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| Late Mama Christianah Towuro Ogunbambo. |
By Sina Ogunbambo
For those who did not grow up in
villages, tales of a hen squaring it up with a hawk in a battle might be a mere
fiction, but for us privileged to have the luxury of growing up in a somewhat
somnolent milieu, with mother nature, enjoying the chirpings of the birds and
bleating of the goats, it is the best of live matches.
Ordinarily a mother hen panics as a
hawk nosedives to pluck one of her chicken, but will still swell her feathers
to protect the rest. However, that is not a mother hen one will proudly take a
bet on in a battle with the hawk. When a hawk attempts to snatch a chicken from
a real mother hen, that is when you know hens are birds that can fight and
really fly high. Such mother hen will wrestle at the risk of her life to rescue
a chicken that is about to be hooked by the hawk or that which is in the firm
grip of the hawk. Such mother hens are rare and are henceforth
"worshipped" by villagers who cherish their bravery.
Such was the mother that my humble
self and my younger Brother, Barrister Leke
Ogunbambo were privileged to have in life for over four decades. Before
us were elderly non-biological children and when we were growing up, younger non-biological children followed.
My mum, Mrs. Christianah Towuro
Ogunbambo, passed away on January 28th, 2000 in my arms and in my house in
Lagos, exactly 20 years ago. She passed away praying for her children and all
members of her family. However, that was not the reason I referred to her as,
mother hen. Let me give three instances.
In the year 1965, I was a primary one
pupil at Saint Barnabas Anglican Primary School, in Okun - Owa, Ijebu in the
Western Region of Nigeria. That was the era of turbulent politics in the
Western Region, then referred to as "Wild Wild West ". It was a time
that political thuggery was at its worst. Houses of political opponents were
then being torched and some human beings being massacred. I wouldn't know what
caused the problem at my hometown, Okun - Owa at that time, but all what we were told was that the
"Commander - in - Chief " of political thugs, nicknamed Ogberegede, was in town, one fateful day, on
a mission to deal with political opponents. We were having our morning devotion
in our school premises, when suddenly we heard the staccato of dane guns.
Before we could open our eyes, our teachers have fled in different directions
and there was pandemonium. Our school does not have a block fence at that time
but that of grown up tiny trees. I was in primary one, always enjoying the
protection of senior relations who always pick me home to school and back. But
the day Ogberegede came, there was no room for such niceties. Everyone was unto
himself. Elderly men were already in their farms while those who were not
farmers have fled from the community.
How I got back home safely from the about one kilometre distance, I
cannot tell. In the midst of this battle was my mother, not minding the booming
of dane guns and whatever danger looms ahead. Villagers were warning her to go
back home and save her life. My mother turned deaf ears, raced to my school and
ransacked everywhere. I was nowhere to be found. Amidst that tension, she was
not shaken. Some advised that she should go back home and check. Finally, she
came back home and met me in the company of my younger brother, Leke, still
around two years old and my elderly cousin, Folake (now of blessed memory) who
attended a Moslem Primary School, that was a stone throw. She then knelt down
to pray and thank the Almighty God.
This incident was just an appetizer to
the one that will follow in 1969.
Major Owen Ademola Adebanjo (rtd),
then a Sergeant was the Platoon Commander and reporting officer for Army
checkpoints around Sagamu to Ibadan axis on the old Lagos - Ikorodu -
Sagamu - Ijebu Ode - Ibadan road, during
the civil war.
He was at his makeshift office in the
Veterinary Centre, at Sagamu one morning, when a woman she referred to as
"one Mama Demola " came from Okun
- Owa to report a soldier whom he said was harassing her and her
daughter at Okun - Owa, due to rivalry between him and one civilian looking for
her daughter's hand in marriage. Mama Demola according to Sergeant Adebanjo (at
that time) was threatening her life. The Platoon Commander from his records, do
not have such a name but from findings got to discover that the then soldier,
Taye “Obodujale” (nickname turned surname), was a deserter, having fled the
army during the ongoing civil war at the time.
