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Some of the characters in The Lekki Headmaster by Kabir Alabi Garba are Mr. Bepo Adewale, Mrs. Ibidun Gloss, Mr. Audu, Mr. Fafore, Mr. Egi Meko, Seri, Sola, and Mrs. Ignatius.
Other characters in The Lekki Headmaster include Mr. Ayesoro, Chief Didi Ogba, Chief Didi Ogba, Mr. Ope Wande, Chief Mrs. Solape Bayo, Ikenna Egbu, Mr. Ogo, Mrs. Grace Ape, and Mr. Jeremi Amos.
In this post, we shall look into these characters and several others in The Lekki Headmaster.
Mr. Bepo Adewale
Mr. Bepo is the compassionate and highly dedicated principal of Stardom Schools, where he has been an inspiring pillar for 24 years. He earned his famous nickname, “The Lekki Headmaster,” during his time heading the primary arm, because he resolved staff conflicts with the wisdom and empathy of “King Oloja” from the classic Nigerian television drama Village Headmaster.
He is a staunch patriot and believer in Nigeria’s potential. He strongly resists the widespread Japa (migration) syndrome. He prefers to help develop his own country rather than flee to an already developed one.
However, his wife Seri, who already lives in the UK with their two daughters, pressures him so intensely to relocate that their marriage is pushed to the brink. But after experiencing a terrifying nightmare at the airport where he equates modern migration to a “New Slavery,” he abandons his flight to London and joyfully returns to his students.
Mrs. Ibidun Gloss
Mrs. Ibidun Gloss is the pragmatic Managing Director of Stardom Schools, having inherited the position from her late father, Chief David Aje, who founded the institution. She is a highly educated woman with a law degree. She constantly battles a secret, undiagnosed “peppery pain” in her buttocks that makes sitting for long periods agonising.
She prioritises the school’s image and financial stability over sentiment. This is evident in how she initially views Bepo’s emotional breakdown as a liability. She reasons that the school is a place for “earning money,” not a “rehabilitation centre.” She also harbours a deep classist paranoia about her staff’s financial empowerment. She aggressively restricts the staff cooperative society’s loans after discovering teachers used it to buy cars, a situation her mother likened to “hanging a snake in the roof.”
Despite these harsh business instincts, she holds immense respect for Bepo’s decades of service. In fact, she offers him a heartfelt public tribute and a generous domiciliary cheque in hard foreign currency during his send-off.
Mr. Audu
Mr. Audu is the fine arts teacher at Stardom Schools. He is well-known among his colleagues for his eccentric personality and biting humour. It was Audu who originally coined Bepo’s famous moniker after observing how masterfully the principal settled the staff’s petty quarrels.
He is completely baffled by Bepo’s hesitation to move to the UK. He jokingly demands to know Bepo’s wife’s address so he can beg her to adopt him as a husband instead.
When the MD mistakenly attempts to fire Mr. Fafore over a grammatical error, Audu breaks the heavy, awkward silence by giving a dramatic Japanese bow and hilariously demanding his own sack letter.
As someone desperate to leave Nigeria himself, he swears that he will never shed a tear if he gets the opportunity to travel overseas. He even vows to slaughter seven cows if he ever secures a visa.
Mr. Fafore
Mr. Fafore is a senior English teacher at Stardom Schools. His character is used to depict the struggles faced by underpaid private school educators. Even though he holds a university degree for 22 years, his meagre salary of N175,000 forces him to live far away in an unplastered house in Ifo, Ogun State, as he is unable to afford Lekki rent or the tuition at his own school.
To keep his job and avoid the consequences of Lagos traffic, he demonstrates extreme dedication by waking up at 4:00 am daily, arriving at school by 6:00 am to sleep on his desk, a routine that earned him the Most Punctual Teacher Award twice.
He is nearly the victim of an unjust termination when the MD orders him sacked after a wealthy parent, Mr. Guta, wrongly complains that his sentence, “Ade as well as Jide comes,” is grammatically incorrect. Fortunately, Bepo courageously steps in to defend Fafore, proving to both the MD and the parent that Fafore’s use of a singular verb in that context is actually flawless Standard English.
