“I was privileged to graduate with the only first class and as the best graduating law student from the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University. At the Law School, I was privileged to graduate with a first class. Then I went to Cambridge and got a first class in the Master of Corporate Law (MCL) thus completing my third first class degree.”
Those were the words of Onoriode Reginald Aziza, the genius who broke all academic records to achieve an hattrick of first class in a mentally-demanding discipline like Law.
Omasoro Ali Ovie, tweeting with the handle @OvieAli brought Aziza’s achievement back to our memory with this tweet:
Perhaps, more intriguing than the fact of Aziza’s phenomenal achievement was that he only took to studying law as an act of rebellion to the percieved overbearing attitude of his father who wanted him to study Medicine and become a Neuro-Surgeon.
Onoriode Aziza said:
“To be frank, my decision to study law was an act of rebellion against my Dad. My early goal was to be a neurosurgeon. I flirted with the idea for a number of years until I was 12, when I took my JSCE examinations.
“The grades came out exceptionally well, and my Dad told me he wanted me in medicine and went on to name the subjects I will take in my SSCE examinations.
“The rebel in me sprang up and I resisted (although it was what I wanted). It appeared that the thought of someone naming my subjects for me irked me, because if given the choice myself, I would have picked the exact courses my Dad selected!
“I still remember the exact words I used in my declaration of rebellion: “In fact, I want to study law”.”
The gifted learned counsel graduated with over 25 academic awards (including the Faculty of Law Prize for the Best Student in the Faculty of Law OAU, the Mohammed Bello Prize for the Second Best Student at the Nigerian Law School, and the Wolfson College Jennings Prize for a Distinction on the Master of Corporate Law in Cambridge), for which he claims he is fortunate to be in a rather privileged position in his career.
Without a doubt, Onoriode Aziza would have made a fine medical doctor had he chosen to walk the path suggested by his father but all is well that ended well with his achievements which made a proud man out of his Dad.
“Grinning joyously at each of my graduations from the Obafemi Awolowo University, the Nigerian Law School, and Cambridge, the look on my Dad’s face shows he is happy I rebelled,” he said.
Onoriode Aziza is currently studying for his PhD at Oxford University and, undoubtedly, greater milestones are expected from the 2007 graduate of Kings College, Lagos.
Ovie Ali, an author and bibliophile, is on Facebook and also runs this blog
