i miss my son,Orlando

All my friends have gone , Says Orlando Owoh’s mother

Orlando Owoh’s Mother

At 100years plus she is still agile as she  walks  briskly around and does not bend or use walking stick  . She weeps when she hears her son  , Orlando Owoh’s music  on radio  ,  taiwoabiodun.com reports

Carved on the wooden  door of the  bungalow is the   sculpture  of the late African Kennery, Owomoyela Oladipupo Olaore aka Orlando Owoh . Each time the centenarian  sees the   carved wooden  sculpture  of her son she feels sad  , ” I am always sad seeing this but I found solace in his  children and friends who are supporting me ” she said .
Mama Morenike lost her son, Orlando Owoh about 10 years  years ago after a brief illness .
One thing that cannot be taken away from the old woman is cleanliness as her environment is clean so also the centenarian herself is very neat showing evidence of good living . She   walks slowly  and with dignity .Her  sparsely decorated living room with sofa chairs makes the place  beautiful. She said “My son , I am always neat and my  children and Orlando’s friends take  good care of me ”you should thank them on my behalf “.
Mama’s Age
Considering her   good stature  many guess that the old woman cannot be less than a 100years of age  while some doubted it but she declared ” I don’t know my age but I know I am over 100 years of age. All  my friends have gone like Madam Eunice, Madam Adenike, , Mrs Asagba , Madam Caroline  Oladoyin   in fact all my friends have died ,I am the only one remaining. That is why I am saying I want to go , there is nothing I am still doing on earth”.
How  I met Orlando’s  father 
Asked how she met the late High Life musician’s father   and who gave the late musician the nickname “Orlando”  , the old woman said “His names are   Oladipupo Olaore   Owomoyela   Orlando Owoh , his father christened him ‘Olaore’  but I called him ‘ Oladipupo’ .Mama  gave the reason why Orlando’s  father named  him ‘Olaore’ , she said “because my late brother Omoyinbo whom I was living with in Owo  was a friend to Orlando’s father   And he betrothed me to Orlando’s father .I  I fell in love with him because he was from Ifon so also Orlando’s father .So when he was born , Orlando’s father said he  benefited   from  the friendship and called him “Olaore” ( Friend’s wealth). His friends called him ”Orlando” and it stuck on him” .

Orlando’s friends did not desert me 
Mama has been very grateful to some of her late son’s friends who did not abandon her , she said ” Some of Orlando’s friends  did not desert  me. l just came from Die The Matter his childhood’s friend  house who used to give me food and money .Die The Matter has just dropped me at home now .Same with Oba Francis  Apata, who is the Onipe of Ipe. Oba Apata used to come to me and that is the chair he sits  ( pointing ) whenever he comes here ,not minding his status. Orlando’s friends did not abandon me , I am grateful and I hope and pray they will do same  during my burial when I’m gone”.
Though she looks  hale and hearty but she denied her look and  said ” I can no longer walk as usual , I am not living “, she said sobbing .

How Orlando got his Songs 
According to Mama ,  the late musician did not inherit  the skill from his parents , she said ” I didn’t teach him how to sing , though  I was a  chorister  in a church but his own  was natural .And I remember that his father was a member of  ‘ ASINKO ‘ cultural music , and it is believed that may be that was where he also  got it from, but Orlando’s music is more that  of a ordinary  because his music is quite different and unique”.
Where are Orlando ‘s wives ?
Mama who lives with some of her children spoke about Orlando’s wives and said  ” Some have gone to remarry while  I am still seeing  some of them, and they have been very  nice  to me  while for those who remarried  have to move on”.

I miss him 
When does she feel her son’s absence?, the reporter wanted to know , and her response ” I am always pained each time I remember him.I thought he was the one to bury me but it turned otherwise .It is painful .No woman will pray to bury her child”
Reincarnation
Will Mama pray to have Orlando  if she comes to this world again? ! her response ” I wish to give birth to him if the opportunity comes again. I wanted to die when his death was announced .Even ,I still feel like taking poison and die anytime I remember him. I remember how the bad news was broken by one of his  sisters, I felt like dying , up till now I am not myself”.

I Love his songs
“I used to listen to his music on the radio, yes, he had a good voice while. listening I would be crying .I love the song he  waxed for me in one of his records  that is “Ero ba mi ki yemi Morenikeji ye  teja …”.(  greetings to my mother who is selling fish) I also love the  “Ojo” track, which is  among his most popular music he sang in  praise of “Ojo” , mama added  “He sang the song in praise of  Ojo who is a member of our  family .But I don’t know where he ( Ojo ) is now”.