Mr. Egi Meko
Mr. Egi Meko is the arrogant and corrupt director of the Beesway Group of School, where Bepo worked prior to joining Stardom Schools. He epitomises anti-intellectualism and authoritarianism in the workplace, as evident in how he stubbornly refuses Bepo’s advice to correct the school’s grammatically flawed name which he ridiculously claims was “divinely inspired.”
When a parent raises the same grammatical issue during a Parent-Teacher Association meeting, Meko furiously accuses Bepo of inciting the parents and threatens to withhold his salary.
His most sinister act occurs in the dead of night, when Bepo catches him orchestrating a dark ritual by attempting to bury a live cow in a grave-sized pit on the school premises.
After his thugs physically assault Bepo during the confrontation, Meko attempts to gaslight him the next morning by claiming the ritual was merely a “special prayer” for his late father. This prompts Bepo to resign immediately.
Seri
Seri is Bepo’s wife, who works as a successful nurse in the United Kingdom, where she lives with their two daughters, Nike and Kike. Originally a Catholic in Nigeria, she was persuaded to join the Pentecostal Truth Tellers Mission, though she quickly reverted to her Catholic faith upon relocating to the UK.
She is the primary source of Bepo’s profound emotional distress, as she uses ultimatums to push their marriage to the brink until he finally agrees to leave his beloved job and join her.
According to staff room gossip, her nursing career in the UK is incredibly lucrative, with rumours suggesting she earns up to £10,000 a month. She shows little patience for Bepo’s anxieties about his impending move. She sarcastically teases him over the phone to ensure he doesn’t miss his flight like he had done years prior.
Sola
Sola is a former Home Economics teacher at Stardom Schools who successfully relocated to the United Kingdom with her husband. During her time at Stardom, she faced the threat of termination for casually running an unauthorised creche nearby, but Mr. Bepo intervened and saved her job by securing a three-month suspension without pay instead.
She is a crucial source of perspective for Bepo regarding life abroad. She offers him reassurance that his transition will be easier since his wife is already established there.
Sola shares the harsh realities of their migration journey. She reveals that they had to sell everything they owned and borrow four million Naira to fund their move, initially living in a modest, unfurnished apartment.
Despite these challenges, she expresses no regrets about her decision. She particularly praises the UK’s reliable healthcare system after medical professionals rapidly and generously treated her asthmatic daughter, Betty, during a seizure.
Mrs. Ignatius
Mrs. Ignatius is a parent at Stardom Schools who frequently overstretches professional boundaries by calling Mr. Bepo late at night to discuss her personal and marital issues.
She enthusiastically buys into the Japa (migration) philosophy alongside her husband. She prepares for their planned relocation to London by strategically learning traditional Yoruba hairdressing skills like suku and onilegogoro to earn foreign currency.
Her family’s elaborate migration plans are abruptly shattered when the embassy requires a mandatory DNA test for their visas, which uncovers a devastating secret. The medical requirement reveals that her husband, Ibe, is not the biological father of their fifteen-year-old daughter, Favour.
Following this revelation, the embassy denies their visas, and her infuriated husband abandons the family home. This leaves Mrs. Ignatius to lament her shattered marriage to a frustrated Bepo.
Mr. Ayesoro
Mr. Ayesoro is a highly capable Government teacher at Stardom Schools whose physical appearance unfortunately leads to his professional downfall. He proudly bears deep, prominent traditional Yoruba facial marks, which causes the elite students to derogatorily nickname him “Mr. Owala” or “Mr. Wala”.
His career is derailed when Bibi, the youngest daughter of a wealthy and demanding parent named Mrs. Mary Ladele, has a nightmare about him after being frightened by his facial marks at a basketball practice.
