Elijah Adebero
Mr Kelvin Ofudje, a Lagos-based teacher whom star artiste, Teni, surprised with a gift of a car on the World Teachers’ Day, has recalled how he handled her when he was teaching her.
Ofudje teaches at Teni’s late father’s school, Apata Memorial, in Isolo, Lagos.
According to him, he used to flog her for missing classes and her impression was that he was wicked.
In an interview in ‘Saturday Punch’, Ofudje says:
”
No, the car gift didn’t come as a surprise. When I was teaching her back then, she felt I was wicked because I am a disciplinarian. There were times I flogged her for not coming for home lesson. Her mum didn’t take sides with her; she would even ask me to flog her much more whenever she skipped her home lesson. When she went abroad for further studies, she then realised how important the things I had taught her were. She appreciated what I did back then. At a point, she told her mother that she would want me to be her children’s lesson teacher when she grew up. Whenever her mum went to visit her abroad, she usually sent gifts to me through her mum.
“When Teni came back to Nigeria and became a celebrity, there was a youth empowerment programme that she anchored. On the programme, she shared her experience about me being her lesson teacher. She disclosed that she thought I was wicked back then but she would later realise I was only helping her to be better in her schoolwork. At the time, she even gave me some money and during her mother’s burial she sent me N100,000. She has given me money on several occasions and she was always telling me that more would come.”
Many have commended Teni for the gesture while urging other celebrities to emulate it.
