Orlando Owoh was arrested because of Dele Giwa’s album-Orimipe Owomoyela

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https://taiwoabiodun.com/i-am-coming-to-exhume-orlando-owohs-bone

……. Orlando Owoh was beaten by the Police  while sleeping

……Orlando  was gifted

…….Story of Orlando’s seized 504 Car

……Meaning of  my name ‘Orimipe’

 

     HOW ORLANDO  WAS ARRESTED FOR   COCAINE

”I was there at  the time of his arrest  . I had just graduated from School of Aviation where I specialized in   Ticketing , Reservation  and  Cargo Handling  and it was three days after my graduation  when   the law enforcement  officers  came . They came to raid , everybody was running helter- skelter .They came from  three stations : Moloney , Alagbon  and  Agege , and  my father was sleeping when they arrived . There was noise .They arrested all of us and packed  us into    the living room . They  went to wake up my father with  severe beatings and in all honesty they did not know it was Orlando  and when they  put us together and then  asked who is Orlando ,  my father showed up  .They said they were sorry, and they said that  that they could not identify him.

 

”They came for him  because of the record he waxed on Dele Giwa who was brutally killed with a parcel bomb .They knew Orlando  was smoking ganja and he even waxed records (Ganja 1,Ganja 2) in its praise  ,everybody knew him for that . Their annoyance  was that they did not disturb him smoking his ganja  but he went ahead to  wax a record on Dele Giwa ,that was the main reason why they came  . They took him away .But   as I told you people come to our  house , and our house was like Fela’s house or  Fela’s shrine.

‘He was arrested because of the album he waxed for Dele Giwa , he waxed the record that it was  letter bomb that killed Dele Giwa  which everybody knew  .It is because of  the case of Dele Giwa .There was a song Orlando sang , Kini ka ri ka ma gbodo soro, oro yi si mbo….oro yi si nbo wa dija  …

”When these  policemen    saw me, saw  Orlando’s wives and anti Shade (Nee Olagundoye) and they  asked  who she was , she told them she  was the last wife  of Orlando  and they also  asked who I was and I  introduced myself too. They left anti Shade and myself   and  said they  would leave us behind to  take care of the  house ….. it was a very long story”.

BUT THEY SAID THEY SAW COCAINE THERE

”Yes, they saw cocaine , but this  is what happened :when everybody was running helter-skelter  they saw little quantity in the front of my father’s house , but you know  whoever  they  found it in his house is liable. Orlando smoked igbo,he smoke cigarette .It is true cocaine, heroine he did it before but   then  the time they came he had since  stopped it.

THEN WHY  WAS HE  ARRESTED?

”He was arrested because of the album he waxed for Dele Giwa , he waxed the record that it was  letter bomb that killed Dele Giwa  which everybody knew  .It was because of  the case of Dele Giwa .There was a song Orlando sang , Kini ka ri ka ma gbodo soro, oro yi si mbo….oro yi si nbo wa dija  ..., people were saying this is Orlando everybody said he was smoking weed.When he waxed record Babangida was  the head of state then. Everybody knew that Orlando was smoking Igbo  ,it was not new. Policemen come to our house to smoke igbo, soldiers used to come, Pastors  do come , Judges, Lawyers used to come .My father sang the reality , not that he fabricated it .It was the reality of what happened in the world of  ganja .

Kini ka ri ka ma gbodo soro,

oro yi si mbo….oro yi si nbo wa dija 

”They said to him ‘we did not arrest you  when you were  smoking your weeds  and  did not fight you  , now when something happened which is the secret from the government of which you should keep shut but you are saying ……..’ that was what  they  said, they had to do something about it, it was not because of Igbo or cocaine.  Musese and all us us went to places.That night when he was arrested I went to tell to Owo to tell Mama ( Orlando’s mother ) what happened”.

 Doctor before Doctor

”Policemen used to  come to our house to smoke igbo, soldiers used to come, Pastors , Judges and Lawyers used to come .My father sang the reality , not that he fabricated it .It was the reality of what happened in the world of ganja ”

Orlando smoking his ganja

”We were in  Court one day  expecting Orlando to be released , but not then they said one head of state called them that instead of taking his case to court he  should be taken to Tribunal , we all waited but .. then he was taken from Tribunal to Kirikiri. Usually they should have  taken him to Alagbon or ..but the then head of State …… who was….. The Judge in charge then adjourned the case then  that was how we were ….until God came to discharge and acquit him.”