Fearing that they might lose Bibi and her siblings to a rival private school, the Stardom management immediately capitulates to Mrs. Ladele’s complaints. Instead of educating the students on cultural diversity, the administration quietly transfers Mr. Ayesoro away from teaching and into Stardom Hub, the property wing of the company, effectively ending his classroom career.
Chief Didi Ogba
Chief Didi Ogba is a wealthy politician, top lawyer, and the father of Tosh, an SSS 2 student who becomes embroiled in a bitter prefect election scandal. His family’s fierce rivalry with the family of another student, Banky, begins over a Best Dancer competition and is exacerbated by the fact that the two fathers belong to rival political parties.
Chief Ogba’s reputation becomes the centre of a major conflict when Banky publicly urges students not to vote for Tosh, whom he derogatorily labels the “son of an ex-convict.” While Chief Ogba was technically never convicted directly, he did spend thirty-six months in detention during a trial regarding the alleged misappropriation of a 2.5 billion Naira government contract, which his company was ultimately ordered to refund.
Furious over the public defamation of his character, he rejects all peace moves, demands conspicuous written apologies in the school magazine, and launches a protracted lawsuit against the school and Banky’s parents.
Mr. Ope Wande
Mr. Ope Wande serves a dual role at Stardom Schools as both a Physics teacher and a respected pastor among the staff. When Principal Bepo suffers his sudden, mysterious emotional breakdown during the morning assembly, the Managing Director immediately calls upon Wande to act as a counselor.
He approaches the weeping principal with great empathy, stooping beside him and speaking in a subdued voice while promising to keep whatever Bepo reveals entirely secret. After spending nearly ten minutes trying to get through to the distraught man to no avail, Wande astutely realises that the issue might be connected to Bepo’s family situation. He then prudently advises the Managing Director to urgently contact Bepo’s wife in London, setting in motion the revelation of Bepo’s impending relocation to the United Kingdom.
Chief Mrs. Solape Bayo
Chief Mrs. Solape Bayo is the mother of Managing Director Ibidun Gloss. She is the chairman of the board of directors at Stardom Schools. She fiercely protects her family’s business empire and exhibits a deep sense of classist paranoia regarding the financial empowerment of the school’s workforce.
When she discovers that the staff cooperative society has amassed a purse of ninety-five million Naira and successfully used it to help teachers buy cars, she views it as an existential threat rather than a positive development. She famously compares the financially independent staff to “hanging a snake in the roof,” fearing that they might rebel, steal their brand ideals, and use their wealth to establish a rival school.
Consequently, she leads the board in passing draconian measures to instantly cripple the cooperative, capping loans at a mere 250,000 Naira and stripping the society of its democratic financial autonomy.
Ikenna Egbu
He is an SSS 1 science student at Stardom Schools He is respected among his peers as a talented poet. Ikenna’s mother is a broadcaster and an award-winning poet, which likely explains his eloquence and captivating speaking skills.
During the morning assembly in Chapter 1, he delivers a passionate and engaging speech recounting a recent school excursion to Jos, Plateau State. He vividly describes the “acrobatic beauty” and cool weather of the city, successfully mesmerising his fellow students and teachers alike.
In stark contrast to the prevailing societal desperation to migrate, Ikenna confidently declares that he would rather settle down in Jos in the future than join the wave of Nigerians Japa-ing to Canada or London.
Mr. Ogo
He is an eccentric and sinister parent who temporarily enrols his child in Fruitful Future, the neighbourhood school Bepo co-founded shortly after his NYSC. Approaching Bepo and his colleague with what initially sounds like an advertisement proposal, he offers to perform a bizarre ritual for N35,000. He claims that by sprinkling specific grains of corn at the corners of the school, he can supernaturally flood the struggling institution with unprecedented student enrolment. Bepo firmly rejects this ungodly shortcut, and Mr. Ogo promptly withdraws his child from the school.
A decade later, Bepo is horrified to see Mr. Ogo on the television news, being paraded by the police as a ritualistic murderer who dropped a desperate woman seeking a fertility cure into a grave-sized pit.
Mrs. Grace Apeh
Mrs. Grace Apeh is the Vice Principal of Stardom Schools. She is a close, dependable colleague of Mr. Bepo. During the shocking morning assembly when Bepo suddenly breaks down in tears, she is the first staff member to find her voice, stepping forward to comfort him and ask what is wrong. When Bepo proves unable to speak, she demonstrates calm leadership by instructing another teacher to conclude the assembly and send the students back to their classes.
She plays an active role in the emotional build-up to Bepo’s departure, which includes keeping him company alongside other colleagues at the MM2 airport on the day of his scheduled flight.
After Bepo’s supposed departure, it falls upon her to address the despondent students during the Monday morning assembly, though her speech fails to lift the heavy, melancholic mood covering the school.
Mr. Jeremi Amos
Jeremi Amos is the official accountant for Stardom Schools. He is in charge of managing the financial operations of the heavily monetised private institution. He finds himself in a tense situation when the Managing Director summons him to explain how “every gardener” and teacher can suddenly afford to buy cars parked in a hidden lot. Amos calmly assures his panicked boss that the school’s finances are entirely intact and explains that the staff funded their vehicles through personal loans from the staff cooperative society.
Unfortunately, his use of the word “fool” while repeating the MD’s angry question inadvertently contributes to the board’s paranoid decision to drastically restrict the cooperative’s financial power.
He maintains a solid relationship with Bepo outside of school hours and personally purchases Bepo’s Pathfinder SUV for N1.5 million before the principal’s planned relocation to London.
Banky
Banky is an SSS 2 student at Stardom Schools who becomes the central figure in a contentious and legally disastrous prefect election. Contesting for the position of Social Prefect, he is pitted against his fierce rival, Tosh, with whom he previously clashed during a Best Dancer competition in JSS 3.
Their rivalry is further fueled by their parents’ mutual disdain, particularly because their fathers belong to two belligerent, opposing political parties. During Speech Day, Banky lets his emotions overcome his better judgment and dramatically veers off-script to hurl a vulgar insult at his opponent. He shockingly urges the student body not to cast their votes for Tosh, whom he publicly and controversially labels the “son of an ex-convict.” His speech triggers chaos in the hall and a massive legal battle between the families.
Tai
Tai operates as a dubious middleman and racketeer within the Nigerian passport renewal system in Ibadan, Oyo State. Though he presents himself over the phone as a “consultant” or agent capable of expediting immigration processes, he actually runs a regular business centre and operates in corrupt collusion with official immigration staff.
He successfully extorts N100,000 from Bepo for a 10-year passport renewal, significantly inflating the official N70,000 fee by claiming the extra charge covers expedited data capturing.
He skillfully guides Bepo through the physical passport office, seamlessly moving past security and extracting the old passport details while ensuring Bepo pays extra tips to the complicit officers inside.
Despite his supposedly efficient, bribery-fuelled service, Tai is unable to save Bepo from the systemic technological failures of the NIN validation process, which delays Bepo’s application by three weeks.
Tosh
Tosh is an SSS 2 student at Stardom Schools who becomes the target of a vicious public attack during the school’s prefect elections. His intense rivalry with his classmate Banky actually began years earlier in JSS 3 during an end-of-year party’s Best Dancer competition. Tosh won that hip-hop dance contest in a tight 3-2 vote, prompting Banky’s mother to bitterly protest the result, feeling her son was robbed.
This animosity is further fuelled by the fact that Tosh’s father, Chief Didi Ogba, is a wealthy politician belonging to a rival political party. During the Speech Day presentations for the Social Prefect position, Tosh is publicly humiliated when Banky urges the students not to vote for the “son of an ex-convict.”
Mrs. Mary Ladele
Mrs. Mary Ladele is a wealthy, indulgent parent residing in the GRA area of Lagos whose actions drastically alter a teacher’s career. She is a dedicated fan of television dramas, initially watching Zee World Indian soaps before shifting her interest to Nollywood movies, which she often stays up late into the night to watch.
