HumanHealthJourno: Remembering Apata Memorial School founder 20 years on

The late retired Brigadier-General Simeon Olaosebikan Apata died exactly 20 years ago after being shot. His schools, Apata Memorial High and Primary Schools were one of the best schools in Lagos state at the time and is still one of the best in the Isolo area of Lagos where it is located.

Apata was a revered soldier during his lifetime and fought gallantly alongside former president Olusegun Obasanjo. On retirement, he established the Apata Memorial School in 1980. He was also known in his community for his security consciousness and benevolent heart. Apata was assassinated on January 8, 1995 in his home by unknown killers. The story making the rounds at that time was that as an ex-army officer, he was always fighting the robbers terrorizing the neighbourhood and preventing them from carrying out their terrible acts. On that score, the men from the underworld conspired to kill him.

He was survived by 3 wives and unlike the scandals and frictions that usually trail polygamous homes when the head of the family is no more, Gladys Ify, Margaret Olayinka and Margaret Folajogun live in harmony with one another. Together, they had forged ahead with their mission to keep the retired soldier’s vision in education alive. At the 20th memorial service held in the school environs in Isolo on Thursday, January 8, 2014, the three wives stepped out together in style to honour the man who bound them together with love.

Their union is rare being that the only person binding them together is no more, yet the three different women from different backgrounds vowed to keep the legacy of their late husband by living together. There is no shuffle for power among these women as they occupy the same office in the school, live in the same building and address one another as ‘My sister’. The school is also moving higher.

As an educationist, Apata was a revolutionist. He created an institution, strong on discipline that he acquired from his military background. The problem of Nigeria, he reasoned, is indiscipline. Apata’s vision was to create a school where children would be trained in good character, discipline and academic excellence.

When the first wife Gladys Apata, was asked the secret behind the success story of Apata Memorial School, she said: “It is not our making that things are working out together among us. And, you know for three women to come from different backgrounds and they are still doing things together is not something common in this part of the world. As you can see, the three of us are in the same office, we live in the same building. We thank God for that. Actually, our husband laid a solid foundation before his life was cruelly cut short by evil men. But if we say we want to scatter the whole thing, the man will never be happy wherever he is. When he was alive, he used to beg us, saying he didn’t want a situation where he will die and die with his legacy.”

On her part, Margaret Olayinka Apata, the second wife said, “When this thing happened, we called our lawyer, we called his immediate siblings from his own mother, and three of us came together to say if anybody had offended anybody in the past, this is the time to bury the hatchet.”

Truly, they buried the hatchet for peace to reign and for Simeon Apata and his school to survive. As to be expected, the death of the founder was greeted with fear and pessimism. Parents who were afraid that standards would drop, quickly took away their children. But the same parents started coming back when they discovered to their surprise that the wives, with one accord, were paddling their canoe well and uplifting the standards of the school. Wherever he is today, Simeon Apata must be a proud and happy man.

See the pictures of his 3 wives below: