Life is magical and can be troubling sometimes. Those who concluded that life is a compedium of hidden treasures and dark secrets were not wrong. Truly, not all situations in life are explainable. You can not conquer life, you can not outsmart life neither can you win life in a race.
Those who tasked themselves with the roles of exposing the secrets of the dark either died in service or become living reflections of dark secrets. Some things are not created to be understood. The more you look at certain occurences, the more the struggle to comprehend. When you look around, we see these occurences everywhere. The lifetime of ‘Osuolale’s Twin’ popularly known as ‘IBEJI ORAN OR IBEJI IDE’ is one.
WITHIN NIGERIA reporter travelled down to Osogbo, the hometown of ‘IBEJI ORAN OR IBEJI IDE’. With the sum of N100, you can comfortably reach the family house of Osuolale from Osogbo Central Mosque. The ‘Osuolale’ family compound is situated along Ibokun Road which is metres away from the popular residence of Late Osun White priestess, Susan Wenger better known as Adunni Olorisha.
Like Adunni Olorisha’s residence, the ‘Osuolale’ family house is also close to the tarred Ibokun road. When this reporter alighted from the bike, the rider pointed to an old building as the family house of the ‘Osuolale’ and at the back of the building lies a failing storey-building which also belongs to the ‘Osuolale’. This reporter approached an old woman who was sitting on one of the wooden benches in front of the house. The old woman humbly turned down the interview and asked this reporter to move around the house if he would be lucky to see another person. The old woman was later identified as one of the wives of Osuolale, a popular motorist and father of ‘IBEJI ORAN OR IBEJI IDE’ in Osogbo.
In the course of circumnavigating the entire compound, this reporter saw the deplorable state of the buildings and marvelled at the level of infrastructural decay. All the buildings in the compound are failing. Majority of the occupants had already gone to their respective place of work but as fate would have it, a tenant living inside one of the buildings in the compound identified as Ridwan came out and advised this reporter to look for a popular Nollywood actor identified as Alhaji Ganiyu Akinpelu Oyeyemi popularly known as Ogunjimi for a well detailed information about the twins.
This reporter went in search for Alhaji Ganiyu Akinpelu Oyeyemi popularly known as ‘Ogunjimi’. He was later found in an old house which is not far from the family house of Osuolale twins. A fiercely-looking young man in his late thirties who was sitting on a mortal infront of the house took this reporter to Ogunjimi’s room. This reporter entered the room with fear and nearly thought he had lost my way owing to charms and other traditional materials littering the room until I heard his voice, saying “Emi Ogunjimi – Alaanu Eeyan ti fi majele rofo”.
Ogunjimi was lying on a mat when this reporter came in. He stood up, prayed for this reporter and asked him to sit on another wooden bench inside the spiritual room. Before this reporter could utter a word, Ogunjimi told WITHIN NIGERIA that the old house belongs to his father and he now uses it as office. Besides acting, I go for hunting spree sometimes and encourage people to worship our deities, he added.
Ogunjimi narrates how God used him to bring ‘Ibeji Ide’ into limelight
When asked about the Osuolale’s twins, Ogunjimi who was in sober mood told WITHIN NIGERIA that the very first time he met the Osuolale’s twins, he was at ‘Koto Orun’ location with prominent film-maker, Late Alhaji Ajileye. Describing the twins as a glorious one, he disclosed that he had already put on his costumes at the location, joking around with spectators before he sighted one of the twins.
“I picked one of the twins, started playing with him and the other was crying profusely and demanded that I should drop his brother. Alhaji Ajileye was watching from afar and later called us to come and meet him. That was the beginning of a positive turn-around for the twins”, Ogunjimi narrated.
“The elder sister of one of Alhaji Ajileye’s wives identified as ‘Hammedat’ also married from the Osuolale’s family. So it was very easy for him to access and work closely with the family. Alhaji Ajileye wrote a film titled ‘Ibeji Ide’ for the twins and the film was well accepted and loved by the people. That was how the twins became popular, he added.
Narrating the ordeals the twins went through after they became popular, Ogunjimi told WITHIN NIGERIA that they had issues with food, clothes and everything was so wierd that their mother had to handover their affairs to me.
“Whenever they call for MC (master of ceremony), they would follow me to the event and people would be trooping out enmasse to see them. We visited traditional rulers like Ataoja of Osogboland, prominent persons like Chief Afe Babalola and captains of industries. They are simply the best and I miss them greatly, he added.
We barbed their heads before naming ceremony and hairs no longer grow again, bodies became darkened – Mother of Osuolale’s twins
In our pursuit to get accurate informations about the lifetime of the miraculous twins, Alhaji Ganiyu Oyeyemi better known as Ogunjimi took WITHIN NIGERIA to their mother who is now the occupant of the 8-bedroom flat the twins built while alive. The 8-bedroom flat is located at Owode Area, Osogbo. This reporter observed that the exterior part of the house needs renovation. Noticeable cracks in the wall, broken floors among others.
When this reporter entered the sitting room, he saw two pictures of Osuolale’s twins hanged on the wall at strategic places. The mother appeared ready for the interview but this reporter was wrong. This reporter know of pains that does not go away easily, losing two promising children within a year is one. 6 years after their demise, the mother is still nursing the pains.