Despite mandating a 10:00 pm bedtime for her three children—Tim, Love, and Bibi—she struggles to enforce it, particularly with her youngest and most mischievous daughter, Bibi. When Bibi wakes up screaming from a nightmare about the traditional facial marks of her Government teacher, Mr. Ayesoro (nicknamed “Mr. Wala”), Mrs. Ladele refuses to go back to sleep. Driven by her distress, she waits for daybreak to launch a formal complaint at the school, indirectly causing the management to completely remove Mr. Ayesoro from the classroom to appease her.
Chief David Aje
Chief David Aje is the late founder of Stardom Schools and the father of the current Managing Director, Mrs. Ibidun Gloss. He is remembered as a visionary leader who was deeply invested in the quality of education provided at his institution. Twenty-four years prior to the events of the novel, Chief Aje personally handled the interview process that brought Mr. Bepo to the school, a unique distinction among the staff.
Even though Bepo arrived eight days behind schedule to resume his duties, Chief Aje recognised his immense potential and advocated for him, describing him as an “essential teacher.” He had unwavering faith in Bepo’s competence, outspokenness, and morality, an assessment that proved correct as Bepo eventually became a foundational pillar in building the school’s legacy.
Jide
Jide is the young grandson of Mr. Ogunwale, Mr. Bepo’s landlord at his residence in Ikeja. He shares a special, close relationship with the principal, who voluntarily coaches him in elocution and African history on weekends purely out of passion.
Jide is somewhat oblivious to the permanence of Bepo’s relocation. He innocently believes the trip to London is temporary and excitedly confirms that Bepo will return the following week. Bepo feels a profound sense of guilt about abandoning Jide, knowing that his departure will abruptly end their cherished weekend sessions.
When Bepo finally departs at the airport, he gives Jide and his younger sister, Kemi, a parting gift of N5,000, and Jide touchingly reminds him not to fail to return.
Mr. Ogunwale
Mr. Ogunwale is Bepo’s friendly and supportive landlord who resides in the same compound in Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja. He treats Bepo less like a tenant and more like a cherished family member.
On the day of Bepo’s scheduled flight to London, Mr. Ogunwale, accompanied by his grandchildren, insists on driving Bepo to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in his spacious Honda Pilot. Before they set out, the landlord takes the time to say a brief, heartfelt prayer for Bepo’s safe travels. At the airport departure hall, he shares a final emotional hug with Bepo before returning home with the children.
Iya Mathew
Iya Mathew is a no-nonsense woman from Bepo’s difficult past, back when he was a jobless young man living in a crowded “face-me-I-face-you” house in Iyana Ipaja. She is the wife of a co-tenant named Mr. Adio. She is a painful reminder of the indignities Bepo suffered during his period of financial hardship.
When the electricity workers arrived to disconnect the building’s power cables, it was revealed that Bepo had secretly spent the N2,500 he had collected from the tenants to pay the electricity bill. In a furious response to his deceit, Iya Mathew grabbed a full bowl of elubo (cassava powder) and aggressively dunked it onto Bepo’s head. To add to the extreme humiliation, she immediately burst into a spontaneous, mocking song, loudly labelling him a thief for spending their electricity money.
Akindele
Akindele is a fifty-five-year-old Nigerian man. His character embodies the harsh, humbling realities of relocating abroad at an older age. Formerly employed at a media company in Lagos, he migrates to the United States after being invited by a US citizen.
After a divorce from his wife of eighteen years, he eventually secures permanent residency and settles down with a new woman in America. Despite his former senior status in Nigeria, he is forced to take on gruelling, physical jobs. He is initially working in freight loading before transitioning to the correctional service.
Akindele starkly warns others dreaming of migration that the Western capitalist system has no respect for age or previous white-collar status. He emphasises that they must be prepared to work tirelessly “for the cents.”
