Babatunji Olowofoyeku - Early Years, 1917-1932

Early Years, 1917-1932

Olowofoyeku grew up as the last born of a traditional extended family in Ilesha. His father had died a few months just before he was born. He had a powerful drive to succeed in spite of daunting challenges of growing up under the old British Colonial System with all its artificial barriers. It was not an easy task, but with a good education obtained through determination and hard work combined with honesty and integrity, he discovered that there are no actual barriers created by men that could not be overcome.

Chief Olowofoyeku’s early life was an unusual journey of high academic achievements even without a father figure. His remarkable successes were attributed to the presence of a nurturing mother who raised him well, alone by herself from infancy with his three year older sister. His mother, though uneducated was quick to realize the value of a good education, therefore she encouraged her only son to excel in school. She enrolled him at the early age of 5 at Otapete Methodist School (1922) and it was there that he got baptized in the Methodist Church in 1924 and assumed the Christian name "Daniel".

It was in school at Otapete Methodist that Olowofoyeku first met a new classmate, Tai Solarin, then known as Augustus Solarin. That was the beginning of a lifelong friendship that later brought them together again as colleagues at St. Andrew’s College, Oyo (1936–1942). Solarin admitted that he was radically changed by Olowofoyeku’s final essay in which he made the observation that some of the colonialists were ignorant, and not well-prepared for the duties they were assigned, and therefore had no business running the lives of Nigerians. For this essay, he was punished for his audacity in challenging the status quo, and was suspended from college in his final academic year. He however sat for and passed the final teacher’s examination as an external student a year later.

He would later drop the middle name "Daniel" as protest against his perceived oppression by the colonial authorities.