Eton apologises to Nigerian ex-student Onyeama for racism

The headmaster of Eton College has told the BBC he is "appalled" by the racism experienced by the first black person to complete his studies at the prestigious British public school.

Nigerian writer Dillibe Onyeama obtained his school-leaving certificate from Eton in 1969.

He wrote a book about the racism he experienced at the school and was subsequently banned from visiting.

Head Master Simon Henderson said "we have made significant strides since".

But he acknowledged that there was "more to do".

Mr Henderson made the apology after the BBC contacted the school to seek a response to a feature it has published by journalist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani about Onyeama's experiences and his thoughts on Black Lives Matter.

Nigerian author recalls racist abuse
Eton has a reputation for educating some of the highest ranking members of British society, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is the 20th British prime minister to have attended the school, as did Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and both the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex.

"We have made significant strides since Onyeama was at Eton but - as millions of people around the world rightly raise their voices in protest against racial discrimination and inequality - we have to have the institutional and personal humility to acknowledge that we still have more to do," Mr Henderson told the BBC.

The headmaster said that he would invite Onyeama to meet him in order to apologise in person and "to make it clear that he will always be welcome at Eton".

"We must all speak out and commit to doing better - permanently - and I am determined that we seize this moment as a catalyst for real and sustained change for the better," he added.

What does Onyeama say?
Onyeama told the BBC that the apology was not necessary and did not change his view of Eton, which on the whole was positive.

He added however, that the apology "compels the recognition that prejudice on the grounds of colour or race dehumanises its victims in a way that ordinary forms of prejudice do not".

He previously told the BBC that he had been taunted on a daily basis at Eton by fellow students.

He was asked questions like "Why are you black?", "How many maggots are there in your hair?" and "Does your mother wear a bone in her nose?"

Accused of cheating
When Onyeama performed poorly in academics or excelled in sports, the students attributed it to his race.

When he obtained seven O-level passes, the entire school was confounded.

"'Tell me Onyeama, how did you do it?' I am asked time and time again," he wrote in his book. "'You cheated, didn't you?'"

After leaving the school, he detailed these experiences in a memoir and in 1972 he received an official letter informing him that he was banned from visiting Eton.

The headmaster's response comes as some leading British companies and institutions, such as insurance market Lloyd's of London and pub chain Greene King, have apologised for historical links to the slave trade.

Those apologies were spurred by the recent wave of Black Lives Matter protests.

Eton was founded by King Henry VI in 1440 and has a worldwide reputation for its high educational standards.

Currently it charges fees of more than £40,000 ($50,000) a year.

proeast:
Abeg no vex but I wan ask this question wey dey bother me since, na only Igbos Waka come?

koning:
First black/African man at Oxford = Emeka Ojukwu

First balck man in Eton College = Dilibe Onyeama.


Conclusion = IGBO AMAKA. Putting Nigeria and africa on the map since 1845.





Mod, do the needed. The world need to know.

sageb:
ojukwu? Ojukwu is not the first Nigerian to go to oxford university. Sir Egbert Udo Udoma was the first Nigerian to earn a Phd in law from Oxford university in 1945. Ojukwu was an adolescent then.

saggis:






Could be. But Ikemba was the richest, drove a Rolls royce at Oxford. Anyway, na the same Eastern region. Udo Udoma is very much Igboid.


All in all, Igbo Amaka still.

sageb:
ojukwu? Ojukwu is not the first Nigerian to go to oxford university. Sir Egbert Udo Udoma was the first Nigerian to earn a Phd in law from Oxford university in 1945. Ojukwu was an adolescent then. Sir Udo Udoma is an Ibibio man from Akwa Ibom state.

sageb:
No, he is not igbo. Sir Udo Udoma is an Ibibio man from Nsit Ibom in Akwa Ibom. He is the father of the former minister of Budget and planning in Buhari first term, sen. Udo Udoma.

sageb:
No, he is not igbo. Sir Udo Udoma is an Ibibio man from Nsit Ibom in Akwa Ibom. He is the father of the former minister of Budget and planning in Buhari first term, sen. Udo Udoma.

koning:
First black/African man at Oxford = Emeka Ojukwu

First balck man in Eton College = Dilibe Onyeama.