With three soldiers armed with AK 47
rifles, he ordered that the Lance Corporal (who loves wearing the rank of
Warrant Officer, otherwise called Sergeant Major), Taye Obodujale, be brought
to Sagamu which was about fifteen minutes drive from Okun - Owa. The soldiers
left in his land rover jeep. After about one hour, Sgt Adebanjo wondering why
the soldiers were not yet back came out of his office. To his surprise, he met
some traders and lots of plantain scattered on the ground, at the Sagamu check
point. The soldiers at the point, then have to tell him that the three soldiers
he sent to Okun - Owa came back battered and their three AK 47 guns seized. The
soldiers do not have the effrontery to stand before Sgt Adebanjo to tell that
humiliating story, hence they told their colleagues. Pronto, the action men,
commandeered a "bolekaja" bus and stormed Okun - Owa to recover their guns and bring back the
soldier, Taye Obodujale and whoever must have assisted him. Good enough, Sgt
Adebanjo met his land rover parked around his office. He jumped in and sped to
Okun - Owa. As he was getting to
Okun - Owa, he met a lot of soldiers on the major tarred
road and before he can get full briefing, an officer's vehicle just parked.
The occupant, according to Sgt
Adebanjo, was no other person than Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo (now General
Olusegun Obasanjo rtd), then, Commander, Ibadan Garrison Organisation. He asked
what was happening and he was briefed.
He then ordered Sgt Adebanjo to produce the deserter soldier, Lance
Corporal Taye Obodujale, “dead or alive” and recover the three AK 47 guns. The
soldiers then stormed Okun - Owa community
but with a firm instruction from Sgt Adebanjo that they should not kill anybody
from that community because he is an indigene. Perhaps that was what saved Okun
- Owa from being given what can be regarded as modern day "Odi treatment
" where a lot of lives were lost and properties destroyed.
Able bodied men, young and old who
have either witnessed or heard how Lance Corporal Taye Obodujale and two of his
brothers, wrestled the three soldiers, overpowered them and seized their guns,
have already envisaged there will be trouble and fled the town into bushes and
neighbouring villages. Most women too have closed their shops and hid
themselves in their houses. Although the armed soldiers were not firing shots,
they were applying their horse whip brutally on whoever they met on the road. My younger brother and I, were then still at
school. You can then imagine what a
woman who will go at any length to salvage her first born child during the
"Ogberegede" imbroglio will do, when her two biological children were
trapped at school. With agility she sped on her way to Saint Barnabas Anglican
Primary School, Okun - Owa and on her way met soldiers who ordered her to go
back. She boldly told them she was heading to school to bring her children home
and she matched on. One of them ran after her and gave her a horse whip.
Despite the pains, she did not retreat.
She got to school and did not see her children. I was ten years old at
that time and my younger brother was six. I have looked for him and through
some hidden corners that only a native can explore, found ourselves home.
Sweet mother came back home and met
us. She hugged us closely and then wept. We joined.
Though the soldiers spent three weeks
after at Okun - Owa, they did not torture the women again. My mother had gone
to report to her lawyer, Late Barrister Otunba Adesina Odedina (of blessed
memory) who got in touch with their superiors, hence they desist from flogging
women. Odedina was my mother's customer
as she trades in fresh sea fish and variety of bush meat.
 |
| Sweet mother, late Mrs Christianah T. Ogunbambo. |
According to Sgt Adebanjo who retired
in the Army as a Major in year 2000 and is 74 years old, it took a search of
three weeks to recover the guns that were buried somewhere in the town. This
was after the threat to blow up the residence of Taye Obodujale's father and
that of his neighbours with grenade.
Finally Lance Corporal Taye Obodujale
was found at Irolu, a neighbouring community and he has to be shot in the leg
before he was overpowered and brought to Okun - Owa town hall.
He was then driven to Ibadan along
with the now rusty three AK 47 rifles. Col Obasanjo (as he then was)
interrogated him and found out he was somehow incoherent. He condemned his
action but remarked he was a gallant soldier to have overpowered three other
armed soldiers while not carrying any arm. He then directed he should be taken
to a Psychiatric hospital for examination. For recovering the gun and the
offending soldier alive, Sgt Adebanjo was promoted to the rank of Warrant
Officer 2. Till today, Obodujale remains a hero in Okun - Owa for not only disarming three soldiers but for
the tales woven around him that while fighting during the civil war, he went
with his Commander to the battlefield with a battalion and only him and his
boss (whom he empowered with charms) returned alive.
