By OGHENE OMONISA

When my old friend, Dr Favour Ebbah, informed me that he had just joined a WhatsApp group, Dore Numa College '94 Set, I was cautious. That was our set, and that was our former school, in Warri, Delta State.

I was cautious. Very cautious. I have many things with social media, particularly Facebook and WhatsApp, which I am used to. We abuse such splendid inventions, as usual with some of us humans. I am cautious. I select the type of groups I align with.

Dr Ebbah knows me well. And we share similar distaste when it comes to social media abuse. So he knew I was not enthusiastic about the group.

It was when he informed me that the group was planning to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our leaving school, got me excited! Was it really 30 years since we left school? Oh, how time flies! I urged him to add me to the group.

And he added me. Seeing those faces again, on the platform, and sharing some memories excited me to no end.

I have joined a couple of WhatsApp groups before, some of which flopped irredeemably, but I have been thoroughly enjoying myself in this group, relating with such old faces again, I would not wish it to flop.

Everybody knows that one major obstacles to the success of WhatsApp groups, is content. What would the members want to come back to everyday?

That is why most members of a WhatsApp group spice up the group, in addition to the primary focus of the group, with materials that excite them.

Dore Numa College '94 Set lacks nothing in that regards, because no day passes by without a member posting material, mostly from the Internet, that would excite us all. And if a member derails by posting unfathomable material or unflattering comment, our Monitor, that is how best one could describe Benedicta Aruwei (Benny D Love), one of the Admins, would brilliantly and quickly interfere, and the offensive material is instantly deleted. That is Dore Numa College '94 Set for you!

The 30th anniversary of our set was on when I joined. The school was located along Ijaw Street, near Warri Township Stadium, when we were in school. Even before we left school, everybody was saying some day, when the Warri Township Stadium would be redesigned, with modern amenities, and expanded, some structures around the stadium would be demolished, to create space for the redesign.

Eventually, we had left school, when we heard that our school had been designated for demolition by the state government, to create space for the newly redesigned stadium. And Dore Numa College would now be in the same premises with Ogedegbe Primary School. Incidentally, Ogedegbe Primary School is my former primary school.

Thus, Dore Numa College has moved to Ogedegbe Primary School premises, and demarcation made for two separate schools

Visiting the school, the group decided to give back to society. Whatever we are today, is product of this school. For our 30th anniversary, the group decided to renovate the ground floor of the main building, which comprises nine classrooms and a staffroom.

While we concentrated on the renovation project, came the sad news: Maria Mordibo had passed! And the group wept. Maria Mordibo was exceptional. And unforgettable. She was with us from JSS1 to SSS3. Brilliant and serious minded. How Maria Mordibo was able to combine her academics with her extracurricular activities astonished us all then. We remember her as Jime, the name we gave her from fighting in Judo sports, in JSS; and she gave herself MC Hammer Babe, in SSS; from the rap songs she had then. (As was popular in the early 1990s, she had some demos to her credit.) Then to crown it all, the school authorities made her the Assistant Head Girl, for her academic prowess and natural seriousness.

Back to our renovation project! Of course we have had our own share of challenge as a group, but like one of us, Omutse Edukugho, often reminds us whenever challenges come up, with the slogan: 'Dore Numa College '94 Set – We move!'

And we have been moving ever since!

On the 29th of July 2024, we presented our 30th anniversary project to the school. And the group celebrated our feat, and as members who had not joined then, joined on learning of our feat. And our membership increased drastically worldwide.

One thing I have observed in this group is the level of maturity displayed. None of our members is below 40. True! But there have been cases of groups that scattered even before they started, for one reason or the other. No, not Dore Numa College '94 Set. Instead, we are waxing stronger every day.

Take the case of our 30th Anniversary Project. A couple of our members contributed a quarter of a million naira, as others made whatever they could afford. All fingers are not equal. And everybody was appreciated, and the project was achieved.Every member knows every member's birthday, because as a rule on joining, every member posts their birthday (just the day and month), location and profession, so that we could celebrate each member on their birthday, and the celebrant would be surprised at the outflow of wishes and blessings when a member remembers it and posts it on the platform! And yes, member's spouse and kids' birthdays are celebrated too, like those of their parents, provided they are posted on the platform. We celebrate every member's love one(s)!

This group reminds me of one story in Warri some years back. The story went that one secondary school was organizing a variety event, and students from other schools were also invited. The MC of the day was from another school, who made everybody laugh with his unique rib-craking jokes, as he spiced every agenda with a jibe. And everybody was happy: students of the school; their parents present; visiting students; and other guests.

Then the MC told a joke. A popular pastor invited a guest preacher from America. After the sermon, the appreciative host pastor, together with his wife and kids, stood up to really appreciate the guest preacher. In return, the guest preacher acknowledged them, and said: “Thank you very much too, Sir.” Thinking that the host pastor and his wife were accompanied by their grandchildren, added: “And your lovely wife and beautiful grandchildren.”

According to the MC, the host pastor quickly corrected: “My beautiful kids, you mean!”

The guest preacher quickly understood, and corrected himself: “Your lovely wife and your beautiful kids.” The joke did not sink in immediately. It was with the MC's smiling and some guests grumbling that helped send the import of the joke.

The whole hall was in boos. The students wanted the MC to leave the stage. Even some guests present, parents of the students, could not hold back their disgust at the joke.

