LEAFLET 13 – OPERATION 500

We all have, in one way or the other, had friends who contributed immensely in our past enjoyable lives. Such memorable moments have roots back into our various vicinities and or back in our educational progressions. However way these might have happened, there is one indisputable fact – it was special and lively. Drawing back on friends we encountered specifically during school days, our minds are again tuned to the long-standing dialogue as to which of the educational cycles – JHS or SHS, is the most enthralling. As we very well know, this argument seems unending and obviously hasn’t been settled yet.

For the masses who argue in favor of JHS, they claim that more often than not, JHS’s are situated within the pupils’ own natural localities thereby presenting a unique opportunity to young student-friends to mingle with like-minded classmates. Conversely, the other school of thought also makes a case that having that special chance to interact, mingle and share ideologies with people from diverse cultural and geographical backgrounds gets one genuinely appreciative of the essence of life going forward; thereby making SHS student-friendships more special.

Those times in school, whenever the name ‘500 Squad’ was mentioned, all thoughts were tuned to that group of seven student-friends, on campus, who were easy going and ever together. On top of that portraying an admirable brotherly bond but so inquisitive as a group. Despite coming from diverse religious, geographical, social and cultural backgrounds, things worked out really well; with each member having a specially different role to play. It was a 3-year fascinating run. Meeerrrnn!
Let’s get to know who these guys at all were.

As genius as his name may appear, Mozart was the shortest but the fiercest among the group. A lively soul, not forgetting his amusing nature and was a fantastic ‘konka’ drummer. His hallmark in aggressively making sure that the squad stayed confined within its limits when executing tasks was special. Mozart – the gentleman who never goes against his principles, was fearfully an integral part of the cadet corps for the school. During our very first encounter as friends, he seemed to have gathered lots of experience in the boarding school system. We later noticed that Mozart had resided, almost all of his life, in an SHS – where his dad served as a Senior Housemaster. That was a plus for the group in that we had a brain we could rely on in navigating our ways through tight regulations we may want to breach without any adverse consequences. Hahaha! Tactical Mozarto as was nicknamed was a reflection of ‘Oslo’ of the Spanish Heist crime drama television series, “Money Heist”. [Our Protector, I’ll say].

Personally loving the connotation of his name, Nurudeen was the calmest in our midst. Nothing got him so eager to immediately respond. He was a kind who was not perturbed or carried away by happenings around him. However, his response to these happenings were almost always niched with a mind of gold. He usually brought forth most ideas worth embarking on and with his calmness at display, he served as a cooling agent when we were at a boiling point during risky expeditions. Because he was again smart, he could easily turn seemingly negative situations outrightly into positive ones. He almost never gets provoked but whenever he acted wrongly, he quickly accepts his error and sought for pardon. Though quite shy, if any lady in class ever wanted to have a lovely stroll, with a gentleman from the group, he would be the one to be picked. Contrary to his calm nature, he was a different animal and so aggressive on the football field. This earned him the nickname Striker. Surprisingly aggressive as the calm ‘Professor’ of “Money Heist” fame could be when training for fitness, similar was Striker when playing on the football field. [Our Light, I’ll say – just as his name meant].

How could you not love Hamza? Though sometimes behaved childish – as he was the youngest among the squad, he was the one who could not only think outside the box but also without the box. The power of his brain was his most effective armor. As lazy as he could be, he was always ready to put his thinking cap on. Hamza could take certain risks – just because he classified those as ‘the easiest ways out’. This lazy boy was so brainy. His favorite academic domains were maths and the sciences. Azuta as was called was a disorganized being. This trait of his had severally been helpful, in some ways, for him because he is ever ready to face whatever unplanned circumstance ahead. His ability to easily convince people into believing him was very much exploited by the group during our squad operations. He was our mouthpiece in kickstarting any expedition. He wasn’t so good at football but was a staunch football and sports enthusiast. For us, Azuta was just like ‘Rio’ of “Money Heist”. Sometimes acted so childish but ever clever in thoughts. [Our Jewel, I’ll say].

Despite how reliant the squad was on individual brilliance of its members, Kamal gave us width. Being our class prefect for all the 3 years we spent together, Kamal’s prefectship paved ways for us to have our ways around being included among the names of talkers, punishments for absenteeism, or monitory contributions. We were proud he eventually brought every good that was inherent in the authority he amassed back for the group’s benefit. More respectfully was that he was the Business Department Club President and amassed lots of clouts therefrom. Because all 500 squad members were in the same class, we graciously enjoyed favors directly or indirectly from our President-friend. By virtue of the fact that we were closely attached to Kamal, the group was not only the first to get its share of whatever items were shared by the school in our class, but also gained extra of those items in cases there were surpluses. In fact, he was the practicing legality that gave us balls to try out precarious illegalities. Kamal was generally called Capito (basically meaning captain) – by virtue of his integrity, commitment, and professionalism. That particular touch he brought was to be the ‘big man’ who could come to our aid by virtue of who he was. Capito was a decent goalkeeper, and a dire football fanatic. He went along really well with Nurudeen – just as Lisbon, went along really well with ‘The Professor’ of “Money Heist” fame. Kamal was the ‘Lisbon’ of the squad. [Our Savior, I’ll say].

