………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