The MC was eventually booed out of stage. It was the school principal that came to rescue the situation. He apologized on behalf of the MC.

Kids of now joke with everything. That pastor might not have grown-up kids, but all over the world, he has grown-up children in the Lord, the principal excused.

Like that situation in that event in Warri, in the '94 Class of Dore Numa College, we have ex-school mates that are not yet to married, even some yet to join the WhatsApp group; likewise we have ex-school mates that are single parents; likewise we have grandparents as our ex-school mates.

Also in the class of '94, not all of us completed the class. Some even repeated classes. Likewise, not all went further in their education. Some have NCE; others OND, HND, university degree, Master's, PhD. And some university drop-outs. But whatever it is, “we move”.

Around 2005, my sister who was studying in Mexico, informed me that she had made a friend on Facebook, based in Australia. I did not know what Facebook meant then.

The Facebook friend added her because of the name. Did my sister know Ese Omonisa? She explained that Ese Omonisa and her were ex-school mates in Warri.

As it turned out, that ex-school mate was Hannah Enyi. Indeed, we were together in Dore Numa College. And phone numbers were exchanged.

We communicated for a long time. But one thing I came out with that occurrence was that not embracing Facebook (social media, by extension) early had its effect.

If not my sister herself, then Hannah Enyi, and later Dr Favour Ebbah, and a few of my friends in Nigeria, that invited me to join Facebook, something I did not appreciate then, until recently.

It was until 2008 that I joined Facebook. Even at that, I used a pseudonym to create the account, because I had my doubts.

Now, I am sure if I had wholely embraced Facebook then, with all its advantages, and also its cousin, WhatsApp, and also with its advantages too, I would have, perhaps, missed out the advantages of joining this WhatsApp group.

I have been happy in the group. My evenings are incomplete without seeing what my ex-school mates have to offer. Very exciting!

So I asked Dr Ebbah, why he did not add so-so person when he added me to the group? Because he has grown to be a prominent lawyer in the state, and everybody has his phone number, unlike me that lose phone and numbers every other year. He sent the numbers of our ex-mates that had not join the group. But only one is on WhatsApp.

Augustus Chukwuemeka Ugbaja said he presently had a major engagement. Maybe when he would be ready, I could add him.

Zechariah Ikoko and Felix Akatugba are not on WhatsApp.

But I was not done yet. There are some of our ex-school mates that could be reached by our WhatsApp group members. Deborah Sido, our ex-Head Girl, why has your brother, Henry, not joined the group; and our ex-Head Boy, Eruayire Sito? Has he travelled overseas too, where nobody could reach him?

Engr. Justice Emebradu, where is Dr Akpoviri Agburen, your close friend in school then? Why not add him to the group?

Peter Oloko, where is your twin brother, Paul? Why not add him to the group?

Efe Avwaritoma, where is your close friend then, Prosper Edighomor? Why has he not joined the group?

They all gave their different excuses! Nevertheless, from every indication, the group is growing in number.

If an honest membership number of our class is done, I am looking at about 4,000 members. In our first class in 1989, JSS1, we had three classrooms. Two classes in one classroom: JSS1 A and B, JSS1 C and D, and JSS1 E and F. With a class of estimated 50 students, we should be looking at 300 students in an arm. That should be from JSS1, to SSS3. In those years, some students could have repeated a class, or change from another school, or change to another school, so we have members or prospective members of our group who had spent a year or more with us in school. So we are all of Dore Numa College Class of '94!

In June, I ran into an old school mate. She left us in SSS 1. We exchanged phone numbers. When I got home, I checked her out. She was on WhatsApp. So I asked her if I could add her to Dore Numa College '94 Set, our WhatsApp group.

She said, she had joined a WhatsApp group of the former school where she ended her secondary school. She added that their own group celebrated their 30th anniversary the previous month.

Not to give up easily, I said it was double honour for her: having two groups as Alma mater groups. She did not budge. Not interested in joining our group. Then I gave her an anecdote.Some years ago, Dr Alex Ibru, founder of Nigeria's The Guardian Newspaper, granted an interview to mark his 60th birthday. In that interview, he revealed that he had his secondary education at Ibadan Grammar School, Oyo State, where he started, and Igbobi College, Lagos State, where he ended his secondary school education. Then he went into memory lane, recalling his days at Ibadan, and later in Lagos. Recalling the past in his school days.

My ex-school mate gave me the thumb-up icon. And added that whenever she was ready, she would give me the signal to add her to the group!

On Friday, August 30, was the day the remains of our sister, Maria Mordibo, was committed to Mother Earth. From far and near, we converged on the City of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to bade her good night.

Our presence was as if 30 years had not gone by since some of us last saw each other. The ease with which we converged and congregated. The beauty of social media! Of course we had contributed to the family to support them, as we have done with families of our members who lost their loved ones.

We are different, no doubt. We remember differently. But I am sure some of us remember much further backward. Fortunately, I am one of such persons.

And I am most happy to connect with such old faces again. And I want to seize this opportunity to deploy members to keep in our prayers the continuous reposal of the souls of our ex-school mates that had passed, but who we had no such opportunities for, like Internet, and social media: Ighoteguolor Badidi, Samuel Chavwuko Khalil and Thomas Iguolokumo Igwe.

Dore Numa College '94 Set! We move!

•Oghene Omonisa can be reached via email:eseogheneomonisa@rssnigeria.com