The funniest and most organized being among the group was just too obvious. You’re sure of being in a laughing mood, all day, whenever he is around. Physique-wise, Samed was nowhere near one who could be regarded as strong but he defied that odd in reality. Affectionately known as Bawumia, Samad was an epitome of the cliché,

“Don’t always mind the body, mind the engine”.

His hard work was rewarded few months on as he served as a hall prefect. This meant that whist Kamal was influential in the formal setting, Samed was that man who sought us out at the hall (dormitory) level. Due to the fact that he was a hall prefect, he was never short of the highly valued boarding-school food provisions like gari, milk, milo, sugar, “shito” and the students’ beloved biscuit, “shemema”. This came in handy in sometimes filling the belly of 500 squad members. Bawmia barely had any real talent. Hahaha! He was the most ignorant (out of the 7) when it came to fellowship in sports. Surprisingly, he easily sailed through all his endeavors and gave it his all in everything he did. The successes he chocked through his hard work was a reflection of, “Hard work beats talent“. However, eating was his hobby. A person who could eat four heavy balls of Kenkey with ‘okro’ soup and refer to that as dessert? – Samed was simply an epicure. Settling on his none relentlessness in working hard, he was cast in the mode of ‘Nairobi’ of “Money Heist” fame [Our Humorous Hardworker, I’ll say].

Last but not least, this young man was a good listener and a lovely soul. Contrary to Nurudeen, Mustapha was easily carried away by his emotions. Though he wanted to portray he was always emotionally strong, he had a soft spot for anyone in dire need. If I am to pick an individual within the group who was emotionally attached to the welfare of all squad members, it would certainly be Fishbone – as he was hilariously nicknamed.

I can’t recall any time Fishbone’s full term food provisions lapsed more than a week. He would give virtually all of his food (which was meant to last a whole term) out to other people who requested for it at such an early time of the term. This selflessness brought him so much joy so far as it made the beneficiaries happy. Such was Mustapha’s trait and all members of the squad duly benefited. With his exceptional barbering prowess, Mustapha would line up all 500 squad members every three-four weeks to give us all perfect haircuts. As a group, we shone brightly in our new hair looks whilst we paraded to class the next school day. But wait, as he constantly gave us those beautiful shaves, who shaved him also? Sadly, no one because none of us had such a skill. Nonetheless, it was his joy to keep us handsome as we dawned our new hairstyles. Fishbone had several stylish options like california, fade, undercut, side part, or even an ‘aboy’ after the shave we could have chosen from. But we could only stick to downcut since we were not ready to go against school rules. Lol.

Arranging in descending order, Fishbone was a far better footballer than Samed and slightly ahead of Azuta because of his composed nature whilst he played. The other three (Tactical Mozarto, Striker and Capito) were also better than him. Settling on the caliber of person Fishbone was, he was as selfless as “Moscow” ever was to his son ( Denver ) in the “Money Heist” movie. [Our Altruistic figure, I’ll say]

As tight friends, all 500 squad members were not just mates in class but also mates within the same block at the hall (dormitory) level. From start, this was perhaps the only commonality we shared, I will say. However, knowing the educational strives we had to hurdle across, we made a perfect group with this relevant commonality – towards achieving this aim. This kept us going in chalking successes in most of our academic, social, enjoyable and inquisitive engagements we tried out. During those times, every member was the other’s helper so much so that it became the goal of the entire group to take up the responsibility in solving problems any member had. Operation 500 was a term secretly used by the group to refer to an expedition which shall be carried out by the 500 squad. Anyway, can I recall the origin of the group’s name – 500 Squad? No, I don’t think so.

  
As Sare and Cate once said,

“Friends are the sailors who guide your rickety boat safely across the dangerous waters of life”.

500 Squad was a perfect reflection of this quote as every member of this group was a unique addition to its success despite all disparities we had. Those diverse individual attributes dovetailed perfectly into producing such a productive bond.

The little lesson we can all draw from friendly relations we build, from now onwards, will be to try as much as we can to draw the maximum positives from colleagues we regularly mingle with. Obviously, there will always be differences to iron out but that should not impede our progress towards reaching that final destination we crave for in groups we find or will find ourselves in. We must, therefore, remember to always stay positive and showcase the very best of morals in our little circles. For all you know, you may be that charming gardener who makes souls of people around you blossom.

Peace!

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