Being a woman who had her biological
children at a very late age, the time
her age mates were having grandchildren, one would have thought her protective
ability were due to such a factor. Far from it.
About five years to her demise, one of her relations, Folami, had a pretty wife who during hard
times just eloped with another man and was bold enough to be living with such
an abductor in that same Okun - Owa community.
The very reserved Folami expressed his sadness over the matter to my
mother, feeling oppressed. The man who snatched the wife was said to be a
violent and disrespectful person, but he commands a lot of cash at the village
level. My mother told his relation not to worry.
He headed for the wife snatcher house
one morning and told him she has come to greet him. Mum told him that it was
not his fault that the woman eloped but that of the covetous woman. She said
further that as an original Yoruba man, he should have asked the woman to
process divorce papers and return the dowry paid on her and that until he does
that, Folami is still her husband. Surprisingly, the wife snatcher prostrated
and begged mum admitting that what he did was bad. He ordered the woman to pack
her load and follow Mama. That was how the wife returned to her husband's house
and was there till Mama's demise. She
has now left my relation and married another man after filing of proper divorce
papers.
I was wondering the kind of human
rights activist my mother would have been if she has been educated. She never
stepped through the gate of any school for education except when she goes to
monitor the progress of her children from teachers and present them with gifts.
My mother was loving and very caring.
She does not believe in beating children but will go at length to chastise them
with words when they err. Even at that, she will never curse a child, when
others do so unintentionally. Imagine a mother scolding a child and still
calling such, a blessed and glorious child.
In our home, there is no limit to the
amount of food you can eat. The golden rule is that there must not be wastage.
When it is time for harvest of oranges, she will buy a full basket and all any
child, with our legion of friends, requires is to hold your knife, peel oranges
and suck, till you are full.
She was also a great motivator. When
we were in primary school, she will only ask us of our position in class. If you come first, second or third, you are guaranteed a bottle of Howdy,
Mirinda, Lemonade or Tango. At the secondary school level, it graduated to nice
shirts and trousers. This apart from her advice and prayers kept us on top.
As I said she trades in fresh and live
fishes with bush meat too. At inception, she sells Titus Ibru fish, which were
normally sliced and sold to children and adults. It is a very good combination
with a meal of soaked gari in the afternoon. Later she graduated into selling
our natural fishes.
Her speciality are in giant cat fishes
(eja aro and odupe), Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus - silver catfish "eja
osan" (usually purchased by prominent Ijebu people as part of bridal
engagement demands), tilapia, electric fish. Of reptiles too, she deals in
crocodiles, alligators, snakes and snails. As for animals, she sells grass
cutters, antelopes, porcupine, deer, squirrels, pouch rat (okete)
etc.
She also diversified into selling bags
of gari and drums of palm oil. She will give her hunters loan to purchase dane
guns and cartridges and the fishermen,
loans to buy canoes and nets.
Her human relations was fantastic.
Imagine a first time customer wanting to buy nicely smoked fish. The couple
came but their bargaining was bad. The husband was willing but the wife kept on
shooting down the price. Later they resolved to depart without purchasing any
fish. My mother called them back, wrapped nicely two big and well smoked fish
with tantalising aroma, which she presented to them as gifts. She told them
that the proof of the pudding is in the eating and that if they do not buy from
her this time around, they can do so next time. The stunned couple did not only
buy fish that day, they became regular customers and like Mama's children for a
very long time and will only request for final price when they do their
purchase.
To say my mother was a workaholic is
putting it mildly. She wakes up every morning by 5.30am, prepare us for school
and embark on her trading activities in our compound and hardly goes to bed
until 11pm on most days.
As much as she cherished and cared for
her non-biological and biological children,
she did not pamper any.