Speaking with WITHIN NIGERIA, the mother of ‘Ibeji Ide’ disclosed that the twins are ‘Ige’ which means ‘breech babies’ i.e babies that come out of their mother’s belly with legs or buttocks are called breech babies.
She further disclosed that the twins were very small when she gave birth to them and most times use cotton wool to wrap them.
The mother while expressing her sadness over their untimely demise said she could not remember the year she gave birth to the twins and further stated that we (husband and I) spent a lot of money in raising them and visited a lot of traditional healers to make them healthy and probably changed their look but all efforts were in vain.
The depressed mother also disclosed that the twin were not only small but look like normal babies at birth. We even barbed their heads before the naming ceremony. We just noticed that the hairs no longer grow again and their bodies became darkened. We took them to many places but healers always mentioned that they purposely came to this world in that form, a rather sad mother said.
The mother also disclosed that they passed through the four walls of schools eventhough they did not go to any higher institution. The first school they attended was Okanla primary school situated in Oke-Ola, Osogbo but they later left the school as a result of abuse and intimidation. But they later finished from St. Andrews Primary School situated in Oke-Baale Osogbo and also completed their secondary education at St. Charles Grammar School in Osogbo too.
Marital life of Osuolale’s twin
When asked about their marital life, the twin’s mother told WITHIN NIGERIA that they got married in 2010. The union of the physically challenged twin was blessed with four kids.
A check by WITHIN NIGERIA revealed that the physically challenged twin truly got married in 2010. The marriage ceremony took place at St Charles Grammar School, Osogbo and it was attended by nollywood actors among others. Popular fuji artiste, Saheed Osupa was the invited musician and Sheikh Buhari Omo Musa preached at the occasion. Chief Sunday Adeyemo better known as Sunday Igboho graced the event too.
How Osuolale’s twin built 8-bedroom flat, acquired plots of land in Osogbo
A close relative told WITHIN NIGERIA that the Osuolale’s twins better known as ‘Ibeji Ide’ were poor and could hardly survive at a particular time despite being famous. Besides acting and music, they also engaged in sporting activities such as table tennis. Yet they were only known by the people but the emptiness of their pockets does not commensurate with the fame.
According to the close relative, ‘Ibeji-Ide’ twins witnessed a financial turn-around when they signed a deal with some film makers from the eastern part of Nigeria who watched their films in Lagos and could use their appearance to make more money. The demise of their boss and principal, Alhaji Yekini Ajileye also fastracked the signing of the deal and the south-east became their new fertile ground for movies.
Findings by WITHIN NIGERIA revealed that the Osuolale’s twin jointly built 4-bedroom flat in two seperate ways on a plot of land. They also had a Sienna car and some plots of land in Osogbo before their demise. They could achieve all these properties as a result of their partnership with some Igbo film makers, a close relative added.
How popular Nollywood artiste, Ramsey Nouah rescued Manager of Osuolale’s twin from being lynched
A theatre practitioner who spoke with WITHIN NIGERIA narrated how popular Nollywood artiste, Ramsey Nouah rescued manager of Osuolale’s twin from being lynched.
According to theatre practitioner, the Osuolale’s twin travelled to south-east to shoot a movie and kidnapping was very predominant then.
Infact, late Wale Olayinka, Iyamileko’s son took them to the south east then. They left location set and were stopped by Igbo youths while returning home. The angry Igbo youths thought Wale Olayinka used voodos to deform the twin so that he could kidnap them easily and they asked him to return them to their normal shape. They were about to beat him up when Ramsey Nouah showed up and told the angry youths that they just left the location set.
CONTROVERSIES AND DEATH
Out of the many controversies that came up during the lifetime of Osuolale’s twin better known as Ibeji Oran or Ibeji Ide, WITHIN NIGERIA treated three widespread claims.
One of the claims was only one out of the twin got married while the film promoter and marketer who sponsored the wedding arranged a lady for the other one. The said lady acted as his wife till the end of the wedding and later absconded. When contacted, a close relative who prefers anonymity confirmed the development to WITHIN NIGERIA. The source further disclosed that the said daughter she gave birth to does not belong to the twin.
Another claim that went viral was only one out of the twin could perform sexually and the other could not. A close relative told WITHIN NIGERIA that three out of the four children belong to one of the Osuolale twin and the controversial one reportedly belonged to the other.
Another claim that went viral was one of the legs of the twin always remove at will and they will fix it instantly. A close relative confirmed the development to WITHIN NIGERIA and clearly stated that the one out of the twin who could not walk very well was the one.
Another claim that went viral was the alleged killing of Kehinde also known as the boss over land issue. Some people claimed that the twin bought a piece of land meant for the construction of their second house but a farmer had already planted crops on it. It led to misunderstanding and Kehinde died the following day. A close relative could not confirm but told WITHIN NIGERIA that Kehinde complained of headache and died the following day.
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that Kehinde Osuolale died in October, 2014. A year after the sorrowful demise of his twin brother and Ibeji Oran star, Taiwo Osuolale also passed on. They were both buried in Owode Area of Osogbo.