My Valedictory Speech

Good morning my Principal, Distinguished guests, teachers, parents, and my fellow Kingsmen. I am Saeed Malami, the graduating School Captain of Kings College Lagos 2014/2015 session, and before I delve any further into my speech as valedictorian, I would like to give a quick morale booster to every Kingsman here; present, past, and future, to define who a Kingsman is.

Hence every time I ask, “Who am I?”, I want every Kingsman here to raise their fists in the air and say boldly “I am a Kingsman!”. Let’s try that first. Who am I? “I am a Kingsman!”
Here we go:
Who am I? 

I was born and bred among the best of the best, built to face every obstacle in life and conquer it with chivalry and truth.
Who am I?

I see no boundaries between people, North-South, black-white, Muslim-Christian, Hausa-Igbo-Yoruba, are one in my eyes.
Who am I?

I learn and unlearn, change and adapt to whatever situation I find myself in no matter how difficult it is ‘cause I know I’ve been through fiery heat of the kiln and can stand as a marvel of pottery.
Who am I?

In chaos, I remain calm. In calm, I exude chivalry. And among the chivalrous, I display Kingsmanship/royalty.
Who am I?

Patriotism, honesty, and integrity, are attributes you find running through my veins because they are the very principles which I live by and I stand for. And they define who I am.
Who am I?

Change is constant; and I’m never a victim of change but a victor of change because I effect that change.
Who am I?

Innovation and creation are the bane of my existence. I break boundaries of human thinking and think like there is no box. There is no impossible in my dictionary because the word itself screams to me “I-M-POSSIBLE”
Who am I?

I believe that my success and achievements are as a result of my organized efforts and deliberate hardwork to get from where I am to where I want to be.
Who am I?

I strive to excel in whatever I do; I put my best and expect the worst, knowing that things don’t always go my way.
Who am I?

And every time I fail, every time I fall, I look to my left and to my right, to my front and back, and I see brothers. I see comrades. Comrades who have been with me through thick and thin, through blood and sweat, through hunger, hustle and tears and I know that they’ll pick me up and push me on.
Who am I?

Everything I do is in the service of God, is in the service of my nation, and in the service of humanity because I am a true leader. And as a leader, I am a chief servant.
Who am I???

My friends say I speak too much big big English so today I’m going to tone it down and speak on our level. To start with, I can only stand here today as School Captain because the graduating set has given me the mandate to and I would be nothing without them. They are me and I am them. I simply stand as the harbinger of the intellectuality and vitality that bursts through every single one of us.

What is life? Life is in binary, in 0s and 1s, Yes/No. True/False.  Essentially, life is about making choices that shape our future. Three years ago, four hundred and fifty-three young men made a life-changing choice to attend the school whose very hall we sit in today. These 453 naïve young men had no idea what lay in store for them as they trudged through those very iron gates on September 29th, 2012. It started differently for us all. For some, it was the first deafening slap from a senior that brought them to realize where they were. Others, coming back to the dormitories and finding their boxes empty woke them up. This was Kings College Lagos. You had to be smart, you needed to think, calculate, be a ’sharp snake’ and adapt to whatever situation you found yourself in. So we started adapting, leaving the dorms at 5:00 am sharp with our heavily loaded bags of life to avoid seniors, reading anytime and every time because there was practically not much else to do; moving our lives to various places all around the school: class, basketball court, staff school, garden, you name it! There were times when light and water were not available as they are today, and we had to find quick solutions to wash, iron, and even have our baths. There were times, my friends, there were times.

Now, the rush, the thrill, the adventure we had during our early days at Kings College stirred something deep within us as it brought us together and built an unbreakable bond. We began to understand ourselves, to realize ourselves. We started to understand who we were. And that’s what Kings College does really; it helps you realize who you are, what your values are, what it is that you are good at that stands you out, your niche, your passion. Now not everyone here can be as helpful as Oboh Charles and Azeez, or be as fast as Prosper and MKO, or speak as eloquently as Ishiguzo and Henrie, or read as much as Musa and Gbolahan, or play football as well as Da-Silva and Diebi, or even rap as good as Rapture and T-maro and Mac-P. Not everyone here can do that, I can’t! But every single one of us here has something that we can do so well that no one else can. Yes, that very thing you’re thinking of right now…is your strength. Build on it, work on it, practise it, and trust me, someday you will be successful beyond measure.

