46 years later. It can only be God. On this day, 1st October 1980, I left my father’s compound with almost nothing in my hands—only a First School Leaving Certificate. I had not attended secondary school. There was no conventional academic pathway before me, no privileged route to follow, and no guarantee of where life would take me. But I had something that circumstances could not take away from me: a dream, determination, and faith in God. When the opportunity for formal secondary education did not come, I refused to allow that limitation to become the boundary of my destiny. I studied at home. I became my own teacher. I read, learned, struggled and persevered.
While others followed the established path, I had to create my own. Life was not always kind—obstacles, disappointments, uncertainties, and moments when the journey seemed too difficult. But I learned early that a difficult beginning doesn’t necessarily lead to a difficult ending. I kept moving. The law profession eventually became my calling after my time in the fire service, as a taxi driver and as a motorcycle mechanic. The courtroom became my arena. Advocacy became my voice, and the pursuit of justice became a responsibility I embraced with all my strength.
But my greatest victory was not simply reaching the Bar. It was proving to myself that circumstances do not have the final word over destiny. Then, at forty-six years, today, something remarkable happened. The young man who had left his father’s compound without secondary school education, carrying only a First School Leaving Certificate, stood at the Inner Bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Today, I understood that the journey was bigger than the title. It was a story of perseverance over limitation, courage over fear, hope over despair, and faith over uncertainty.
Looking back today, I know that I did not walk that road by strength alone. There were hands I could not see lifting me, doors I could not have opened by myself, and moments when grace carried me farther than my own strength could take me. That is why I call my story “From Grass to Grace.” I do not tell it to celebrate where I have arrived, but to remember where I came from—and to encourage those who may be standing where I once stood. Do not despise your beginning. You may start with little. You may face limitations. You may walk a road different from everyone else. But do not surrender your destiny to your circumstances.
Your beginning is a chapter, not the whole story.
Study when you have the opportunity. Work when there is work to do. Rise when you fall. Persist when the road is difficult. Believe when others doubt. And above all, trust God. I left my father’s compound with very little. But I carried a dream. I carried determination. I carried faith. And by the grace of God, I carried that dream all the way to the Inner Bar. This is my story. This is my song. From limitation to possibility. From struggle to distinction. From grass to grace. That is my journey. That is my testimony. That is my story.
