I am coming to exhume Orlando Owoh’s bones -Orimipe Owomoyela

 

            

………I take ewe ola, not igbo, it is medicinal

………I’m coming home to exhume my father’s remains …

………What my father told me

          

         He  looks  every inch like his late  father Oladipupo Olaore Owomoyela the African Kennery, Dr. Orlando    Owoh.  Orimipe  Owomoyela DihardOne’s  voice ,  boldness  in  speaking  the truth and  hitting the nail on the head, native intelligence , Solomonic  wisdom  cum his humility are all what  he inherited from his father . He is  witty  as he cracks jokes .His words are   rich in proverbs  and  anecdotes .He   could  speak  English ,Yoruba and  Owo dialect fluently . In spite the fact that  The President  of  Kenneries Music  and Films Ltd DihardOne ORIMIPE OLUSESI OWOMOYELA   has spent over 20 years in America , he   did not allow the American  accent  reflect in his voice .Orimipe  did not   forget his roots and land   of  his birth. He said he is proud of his native land as he  speaks  Owo dialect undiluted.He  spoke with Taiwo Abiodun in America .

 

 

WHY  I AM SAD

      Orimipe  Owomoyela  is pained.  DiHardOne is angry . Olusesi is sad .DihardOne did not    only show it  but voiced it out.  He said ”I am  not happy that my father, Dr.Orlando Owoh  left his aged  mother behind” but  apart from this he lamented ”above all  I am  not happy that my father was buried in Lagos instead of his hometown, Ifon”. He has  vowed that until the needful is done the late musician’s (Orlando Owoh) spirit will not rest until his remains  is taken to his country home , Ifon to rebury, then his soul will rest.

     

WHY  I WAS ABSENT FROM HOME

He started , and said ” My name is Orimipe Olusesi Owomoyela also known as DihardOne. I am   the first child of Orlando Owo.I live in Chicago in America . I have been here for over  21years”. On why he has been away from home for a long time , and on why  he did  not come home for his father’s burial, the Scion of the Musical family  replied with a proverb ”A woman does not bear the name ‘Kumolu’ without a reason . I came with my late father to America in 1998  and I  decided to stay behind . Many things had happened, a lot of water has passed under the bridge   but I  thank God for everything.

        

WHAT MY FATHER TOLD ME BEFORE HE DIED

Despite the  fact that Orimipe was thousands of miles away from home he was still in contact with his late father when alive . He said he was communicating with him  on phone for he loved Orlando so much  till death took him away on November 4,2008  .He said  ” I felt sad when I heard  the news about  my father’s death .The family members did  the normal burial ceremony .Earlier before  his death every month I  used to send money to my late father as a son’s  filial  duty to his  father. I called him one day and asked him whether he was the only one at home and he said ‘Yes’. The mistake I made was that I did not record his voice which could have been an evidence for me today.I only spoke with him without recording his voice .I told him our discussion was about father and son.

          

”You see when my mother died  I could not  come home and  when he  (my father ) was sick I couldn’t come again. Nevertheless we were always communicating on phone .During one of our conversations he told me that  once a man and twice a child .He said he was once my father but then I had become his  own father   too and whatever I say should be accepted and taken serious  and be obeyed  since I am the first child. I never knew he could leave before his mother  because his mother is still alive .I asked him what should be done  if anything happened to him ( death) . Mind you,  as at that time  I had not perfected my residence  papers in America. And he advised  me that  I should make sure I have all my papers before ever coming back home. Only God knows the time  and he said If I did not  get what I wanted I should not come back home but should send voice note home. But I asked him if anything happened to him what should we do?. He said his prayer was to bury his mother and when the house  which was under construction   in Ifon, his home town  is completed he wished to relocate   there.He also said  that when  his mother  dies he would like to bury his mother  in his house in Ifon”.

Orimipe continued ”my father  said   he had told his mother  that when  she dies he would like her  to be buried in Ifon and when he too dies he should be buried by  the side of his  mother’s grave.  My late father  instructed  me to tell the family and I did . Unfortunately I had not seen what I was looking for then(Residence papers). I sent message home that he should be taken to Ifon in his house and be buried there.Unfortunately I had not seen what I was looking for , so I stayed behind .Although  my brothers and sisters performed the normal rites   but he(Orlando)  was  buried in Lagos. I  don’t   believe he has been buried . He has not rested .I know my father very well ,  he was a mysterious (abami) man. With that if a  man does the rightful thing he would see signs and if one does a wrong  he would see it too… I was very furious to them at first . This time there are no more quarrels .There are corrections to be made  if there are mistakes ,there are remedies or corrections to be made.”

I WILL EXHUME ORLANDO’S BONES FOR REBURIAL

   Asked to buttress his point on the ”correction  to be made”, he made mention, Orimipe  laughed and said ” You want me to nail it on the head?. I am saying   that if it is 20years  or 20months whenever I come back   home I  will exhume his body and take it to Ifon to bury. If  it is only one bone that remains in that grave  I will exhume it and rebury  his bones. If they ask  who has the right to change his words it is me the first child that has the right and if they also ask  who has the right  to remove the curse  it is also  me that has the right to revoke all the  curses .When it is time I will do it.”

                                       

I AM ALSO A MUSICIAN

Does he play music like his father too?, this reporter asked and he replied in his usual manner with proverb saying  ”A child takes semblance  of  his father. I am playing music   and have waxed three albums .I waxed  Tribute to my Father (Kennery Transformation ) the second one is  Echo of an Orphan, I am an orphan and I was born with words  so it is  like weeping or groaning on  what happened  to me and I called it Uleleje,it is a compilation of many  things that happened to me , the Yoruba would say  – arokan oun lo nfa ekun aida .

I EAT EWE OLA NOT IGBO  LIKE MY FATHER

Since a son takes after his father, he is asked again whether he smokes ganja like his late father. He responded as he gave a hysterical laughter  and said ”in Yoruba they call it igbo, you see God created herbs and plants, but we use them  differently .I don’t smoke hemp or igbo but I eat ewe ola”                                                                 

He continued ”It depends on how one   uses it  . Some would wrap  and smoke it  , some use it as  medicine . Where it is legalized , it is for medicinal purposes that is why it is legalized. Some are not used to it but it is from its  (igbo)’blood’  we were born .It cannot affect me  but I eat it. I  don’t smoke igbo or cigar but I chew it , I make  tea out of it , make it as agbo,herbs, I can chew it because it works in the body. It destroys the lungs of those smoking it. I see nothing bad in it ,but  should be used in a good way”, he emphasized.

MY  FATHER’S WIVES

He said ”All my father’s wives from the oldest to the youngest wife,  Shade  are my  mothers .Any right and respect I can give my mother   the same I give  to them.There could have been misunderstanding  before but now things are running smoothly. We have settled our differences  . They are expecting me to come home”.

 WHAT MY GRANNIES TAUGHT ME

On what makes him to be humble he said that is how he was raised. He however shed light on his good  behaviour and humility. He said ”You know  we came from different background , I am from Ifon,if you  ask my  father’s wives they will tell you about me, they will vouch for my character  and my humility .I was trained by my   grannies, I grew up under them .  I will never be rude to anybody . I grew up  under my grandparents and they did not teach me to be rude to old people but to respect them. My father trained us to respect elders and I later on found out in life  that humility pays . I will tell you one story….”

To be continued

NEXT

…..How our house was raided

….. The Cocaine /Alagbon saga etc