However, ladies and gentlemen, Kings College has always been and will always be a great institution, not necessarily because of its vibrant students or its accomplished alumni, rather it stands strong because of those that hold strong its foundation: The staff. The role Kings College teachers play in crafting and modeling these fine young men cannot be overemphasized. Their resilience, patience, and discipline in dealing with us and our never-ending troubles must be appreciated so I say we take a moment and hand them a round of applause. Thank you. But the appreciation does not end here, when each and every one of you succeeds in life, as I know you will, I want you to keep contact with your teachers and then you can probably buy them a house in Ikoyi or a private jet. Sincerely, find them and appreciate them, because that really is a teacher’s joy: knowing their hard work paid off. My personal gratitude reaches infinitely to the English Department headed by my mother away from home, Mrs. Onyeguiri. Her care, discipline and guidance built me into realizing my utmost potential. Thank you very much Ma. To my brother, Mr. Muhammad, Mr. Ken, Sir Johnson, and Mrs. Ademoyewa, who nurtured me through my time in Kings College from SS1 to SS3, I forever remain indebted to you. To Malam Isa, Malam Sani, Mrs. Duguri, Mr. Garba, Mr. Sulaiman, and the entire Muslim community, I say thank you for keeping me true to my faith. As a set, our special condolences go to the family of Mrs. Titi Aleke, a lady who was so dear to all of us. May her soul rest in perfect peace.

Our deepest appreciation goes to the administrators, first, to the maintenance of the boarding house, we relay our sincere gratitude to the SBHM, Mr. Onatade, ably aided by the hardworking Mr. Akinola. Then, to our loving VP Special Duties, Aunty Maria, who remains a mother to us all. We love you Ma and may and may God continue to crown your efforts with success. Then our hardworking VP Acad, who despite coming toward the end of our time in KC, pushed us to achieve more than we could imagine in our schoolwork, Thank you Ma. Our success stories in KC cannot be written, however, without mentioning Mrs Uduehi, the former VP Acad, who embraced us with loving arms upon our admission into KC and became our motivation for excellence in every sphere of our activities. Thank you again, Ma’am. For all our mischief, we say a big thank you to the VP admin, Mr. Utomi, SD, for being there to check our misbehavior with the appropriate punishment.  We thank you for your discipline and guidance, sir. Finally, to an illustrious gentleman, an efficient administrator, an understanding disciplinarian, and a genuine king-maker, Otunba Dele Olapeju, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to be thoroughly built as Kingsmen. It truly is an honor to be the last set to graduate with you, and to be the last School Captain to serve under you. Your hard work and integrity shall propagate multiple blessings for you as you retire.

Words cannot express our gratitude to our beloved parents for everything you have done for us. Everything we do, we do to make you happy. My mother, Mrs. Amina Malami, is the perfect balance of a loving disciplinarian. My father, Mr. Uba Saidu Malami, serves the perfect role model to me and my siblings. May God bless you both. To my family in Lagos, Tata Fatima, Tata Bisi, Uncle Kunle, thank you for being there. Nonetheless, our greatest gratitude goes to God Almighty for making all of this impossible. Alhamdulilah.
My fellow kingsmen, today is our Valedictory Service, the day we say Goodbye. Goodbye to being chased for prep by Mr. Frank & Mr. Sam, or out of dorm by Mr. Taiwo. Goodbye to being caned by Mr. Akano or being deboarded by SD. Goodbye to early morning pep talks from Mr. Wilson or Mr. Akinola or Mr. Kazeem. Goodbye to the best person in the dining: Mrs Akanbi. Goodbye to lofowan on parade ground. Goodbye to long Monday and Friday assemblies. Goodbye to early morning Westy. Goodbye to late night garri soaking. Goodbye to perching, to ending, to banging, to solo paming, to mizing, to dubbing, to paroling, to squatting, to casting, to fapping, to merging, to derepping, to carps yarning, and to deboarding, we say goodbye. This might be the last time you will ever see some friends here, so I want you to reach out to them now and hug them, tight, because the friends you’ve made here will be your true friends for life. Ladies and gentlemen, we all have success stories to write and today, I guess we are done with the prologue. Thank you.