WHAT ORLANDO TOLD  ME ABOUT  WOMEN

Orimipe said Orlando counseled him  on  marriage, he said ”My father called me one day and said ‘Orimipe , I want to give you a good  advise , don’t  have harem of wives and don’t have one wife .It is poverty (Osi) that makes a man to have one wife and it is a cursed person or person with bad head (Oloriburuku) that makes a man to  have harem of wives. Don’t have harem of wives and don’t have one wife’, he counseled me . I went to ask my mother  the meaning of what he said .My  mother  defended the  philosophy and said   that it is  poverty  that makes a man to  have one wife while   a man with many wives is cursed.

”Then my journey in life landed me into it .I did not marry when  I was in Nigeria and when I came to Chicago , here in America I married a lady here. The lady gave me a child , he is my carbon copy . Later in life we  quarreled  and we parted and I remarried. One day Orlando’s words came into my mind  . Today I cannot say that  I have one  wife ,no, because two women had children for me .And  I did not  have harem of wives  as he strongly  advised me against it .So I am in the middle as  he  wanted me to be in the middle” .

Taiwo Abiodun during an interview with the late Musician’s mother

MEANING OF MY NAME ‘ORIMIPE’

Asked to tell the meaning of his middle name, Orimipe, the man burst into laughter and  asked this reporter to pronounce the name again, ‘Orimipe’  . He then said  ”A pe mora eni  la npe temidire ( You  attribute good things to yourself). My father said ‘whose head is not correct?, who would say his own head is not correct?’.   He said when I was born he was at the war front  where  they were shelling bombs, he said he was in danger zone and was bitter but when they announced my birth to him it became a mixture or combination of good and bad , Bitter  and sweet, he then told them that ‘as at now my head is correct right now’  , Orimipe .That was how the name came out. Whoever knows his head is not correct should now say so”.

TROUBLES MY FATHER FACED WHEN ALIVE

Orimipe said his father , Orlando faced a lot of challenges ,”His problems were many, when I was young  he  told me stories. The Alagbon problem is one of them. As  I knew he  had gone  to the hospital and cleared his system , detoxified drug from his system and  was not doing it again.When they came they entered my room and searched for drug but  they   found nothing . It is true he had done such thing before but he had stopped, and flushed it out from his system. He was sleeping when they raided , you will remember the song he waxed ”Oju orun ni mo wa mo ngba siesta mi lo, igbaju ni won fi ji mi loju orun o, nitori gbaana”, it is true he was sleeping when they came .But when they  came  they rough handled everybody and were beating all, his case is like Jesus Christ among his disciples you will not know him, until he is  introduced. When Orlando was with his people or among his Band  members  if you don’t know him you will be asking  for Orlando and he will quietly leave and it could be Baba Osenepen or my brother Elvis or  Baba Musese  or anybody  who  would then ask who they are looking for and if it is an important thing we would then call Orlando.You know how they do in Nigeria.That was it then .They all came from Alagbon, Moloney, Agege, later they  said they were sorry, but had beaten him to a pulp.

HOW WAS HIS SPIRIT WHEN ARRESTED

”Nobody would leave his house and stay  in other places and be comfortable , West, East, North and South  home is the best. His case was like the  Parrot the    enemies dipped its feather into the  palm oil in order  to be stained  but  the palm oil added beauty to its features and  it came out more beautiful.  With the Alagbon’s case God turned his case to the best. God had a purpose and  wanted to keep him for a while. At last he  was freed at the Supreme Court”.

  I knew he  had gone  to the hospital and cleared his system , detoxified drug from his system and  was not doing it again. When they came they entered my room and searched for drug but  they   found nothing . It is true he had done such thing before but he had stopped, and flushed it out from his system. He was sleeping when they raided , you will remember the song he waxed ”Oju orun ni mo wa mo ngba siesta mi lo, igbaju ni won fi ji mi loju orun o, nitori gbaana’

Orimipe  with his friends singing in Chicago,USA

WHENEVER YOU REMEMBER  THE MAN AT THE HELM OF AFFAIRS OF THE COUNTRY  THEN  HOW DO YOU FEEL

”At my age I cannot lie , I am not happy with him , though if I see him there is nothing I will do, God knows everything .He (Orlando) came out alive,he was discharged and acquitted and for the main fact that he ( the  head of ….) planned such thing was not a good thing . He was called President then , he was a military man and called himself President , he did all these .Its like going into the Lion’s den and came out .Each time I remember this I feel bad,  I have forgiven him ,I have forgiven him.”