Mr. Oyelana
Mr. Oyelana is the Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) teacher at Stardom Schools. When Bepo suddenly breaks down in tears during the morning assembly, he is one of the first staff members to help. He walked the sobbing principal back to his office alongside the Vice Principal and the school nurse.
He later participates in the staffroom gossip regarding Bepo’s impending move to the UK, where he argues logically that Bepo’s high new salary will be diminished by the heavy cost of living and taxes in pounds.
He proves to be a dedicated colleague by joining the “Stardom quartet” that escorts Bepo to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on his departure day. During the airport trip, he highly praises Bepo’s immense contributions to the school, jokingly telling the other staff members they should “borrow a leaf” from Bepo’s dedication.
Like many teachers at the school, he endures a gruelling daily commute, living far away from the Lekki-based school in Mowe, Ogun State.
Mr. Guta
Mr. Guta is a wealthy and financially entitled parent at Stardom Schools, whose children, Dorah and Nicholas, are in SSS 2 and JSS 2, respectively. He nearly causes a severe injustice when he storms into the Managing Director’s office to lodge a complaint against the senior English teacher, Mr. Fafore. He angrily threatens to withdraw his children from the school because he found what he considered a “grammatical atrocity” written in his son’s notebook. Ignorant of advanced grammar rules, Mr. Guta firmly believes the sentence “Ade as well as Jide comes early” is wrong and insists the verb should be the plural “come”.
His arrogant complaint forces the MD to issue an immediate sack order for Fafore, a poor decision that demonstrates how elite parents can easily weaponise their tuition fees.
Fortunately, Mr. Guta is publicly proven wrong and humiliated when Bepo and a quick internet search confirm that Fafore’s use of the singular verb is actually flawless Standard English.
Ibe Ignatius
Mr. Ibe Ignatius is the husband of Mrs. Ignatius. He works as a highly paid manager at an oil firm. Despite earning what Bepo considers an “armed robber’s salary,” Ibe completely buys into the Japa (migration) philosophy, insisting his family must relocate to London. He argues passionately that his children need to grow up in a “sane environment” so they won’t eventually be subordinated in the future by youths returning from the Western diaspora.
To prepare for this massive life change, he actively winds down his clearing and forwarding side business. However, his grand plans are entirely shattered when the British embassy’s mandatory DNA test reveals that he is not the biological father of his 15-year-old daughter, Favour. Deeply betrayed and angry after the resulting visa denial, he abandons his home, cynically telling his wife they should “go and stay with Favour’s father.”
Bibi Ladele
Bibi is the youngest and most mischievous of Mrs. Mary Ladele’s three children, living in a wealthy GRA neighbourhood in Lagos. She is notorious in her household for repeatedly flouting her mother’s 10:00 pm bedtime rule. She often hides in the sitting room or relies on her father, Dele, to plead her case.
Her innocent childhood fears end up having devastating professional consequences for a teacher at Stardom Schools. After being frightened by the deep traditional Yoruba facial marks of her Government teacher, Mr. Ayesoro, during a Blue House basketball practice, she has a terrifying nightmare.
She wakes up her entire family screaming that “Mr. Wala” appeared in her dream. Her frantic mother goes to the school at the break of dawn to complain to its management. Because the school fears losing Bibi’s tuition to a rival institution, her nightmare directly causes Mr. Ayesoro to be entirely removed from his teaching position.
Mr. Ibe
Mr. Ibe is the games master at Stardom Schools. He plays a crucial, comedic role during Bepo’s farewell week. During the novelty football match organised on Wednesday between the school team and the staff, he acts as the highly biased referee. Determined to see his colleagues win, he utilises what the narrator calls “hilarious fraud” and “voodoo refereeing.”
Every time the student team comes close to scoring, he mysteriously blows his whistle to cite an imaginary foul, halting their momentum. He blatantly forces the staff to retake their second penalty goal five separate times until they finally manage to get it past the talented student goalkeeper, Chido.
To guarantee the staff’s 3-2 victory, he abruptly blows the final whistle and ends the game eight minutes early as soon as the staff nets their third goal.
