Ola Inukan remains Irreplaceable! 14 Years Gone.

Modupeola called me in that coded way that suggests there was something to be seen, not heard. I stylishly came out to give Mum her footwear because I needed a reason to come out. The scene I saw was what we mimicked severally when we were outside of the angle of Mum's vision.

Stooping in the way that Muslim cleric does to greet and pray for someone they respect. Alfa stood in front of our four-bedroom bungalow that would later be demolished in the name of the Abuja Master Plan. Mum, too, bent slightly and said, "Please stand up". Alfa, still stooping, turned to the boy with him. Is she the one? He said, "Yes." He started chanting, "Allahu Akbar!" ( Allah is great) until a few people, mostly neighbors and passers, stopped to look. I recognized the Alfa and asked Modupeola, "How did this man know we lived here?" Modupeola gave me that look of shut your mouth and look. I turned back to the scene. Mummy asked him if he lived around, and he said, "Yes." I know the small boy standing next to Alfa; he is one of those "mummy's children," as we call them.

Alfa said, "When the child brought everything I said, where did you get all these from?" ( nigba ti Omo ko gbogbo re de, mo nibo lo ti ko gbogbo eleyi wa) He said, "Biola's mother told me to bring them" (Mummy Biola lo ni kin ko wa). Biola is our last born. The Alfa said, I told the boy "take me to the person, and it turned out to be you." Earlier that day, Mum had bought kettles and mats to send to this mosque. She did this because we had a visitor weeks before who went for Jummat prayer at the mosque and complained that the mosque had no decent mats, and all their kettles were like pigs use them. My mother did not like these comments but said nothing about it because the person who said it was her "problematic" Aunt. Mummy had no premonition of who the Alfa of the mosque was but just doing her own thing.

We knew this man way back in Kaduna but lost contact after the 2000 crisis. We call this man Mum's brother because they are both from Ede, and every time she passed in front of our house back in KD, he was always shouting, "Aunty mi mo ki yin o." He asked Mum, "Are you the owner of this house, or did you rent it" In that Christian way of self-deprecating humility, Mum responded God built it for me ( Olorun lo ko fun mi). The Alfa returned to screaming "Allahu Akbar!" and said this woman is a good person o (Iya Daada ni Mama yi o). This is how she has been doing from Kaduna. He said, "When I saw your house burnt after the crisis, I said, ha, as good as this woman was. But then I said, except the day does not break, or the sun does not rise, God will reward this woman (Afi Aila ojo, Olorun yio ran yin lowo). See how everything came back to me. The man shouted several "Allahu Akbar!"

Mummy narrated how she escaped being burnt in the house after rescuing Dad, who was unconscious and macheted on the chin. She had returned to see if she could take something valuable from the house before it was looted and burnt. Mum told him how they poured Petro on her and was looking for a match to light her up. The man said he heard from people that they even burnt Mum. Finally, Alfa said, "Iya mi continue to do as you are doing o". He said several Islamic prayers or verses and said Ola inu kan ni. He repeatedly said, "Iya mi Ola Inukan ni."

Days later, I came to the house and asked Modupeola where Mummy was. She asked do you mean Ola Inukan kan? I was like, "can you be serious for once? Where is Mummy?" Modupeola replied, "doing what she does best. She has gone for a naming ceremony down the street".

Today I celebrate Ola Inukan, Eran Ife, Olori Apensi, Prophetess Popoola, Iya Seyi, Iya Oyinbo, Iya Modupeola, Iya Abiola, Iya Adeyinka, Iya Oluwatosin, Iya woli, Iya gbogbo, Iya awon Almajiri ( we use to think being almajiri was better sometimes because they seem to get Mum attention than we do)

Today as every other day till my last breath, I celebrate a woman whose life is a living epistle of Love, kindness, generosity, hard work, and progress. When you died, I was orphaned and motherless for the first time, then sister-mum joined then I became orphaned Promax. In all, I am thankful that you are my vehicle into this world.

Sun re o Mama mi!

 Posted on Facebook on  August 5, 2023

Image used under @ Creative common. Photo credit: Google