OGEDENGBE/OLADIMEJI  504 CAR

Reminded about the car impounded by Orlando’s friend when he defaulted , Orimipe said  ”They were all friends then ,the story is true but it is sad. Whenever something happened to him God  wanted to bless him and let his glory shine . When he was bluffed  about the car, Orlando went to buy that type of same Brand, color and  the number of the first car was 1111 and  the second one was 4111, it was a Peugeot 504  then. Baba Die The Matter was there then he also assisted my   father, he knew about it.God will just raise Orlando’s   glory when something happened to him  . Orlando purchased the  car  from his friend a Car dealer and because he defaulted to pay as at the time he should , the car  was seized .It was a Peugeot 504 with the registration number 1111 while he bought another new one and of same brand, colour and registered number as 4111.God has been kind to Orlando.That was when he sang ” Ogedengbe.. O gbe mi lori esin…..”

 

Orimipe delivering a speech in America

 MY BROTHER DIED AT 52

 Orimipe said he is sad when  he heard the news of  the death of his   half- brother  about two years ago. In his words , he said ”I cried when I heard the news of the death of my brother , Sunday.Her mother is my father’s wife and she is also my mother .I feel for Sunday’s mother, it is painful that her son, Sunday died .But what ought to  be done should be done. Sunday was very close to me same thing with all other younger ones.They are all married and in their matrimonial homes now.

                            .

Sunday’s mother

 I asked a friend to help me to be  doing the needful for the boy ”

Asked  his  best music in Orlando’s album, Orimipe   sang A mbe laye , alaiye nsaye lo , ti a ba tun kuro nibe..mo ti se won ti mo le see ( crying)

MY FATHER WAS A  MILLIONAIRE

”I would say he was a millionaire, my father did not believe until you have 10 million naira before he helped you .He never begged before he died . Orlando’s house was free what he would not   not accept is armed robbers .He would not eat alone , you will eat from same plate ,that is what  I learnt from him that is what we call a rich man and  that you have millions ,that is what we call eniyan laso mi (human beings provide the body of a more protective covering than clothes ever will ).That is why the honour and dignity  he had was more than money”

Asked  his  best music in Orlando’s album, Orimipe   sang :A mbe laye , alaiye nsaye lo , ti a ba tun kuro nibe..mo ti se won ti mo le see  (crying)

APPEARS IN MY DREAM

Yes, several times ,he used to appear in my dream  that is what I am saying that he should be resting , when it is time we would do the needful’

 

Taiwo Abiodun during an interview with the late Orlando

WHERE ARE ORLANDO’S BAND MEMBERS

          ”His members are still alive.I have two brothers singing at home, Daisi and Duro.I don’t know why they did not get along with them I am still  trying to   make effort to do that. Even if they  don’t for  play us  again  we should call them and celebrate them in remembrance of our father”.

DIE THE MATTER AND APATA

” Apart from being my father’s friends , they are those I also know as my fathers. Anywhere I was , if I got broke they would give me money .It is what they give their children they also gave me.I remember when  Kabiyesi Apata insisted that I must go back to school when I was about to go my final year exam in secondary school, Apata stood up and asked what I was doing at home, and he  said ‘Orlando come ‘, and he counted some  money and  handed over to Chief Osennepen who in turn gave me and asked me to e go back to school .These fathers assisted me . Chief Osenepen was my father’s manager and his right hand man.Anywhere u see Orlando you will see him same with Musese. We all did a lot during the Alagbon episode, he was the PRO , he did great.

”They are my fathers , I thank them very well for taking care of my granny, I pray to be able to  pay them back .They all stood by my father , it is a different thing to say one is a friend when alive and dead , they are great friends of my father”.

SHADE THE LAST WIFE OF BABA, AND VERY POPULAR

”She was my father’s wife, and the respect I gave my mother is what I  gave her. Now let me tell you this story ,if you have the opportunity ask  if you can go to these people ask whether its true or false.

Shade ( Nee Olagundoye)

”One day I was at home with Baba Osenenpen, anti Shade who was  my father’s wife , Mummy Niyi -(anti Funke ), Anti Muibat [mummy Tope ] these four people with my brother , Elvis and his wife , we were many in a room, Osenepen was asked to call me , and I came and my father was lying down , and he said ‘if anything happen to  me , if I die .. , these are my wives which one would you  take care of ?’. I responded ” God forbid , we will all be in this house and they will all take care of their children”.Baba Chief then  praised me , but my father said what he meant was which among them will I marry ? And I said ‘ha , it is forbidden a son does not have  s… relationship  with his mother , eewo” .I said your wife is your wife , it cannot be my wife, that  would be ……. I   said no. I thought he was going to say I was stubborn and that I might send them away when he is gone, but he said and meant another thing ”

THE OJOS’ ORLANDO’S ALBUM

”There are many Ojooos, he sang  their praises …that Ojo di meji sodo mi ( Ojo has now become two in my domain). His younger ones who are bearing Ojo are three , so I cannot know the real Ojo since he did not finish the name Ojo”.

