation. I have tried to do it for mine. And by God’s grace, my children will do it for theirs.
Happy birthday in advance to me — the real Jagaban of the Ojeifo family.