Conclusion = IGBO AMAKA. Putting Nigeria and africa on the map since 1845.





Mod, do the needed. The world need to know.

But when the time came, Onyeama failed the entrance exams. Another Nigerian boy, Tokunbo Akintola, thus became the first black student in Eton, attracting global media attention.

OfoIgbo:


Eastern men doing us proud. Kudos to Udo Udoma.

saggis:





Igbo extention. Was he not a Judge or even Chief Judge in Biafra? just asking.

Throwback:




Not so fast clansman.

The first Black student at Eton college was Tokunbo Akintola, son of SLA Akintola the then Premier of Western Nigeria.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPm0iDhTUM

The First Black student at Oxford University was a Creole from Siera Leone, Christian Cole in 1873.

The first Nigerian to attend Oxford was the first Black woman to attend the School in 1931, Kofoworola Ademola (nee Moore), the daughter of Eric Olawolu Moore and later wife of Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, the first Nigerian Chief Justice of the Supreme court.

koning:





The headmaster of Eton College has told the BBC he is "appalled" by the racism experienced by the first black person to complete his studies at the prestigious British public school.


Go and argue with the Headmaster of Eton College. He is the person in the best position to tell us who was "The first".

Unlike Tokunbo, another Nigerian, the second to attend the school, Dillibe Onyeama, went on to become a renowned author.
Onyeama arrived Eton two terms after Tokunbo did. He is now a prominent writer whose first book Nigger at Eton sold out at the time it was published in June 1972. He wrote the book at the age of 18.

koning:
First black/African man at Oxford = Emeka Ojukwu

First balck man in Eton College = Dilibe Onyeama.


Conclusion = IGBO AMAKA. Putting Nigeria and africa on the map since 1845.





Mod, do the needed. The world need to know.

A long journey to Eton
Onyeama was registered to attend Eton on the day he was born in January 1951.

His father, Charles Dadi Umeha Onyeama, studied at Oxford University, worked as a magistrate in British-ruled Nigeria, and mixed well with the top of British society, eventually becoming a judge at the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

With the man's connections, his second son was at birth the first black boy to be registered in the elite school.

But when the time came, Onyeama failed the entrance exams. Another Nigerian boy, Tokunbo Akintola, thus became the first black student in Eton, attracting global media attention.

Onyeama eventually enrolled two terms after Akintola.

But the 14-year-olds, who came from different ethnic groups, did not get along.

"The very person who should have been my best friend, given my predicament, turns out to be more of an enemy," Onyeama wrote.

Akintola left Eton after about two years and so Onyeama became the first black person to complete his education at the prestigious school.

sageb:
sir udo udoma is an Ibibio man from Akwa Ibom. Is that too difficult for you to understand? Blackking98 , Ilaumoh , Hotice085 , ifiokjohn come and see.

sageb:
Akwa Ibom is in the south south region. Blackking98 , Ilaumoh ,Hotice085 , ifiokjohn come and see

saggis:





Igbo extention. Was he not a Judge or even Chief Judge in Biafra? just asking.

Throwback:


Did you see the quoted words of the Headmaster or the quoted headline of the ignorant newspaper?

Or is not in this life that Ovation Magazine once titled a story about Philip Emeagwali with the post of Professor?






https://www.legit.ng/1260792-retro-[b]tokunbo-akintola-[/b]late-son-western-region-premier-ladoke-akintola-1st-black-boy-eton-college.html

koning:




Ibibio clan is an extention of the Arochukwu clan. They are migrants from Arochukwu. One does not have to originate from core Igbo states to be Igbo. The entire old Esatern region is Igboid.