Nurse Titi
She is the dedicated school nurse at Stardom Schools. During the shocking morning assembly where Principal Bepo suddenly breaks down in tears, she is among the first staff members to rush to his aid. She quickly fetches a handkerchief and offers it to the weeping principal to help him wipe his tears.
Alongside the Vice Principal and the CRK teacher, Nurse Titi helps walk the sobbing Mr. Bepo back to his office. Deeply concerned for his well-being, she repeatedly asks him, “Sir, what is the matter,” as they help him into his chair, though he remains completely silent.
Jombo
Jombo is one of the security guards stationed at the back gate of Stardom Schools. When the Managing Director, Mrs. Ibidun Gloss, approaches the gate during a walk, he immediately stands at attention and hurriedly opens the gate for her. He accompanies the MD to inspect a nearby fenced plot of land that the school acquired two years prior.
When the MD expresses shock and confusion over the numerous cars parked on the plot, Jombo is the one who clarifies that it is actually the “staff park”. He further explains to the bewildered MD that not all staff members bring their cars into the main school premises, inadvertently exposing the teachers’ secret parking habits. After the principal and accountant arrive at the scene to address the MD’s panic, Mr. Bepo orders Jombo to return to the school.
Hope
Hope is an accountant whose story reflects the strain migration places on marriages. He applied for and secured admission to pursue a Master’s degree in the United Kingdom. His wife joined him in the UK with an initial plan to work and earn the money needed to sponsor his education.
However, their plans crumbled like a house of cards barely four months after they landed in London. Complaining that the demands of her job made it impracticable to keep sponsoring him, his wife completely stopped providing for him financially. When Hope reached out to his wife’s parents in Nigeria for intervention, they bluntly told him that they entirely understood and supported their daughter’s position.
Riike
Riike is a successful Nigerian migrant whose story highlights the rapid financial gains possible in the diaspora, contrasting sharply with other tales of failure. Within just three years of arriving in the United States, she managed to purchase two houses back in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Her personal life, however, was fraught with drama, as she legally stripped her husband of all he had after he was found guilty of bigamy. Taking full advantage of the free education system in her new country, she vowed not to pay a dime in school fees for her three children until her eldest son was ready for university in 2027. She also invited two of her sisters to join her in the US.
Chief Waliem
Chief Waliem was a popular and wealthy man whose tragic fate exposes the fragile nature of private school education and wealth in Nigeria. During his lifetime, he lived very comfortably and generously bankrolled most of the social programs at Stardom Schools.
Unfortunately, he suddenly slumped and died, leaving his family in an unexpected and severe financial crisis. After his death, banks immediately swooped in to seize his assets because he was heavily indebted to them.
As a result of this sudden financial ruin, his three children were unable to pay their tuition and could not complete the following academic term at Stardom.
Chido
Chido, affectionately known as Chidi, is an exceptionally talented student at Stardom Schools. He is the skilled goalkeeper for the school’s football team. His goalkeeping abilities are so impressive that he had even received an invitation to join the country’s Under-17 national team.
During the novelty farewell match organised for Mr. Bepo, Chido proves to be a massive obstacle for the opposing staff team. He is so good at defending the net that the biased referee, Mr. Ibe, has to force the staff to retake a penalty kick five times before a fifth player finally manages to score against him.
Nike and Kike
Nike and Kike are the two daughters of Mr. Bepo and his wife, Seri. They live in the United Kingdom with their mother, far away from their father in Nigeria. They are utilised by their mother as leverage in the emotional war to convince Bepo to abandon Nigeria and relocate to the UK.
Both girls have benefited immensely from the UK’s educational system; they have enjoyed its free primary and secondary education. Nike has already progressed to the university level, which is when her mother finally had to start paying for her schooling, while Kike remains in high school.
Related:
- Plot Summary and Setting of The Lekki Headmaster by Kabir Alabi Garba
- Chapter 1 to 3 Summary and Analysis of The Lekki Headmaster by Kabir Alabi Garba
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