Right from my primary one in school, I
have been washing my school uniform. If not washed properly, she will teach me
what next to do till it gets to a point where she is satisfied. I was taught
how to grind pepper on grinding stone. I don't waste water because I do go to
brook to fetch water until the Government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo provided our
community and others with potable tap water. Even at that we still have to
queue to fetch water. I wash pots, plates, clean the surroundings and cook all
types of food. I assisted her tremendously in her trade and appreciate what it
takes to make money through hard labour. We were taught how to save money in
clay banks. All these lessons became
very useful to me later in life.
Some of her prominent customers for
decades include Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and
Late Mama H. I .D Awolowo. It extended to their son, Late Hon Oluwole
Awolowo. Others include the Awujale & paramount ruler of Ijebuland, His
Royal Majesty, Oba Sikiru Adetona, Yeye Oba Caroline Adebutu (matriarch of
Odole Sir Kensington Adebutu dynasty), Late Otunba Adesina Odedina, Late Dr
Taye Oworu, Late Chief J. S. Ogunnaike (Olugbon of Odogbolu and Chairman,
Western State Civil Service Commission), Late Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, the
first Chief Justice of Nigeria (my mum calls him adajo olododo - judge of
colours, due to his regalia), Prince Albert Awofisayo, Late Hon Oladipupo
Olukoya, Late Chief Bayo Oduwole (my Uncle), Late Brig Gen Odufunmilade
Odunaiya rtd (my first cousin), Late Otunba Oluwunmi Olukoga, Late Chief Victor
Olabisi Onabanjo ( former Governor, Ogun
State) , Late Prince Bode Oliwo, Late Chief Oladotun Odunuga (my school
Principal) , Late Mr Onanuga (Ona Ara Bookshop) ,Late Prof Funmi Adeyemi (my
uncle) and a host of others.
Our early exposure to these eminent
personalities made me and my younger brother resolve to pursue education to the
tertiary level despite the fact that our father, Chief Samuel Ogunbambo -
Odunaiya only had Sunday school education, which enabled him to read and write
in Yoruba and our mother who never had any formal education but is an excellent
business woman who is equally marvelous in the arithmetic of money.
Despite her success in life she
remained respectful and submissive to her husband. When she was waiting on the Lord for the
fruit of the womb, she was attending the Church of the Lord Aladura (a white
garment church). When the husband later asked her and the children to go back
to the Anglican Church (his church), she obeyed without asking questions.
My mum was a cheerful giver and a
lover of the extended family, the community inclusive. Always excited when
young ones are getting married, she will be the last on the queue for
presentation of gifts and her usual gifts are a very large bowl with a live
fish inside (significantly for the couple to bath their babies and the fish, as
part of their first menu as husband and wife). Everyone will laugh when she
presents her gifts and they usually call her “Mama oni basia”.
She was also a great shoulder to lean
on for everyone around her. There was a case of a young girl (now a mother) who
fled from her home to my mother's place because the dad wanted to beat her for
a misdeed. My mother sent for her father and she was made to apologise. Mum
also pleaded on her behalf. She was now asked to follow her father home but she
refused, insisting she will henceforth live with my mother. When my Mummy
eventually agreed she could live with her and the father wholeheartedly
consented, the girl who came in pants refused to follow his father to bring her
clothes. The father obliged to do this. From that day she became Mama's
daughter, had her education while living with her and did not leave until she
got married.
I have chosen this approach to
remember my mother and celebrate her, hoping that our mothers of nowadays,
wives and daughters may find one lesson or others to learn from her life.
My precious mother, Mama Popoola, Mama Oluwasina, Mama Oluwaleke,
Grandma Adedolapo, Mama Egbe, Bobadega
age group society of Okun - Owa, Mama Egbe
(matron) of fish sellers association of Okun - Owa, Mama Egbe of Hunters Association of
Okun - Owa, an epitome of beauty, a
quintessence of pure love and affection,
continue to rest in the bosom of our Lord.
Though you departed into eternity 20
years ago, it still looks like yesterday. Sweet is the remembrance of the just.
You live forever in our hearts.
·
Sina Ogunbambo is
a journalist and a public affairs analyst.
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