No premonition about Orlando’s fame 
The late Musician’s mother said it is a blessing for her son to be popular for she never expected such in the beginning .She looked  at the ceiling when asked whether she had any premonition that her son would be popular , she swore “nobody told me that Orlando will be a great man when I had his pregnancy and I thank God that I didn’t contemplate to  abort it”
I tried  to stop him from smoking hemp
Mama said she did not support her son  smoking the substance , Indian hemp ( Igbo), she said “I used to advise him not to smoke Igbo  but he  too used to argue that if he didn’t smoke it he would not have the energy to play and sing .I even went extra mile to prepare  agbo (local herbs ) for him to make him stop it but he did not take the  concoction (agbo ).
Bury me at the cemetery 
Asked  where she would like to be buried  after her death, mama said she preferred her church’s cemetery , “though my son , Orlando was buried in Lagos but I have told them all that when I am dead I should be buried at the  Church’s cemetery .I am the Iya Egbe of St Andrew’s Cathedral Church, Owo. My father , Jacob ‘slept’ at the cemetery and Mama  Julianah who took care of me was also buried there .When I die I want to be buried at our cemetery in Owo but not to be carried to Ifon or anywhere”, she pleaded.,

Bishop Zacheaus Ayinla Adebayo narrates how he saw the dead bodies of   the late head  of state Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the  Finance Minister Festus Okotiebo which he discovered in a bush 52 years ago.He spoke with taiwoabiodun.com
One man that is not happy  every year  when the country remembers the January 15, 1966  that consumed some of our leaders is Bishop Zacheaus Ayinla Adebayo Of  African Church , who lives in Abule- Oke ,Iyana Ilogbo, Lagos /Abeokuta Express Road, Ogun state.
According to Adebayo , he is not happy that some people are rewriting History, he therefore seized the opportunity to correct those  misinforming the public with false and untrue story of how the duo Sir  Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the Finance Minister Festus Okotie Eboh  died, and how their bodies were found in the bush at Coker, Iyanalogbo, along Lagos / Abeokuta Express Road.
According to Adebayo , the memory of the slain bodies of the late Balewa and Okotie  Eboh will forever remain in his memory as long as he lives .
Adebayo who is a Bishop went down memory lane to speak about his shock and effort to report the case.
According to him , he was still in his early 20s when the First Military coup took place in Nigeria.
Speaking with taiwoabiodun,com  he said “my late father , Timothy Osho Adebayo had rice plantation farm in Iyana – Ilogbo, Lagos / Abeokuta express road then, I was pressed and wanted to go to the toilet and I needed to cross the road, as I got to where I would defecate in the bush I saw the body of Okotie Eboh in pyjamas , and by my right hand also was the body of Tafawa Balewa in white leaning on a Palm tree , he was shot on  the  chest while Okotie Eboh’s side was riddled with bullets . I saw the two bodies with my naked eyes,the bodies were already decomposing” , he continued ” Immediately I saw the two bodies I went to tell my father that I saw two bodies the government was looking for.There was a pond at the back of where Tafawa Balewa laid and we all ran back home. We alerted other farmers to vacate the place and they rushed back home”.
The Bishop continued “We had heard the announcement over the radio that whoever saw these bodies should come and report .Then the following day some pressmen came and among them was one Mr .Segun Osoba who reported the story , he was with The Daily Times then, and he later became the governor of Ogun state.The third day the two corpses were taken away by some soldiers”
He continued ” several years later when Osoba came to campaign here and I introduced myself to him that I was the one that spotted the place where those corpses were discovered for him to write his story then , he was surprised and promised to make the place a tourist Center .
“When he became the Ogun State governor I reminded him and he did promise to do something but nothing was done.If the place had been turned into a tourist Center now and marked down for everybody to know the spot it would have added to our museum. I remember then that many traditionalists came to mark the area and scooped the earth . But since the place was not mapped out for recognition nobody cared about the place again”.
Adebayo appeals to the state and federal governments to make the place a tourist Center, he said ” if it is in a civilized country the place would be honored and mapped out as a tourist attraction Center in the honor of the fallen heroes and this would even be a source of income to both the state and federal governments”
Beating his chest, Adebayo said ” I want those who are rewriting and distorting history to come for public debate.Today, I still live around the place. I know the very spot .My concern is that the place should be a monument to commemorate the remembrance of these fallen heroes “.
He spoke with confidence “I am now 75 years , I remember that year 1966 , it looks like yesterday .Later Segun Osoba came here to verify it when the news spread and he later went to publish the story .
The Bishop who is still bitter,  said ” Osoba promised that the place will be turned into a tourist Centre but nothing was done .The place is now a town , but nevertheless I can still recognize the spot .Whenever I remember Janunary 15 , I am always sad .As a Bishop I feel sad”.
He boasts to face anybody that has a contrary report to come out openly for public debate ,” Whoever doubts this story should invite me and I am ready to tell the public “