As a young girl, I was really curious about stories of ghosts and myths about the after life. In spite of the fact that the stories never did anything to satisfy my quest for answers, I still sought for answers. I asked lots of questions, I listened. The stories would freak me out to the point where I'd have to ask my siblings to accompany me to the kitchen, toilet, the balcony, virtually everywhere, in the day and at night.
My grandmother, whom I fondly called “Iya Agba", once told me a story about her step brother, Baba Gbenga. On the day that Baba Gbenga gave up the ghost, Iya Agba was on her way to Ile Ife. She had boarded a cab to the garage and she was surprised when she saw Baba Gbenga, whom she believed to have been sick, in the cab. According to Iya Agba, Baba Gbenga was all smiles, dressed in an immaculate Agbada. She asked him where he was headed. He said he was travelling like she was. Although, he evaded telling her the exact town he was travelling to.
During that time, Iya Agba was oblivious of the fact that Baba Gbenga was a walking dead. She kept looking back at him, marvelling at the way his white and flawless agbada shone in the sun that made its way through the window of the cab. Iya Agba further told me that Baba Gbenga paid her cab fare and when he was about to alight, he said to her “Odi gba" (Till we meet again). Within the twinkle of an eye, he was gone. Iya Agba said she couldn't remember anything about where he alighted from the cab or how he did it. It was like a flash .
When Iya Agba got back to their hometown, three days after she had seen baba Gbenga, she was told that Baba Gbenga was dead. Of course, she couldn't believe it. She narrated her meeting with him on her way to Ile Ife and after they all put the pieces of the story together, it was clear that Baba Gbenga had reincarnated. He was an “Akudaaya".
Iya Agba's story got me curious about the Akudaaya phenomenon. After about 5 years, I noticed a neighbour's child called “Malomo". “Malomo" was an abiku name. “Malomo" means “Don't die anymore". Abiku children are babies who died at birth or few years after birth. They usually come back in the same form. Some mothers would give birth 6 times or even 9 times, the same babies would be born. In order to verify whether the baby was actually an abiku, some marks would be made on the baby's body. If the baby dies, the mother would get pregnant and give birth. The new baby, would have to same marks which had been inflicted on the baby's body. In this case, Malomo's mother had given birth 7 times already. All seven babies were abiku. Then, Malomo came. She was the eighth child and as a result of the pity she had for her mother, had decided to stay. All the stories I gathered about Malomo were from neighbours.
I met Malomo on a sunny day in 2013. Her mom sold zobo so, I went to buy some. I knocked but no one answered so, I went to the back of their house only to find Malomo chewing on a toxic “meal" with alacrity. It was detergent and palm oil. I screamed but she was unbothered. She didn't even look up at me. I was scared and mesmerised at the same time. Her mom came out, and saw me staring at Malomo wide eyes. She smiled like it was nothing, saying: “Bó se má ń ję é nìyęn" (She eats it regularly). I didn't bother to buy the zobo. I just bought recharge card and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I was confused.
When I visited Iya Agba, I told her about Malomo but what surprised me was the fact that she wasn't surprised. She told me that abiku children had powers of evil spirits. They could eat toxic meals and not get hurt. It still didn't make sense to me. I was confused.
A recent experience crowned my curiosity and further convinced me. It was that of a woman in my street, popularly called “Mummy twins". I didn't really know her husband but I had seen him drive by with his car a few times. He always had a weird look on his face, like he was battling with his inner self. Most times, I avoided looking at him because his look gave me shivers. Mummy Twins was a nice woman. She had a set of twins and a boy. She had a kiosk where she sold toiletries. Her shop wasn't far from my house. Her children had a striking resemblance to their father. They also had eyes which were deep in their sockets. I always tried to avoid having eye contact with them. Apart from all that, they seemed like a normal family to me, until one day, I heard that Mummy Twins' husband was an Akudaaya. Immediately I heard, I made my way to her house. I saw a crowd trooping into the small apartment. Another group of people were expressing their disbelief. I could hear Mummy Twins' loud cries and the voices of the sympathisers. I couldn't find my way into the house because of the hordes of people who were at the entrance of the house. I decided to blend in with a group of people who were telling the story of how the whole secret was discovered.
According to Iya Alakara, a slender woman with tribal marks on each side of her face, Mummy Twins hadn't met her husband's family members and and she kept pestering her husband about it. She insisted on visiting his family members. At first, he tried to discourage her by telling her that his family members were bad people who got involved in a lot of voodoo and used the destinies of their children as sacrifices. At first, Mummy Twins was convinced but after a while, the pestering intensified. He had no other choice than to take Mummy Twins to his hometown. When they got there, he said he wanted to see a friend and directed Mummy Twins and the kids to his parents' home. When they got there, the relatives were dumbfounded. At first, they didn't believe Mummy Twins when she talked about her husband but they were convinced when they saw the children who all had a striking resemblance to their father.
Mummy Twins was then, directed to her husband's grave by her husband's relatives then, it dawned on her that she had been living with an akudaaya all along. She was in deep shock. Iya Alakara and her group members were heaving and sighing. I was shocked too, fear gripped me. I left the place immediately.
Since then, I've been contemplating doing more research on Akudaaya, Abiku and other myths about ghosts but fear has often stopped me, I live alone. When I get married, I might begin a research on it, who knows.