 

 

My son , Orlando was a great man

 

 

                      Orlando’s mother and BoN during the Interview

Madam Morenike is the mother of the late musician Dr. Orlando Owoh, she said she once prepared a concoction for the late Musician to discourage him from smoking Indian hemp but he rejected it.

           Carved on the wooden  door of the  bungalow is the    artwork   of the late African Kennery, Owomoyela Oladipupo Olaore [aka Orlando Owoh] . Each time the  centenarian mother of Orlando   sees the   carved wooden  artwork   of her son she feels sad  , ” I am always sad seeing the carved life size of Orlando on the door but what can I  do than to wipe and dust it to make it clean”, she told this reporter. She added”  but I found solace in his  children and friends who are supporting me ”  .

Seeing mama one would not believe she is over  100 years of age, as she walks , talks and still agile but she debunked this reporter’s observation and said she  has become old and no longer have that energy  or stamina again as she can no longer walk faster as she used to be. However, one fact remains , she does not use walking stick. ”I now walk slowly , and slowly and cannot go far ”, the old woman stated.

,          

       Late Orlando

She went down memory lane to speak about her popular son who was a musician, but immediately she was asked how she feels hearing his music over the radio , she answered ” I weep , shed tears but would pray to God to let his children live long and bury me .

Mama Morenike lost her son, Orlando Owoh about 10 years   after a brief illness .

Mama is very neat

One thing that cannot be taken away from the old woman is her neatness. She is very neat and   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

If Orlando is alive today he would have been 84, and according to speculations mama is over 100 years of age. Considering her   good stature  many guess that the old woman cannot be less than 100 years 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”, she said with shaky voice.

How  I met Orlando’s  father 

When asked to tell her romance with Orlando’s father that produced the late musician , she laughed and said ” Haaa, you want to know? ”
She stated that she was living with her late brother Omoyinbo who was a friend to Owomoyela, Orlando’s father and that was the beginning of the production of the late musician.

Orlando’s real names

Mama said ”my son’s real 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 gave him the name  ‘Olaore’ , she said “because my late brother, Omoyinbo whom I was living with in Owo  was a friend to Orlando’s father ,   and it was my that brother that  betrothed me to Orlando’s father .I  later  fell in love with him [Owomoyela]   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 till death” .

       Where are Orlando’s friends?

       When one dies most his  friends are no longer seen again but this is not so to Orlando. 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’s  house who used to give me food and money .Die The Matter has just dropped me at home now, he gives me money , food ,he used to store tubers of yam an gaarii here for me. Same with Oba Francis  Apata, who is the Onipe of Ipe. Oba Apata used to come to me , he drives here  , and that is the chair he sits  (pointing ) whenever he comes here ,not minding his status as a royal father, we would talk and talk, he would tell me that  he would take care of me that i should not die. I want you to pray for me for I  am old enough to die. I thank God that  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 .

         Orlando was talented

          The late musician was rumoured to have inherited his profession from his parents but 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”, she added.

        Where are Orlando ‘s wives ?

       Mama who lives in Owo , her country home  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”, she defended them.But her prayers according to her is for the whole children to rally round and come and bury her  when she is gone.

         Orlando’s vacuum

        Yes, Orlando left a big vacuum behind, his death was a fatal blow on the old woman. 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”, she said with pains.

        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 to me  by one of his  sisters, I felt like dying , up till now I am not myself”.

        The song I love most

         From all the albums Orlando waxed the one her mother loved most is the one she sang to honour her , according to her “I used to listen to his music on the radio, yes, he had a good voice and 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 y’emi 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”.

     Orlando’s fame  is from God

      While many mothers whose children are successful and popular would say  it was predicted and and expected but  the late Musician’s mother said with humility that  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 is honest like her son , she said she was  aware that her  late son smoked Ganja  which  she did not supported.  ”What did she do then to stop him?”, she replied “I used to advise him  to stop smoking  Igbo, I even went extra mile to prepare  agbo (herbs/concotion ) for him to make him stop it but he did not take the  concoction”  he  too used  argued  that if he didn’t smoke it he would not have the energy to play and sing” .

Bury me at the cemetery 

Asked  where she would like to be buried  after her death, mama said she preferred her church’s cemetery , “I am not happy that 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 .their tombs are there. When I die I want to be buried at our cemetery in  Iselu, Owo but not to be taken  to Ifon or anywhere”, she pleaded, adding ”when my son was alive he  said  he  would like me to  be buried in Ifon  when Im gone but I  said no, unfortunately he died before me ,it is painful” , she sobbed.