Fare thee well Prince Aragun Ogunoye

                      

      Babalawo Of the Nation (BoN) with JEFOE

The news filtered in that JEFOE is dead!. Dead? .Yes , dead . Everybody was pained. I am the most pained. Yes , I cried more than the bereaved, you will say.Not that he was not old  and not because there is no money  for the burial but because he still  have an  aged mother at home. Whaaaaaat? Aged mother ? .Olorun Oba oooo!. Oghan mo ku!, oghan mo w'esun oran, o ti n'iye s'aiye ke?. Ki  le le yi o? Oro nla! Yee paripa!. Kini kati  gboo?. Kini ka se?. Kini ka wi ?. kini ka fo?.  Kai!Baba onirungbon yeuke looooo!

Who will break the news to the old woman?. When I spoke with his younger brother, Prince Sunday , he said ''that is how we saw it o''. And the question on everybody's lips  is why God?. Why do some people die leaving their parents behind? .Why ?, why God? .Yet we would say He understands . He knows  best . We cannot question or query  Baba Goodu. And what came to my mind is '' If thousands die on Saturday , we would still go to Church the following day, Sunday to sing ''We praise and worship you Oh God! .Bi egbegberun eniyan ba ku ni Satide awa yin o la o ko l'ojo Sunday ! Oloun Oba o ki leleyi ooooooo?.

   We need to console mama that she should take heart . There is nothing new under the sun.I told Chessy Aragun, one of his younger brothers who is a musician to take heart.

Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Dagrin,Wacko Jacko, Elvis Presley, Orlando Owoh  and  many others died leaving their mothers behind. Infact Jesus Christ died (was crucified in the presence of his mother!) leaving his mother behind.Yet, we  still thank God for everything. Nobody can question Baba Gooodu.

 

        MY ENCOUNTER WITH JEFOE

As  I sighted  the man with his grey beard glittering like silver I chukled and soliloquized , this is a story. I  quickly alighted from my Camry Car,  ran up  up to him and said '' Sir, you  are like the heavily bearded old  man  Baba Onirungbon Yeuke , eni ti ngbe ibi gegele okuta  ti D.O.Fagunwa ko itan re ( You look like the mysterious  heavily bearded old man that lives among the stones of which D.O.Fagunwa wrote about) , your beard endeared you to me.You are wearing beard like my brother , Professor Rowland Abiodun who lives  in America, are you a Professor?''. He  gave a roar laughter  and responded ''Professor ke? No,o I am Prince ARAGUN . Then I am not Baba Onirungbun yeuke oooo .I don't live here but lives in Kaduna.  I Immediately asked for an interview from him  of which he accepted , and  I brought out my ipad , he cried '' loju titi yiii?'' (on this road?), I said yes, I do  interview anywhere, any place and anytime .that is why I take my ipad along always ''.

I told him this story I got from THE LITTLE , BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, by CLIFTON FADIMAN : A journalist once called at Frost's house for an interview ,''Do you have one of those machines -those tape recorders ?'' asked the  poet suspiciously as he opened the door. ''No sir,'' replied the journalist. Frost's manner changed instantly .''Well , come on in!'' he cried.''Those people who take down word will never get anything right''.He then burst into laughter.The man can laugh , he can crack jokes and you will join him laughing.Yes, that is JEFOE for you.

Then somebody called me Babalawo of the Nation!, Babalawo of Africa! , Babalawo of the World! "', the old man burst into laughter and said '' sebi you said you are a Journalist , are you also Babalawo?'', I said   ''no'', but  my own Babalawo is of the Nation newspaper.We started the interview   on the road, he  then asked us to go inside to complete his story. 

He showed me his mother who was selling palm wine and then  ordered cups of palm wine for me , and trust me I started flowing and pouring panegyrics to Palmwine, saying ''Kare o, abiwarapa abito funfun lenu, emu reee, emu ti Bobo T , T Bobo and Babalawo of The Nation ti nwa kiri'', when he heard me , he asked '' Come o sebi your name is Taiwo , how come you are Babalawo? or is it fake?''I screamed ''Sir, my own Babalawo is original, it is Babalawo of The Nation newspaper, I am Bobo T, T, Bobo''.

We sat down and spoke  virtually on everything. The last time we spoke was about his land that he was having problem with and when he resolved it he also told me he has been given another place.

One day we spoke and he told me he wanted to have a praying mountain , which would make him be  fulfilled.

When I started my website taiwoabiodun.com and taiwoabiodun.blogspot.com he was on my mind for another interview  about the Aragun family compound he showed me and asked me to write about that time. I called the Olunaun of Unaun , Prince Olanrewaju Abegunde to send me his number just few weeks before his demise.

  Why am I writing this piece today? I am writing this   to appreciate his simplicity and humility . I  am writing this to honour him. I am writing this  to give him my last respect. I  have had cause to  ask for  interview  from  some people who would treat me shabbily  and turned me off. I remember  a guy who with his arrogance attitude cum uncouth manner went extra mile  for my jugular but  failed woefully. The guy exhibited multilateral combinations of foolishness, arrogance and  arrant nonsense.

     Only very few people appreciate the profession, journalism. While only few people too want their children and wards  to go into the profession because of  the danger it involves yet they want to be interviewed by journalists!. No, wonder some called it a thankless job!. Yet among the few  who know its value and appreciate it is JEFOE.

Whether we like it or not JEFOE has become more popular than any living man who  has  not appeared in The Nation newspaper!.You must be news worthy  in order to be interviewed.

He has become popular allover the world , even in heaven he would go with  this published story and the paper where he granted interview and  show his friends he would meet there.

JEFOE as your name implies (eat vegetable) be eating your vegetable there but not worms, eat what they eat over there .Say hello to my parents over there, my father has spent over 34years and my mother 13 years there. Salute our people there o . 

Anyway , soki lobe oge.