It sure sounds strange, but it is very true. Recently, Ogbomoso, a sprawling town in Oyo State, was thrown into confusion as a mysterious baby was discovered near the grave of a grand old man, Pa Ganiyu Akande, who had just died.

Even now, the entire community is still engulfed in confusion as no one could explain the sudden appearance of the unknown baby that also died soon after the strange discovery.

The incident happened at Abede House in Ogbomoso, a shouting distance to the palace of the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewunmi, AJagungbade 11. In fact, the monarch himself confirmed the incident.
Many people in the town insist it was the late Pa Akande who reincarnated in the form of the baby.

The old man hailed from Iseyin town in Osun State and eventually came to live in Abede town in Ogbomoso. In his lifetime, Pa Akande had no child and was not married to any woman. His attempts at marriage failed since he was said to be impotent.

Madam Sidikat Akande, a family member of Pa Aknde, was taking care of the old man when he died. She told our reporter that the man was about 100 at the time of his demise. She said Pa Akande was very religious and was an Imam at the Abede Mosque in Ogbomosho. He was also the mosque’s muezzin before he died, according to the woman.

One fateful afternoon, Pa Ganiyu passed on peacefully on the lap of Sidikat Akande, his goddaughter. His burial was quickly arranged according to Muslim rites. After the customary prayers by the Islamic clerics, the man was buried at the back of his house.

Few minutes after his burial, even while the tears of the mourners were still fresh in their eyes, a strange thing happened. One Mosunmola Akande, one of Pa Ganiyu’s relatives, said she was tidying up things at the backyard when she discovered some unusual movement under the mat just used to cover the grave. According to her, she was shocked to see a new baby cooling off under the mat. Alarmed, she screamed and soon had everyone rushing to the scene to see the strange thing.

The incident was quickly reported to the Ogbomoso monarch whose palace is just a stone’s throw to the scene. Many women wailed and cursed the heartless mother of the innocent baby. But they also wondered how a day old baby could be dumped on the dead man’s burial ground, and covered with the burial mat without the knowledge of anyone at the crowded scene.

Tongues wagged as the rumour spread across the town that Pa Ganiyu’s ‘secret lover’ might have dumped his day old baby on his burial mat after his death. The Soun of Ogbomoso sent words round the town, making entreaties to the mother of the baby boy to show her face. He assured that she would not be punished, saying her plight was understandable. She would rather be blessed with gifts and resources to cater for the baby, the monarch assured.
But days ran into weeks, and no one came for the baby. Then, many thoughts began to run into the minds of Pa Ganiyu’s relatives. They remembered that the old man had said that something strange would happen after his death and had assured them not to panic as such thing was tied to his destiny.

The deceased’s relatives now thought that the old man must have reincarnated as the baby. First, they said the baby had a striking resemblance with Pa Ganiyu. “Again, the baby would also position itself in a prayerful mood whenever the call for prayer was made at the mosque. According to Mrs. Sidikat Akande, Okikiola, as the baby was later christened, would raise his hands up in the same manner Pa Ganiyu did whenever he called other Muslims for prayers at the Abede mosque.

“Papa died on July 10 last year and we buried him the second day according to Muslim burial rites. The Alfas that conducted his burial rites stayed long at the site before they left and nothing happened. We started tidying up things. One of our wives in the family, Mosunmola Akande, who had gone to the backyard to tidy up things, started calling me to come and see something. Meanwhile I was still grieving about the loss of papa. I didn’t answer her call immediately. But when she was persistent, I joined her at the backyard. Then she told me that she saw something strange under the burial mat. She said the head of the thing she was seeing under the mat looked like a baby’s. Then we promptly took off the mat and what we saw was a day old baby with its umbilical cord still hung to its body.

Then I carried the baby. It wasn’t up to about five minutes after the burial that we found the baby. We quickly alerted people around us that we found a new baby and that whoever owned the baby should come and carry it. But no one showed up. We informed the royal father, the Soun, and words were sent round the town that the mother of the baby should come for it. The king assured that no punishment would be meted out to the mother. In fact, many had started giving things to the baby. We had started receiving baby accessories, among other things. But nobody came up to claim the baby. We waited for days, but no one came.

“What we found strange was that the baby looked every inch like Papa who just died. We later started suspecting that the baby could be the strange happening Papa promised. Another thing was that this baby demonstrated the call for prayer at the mosque whenever it was time for prayers: He would raise his hands up when it was time for any of the five prayers daily offered in the mosque. This was what Papa used to do because he was the Mosque’s muezzin.
“Before his death, he had told us severally that something strange would happen when he died and he used to tell us that we should not be afraid when it happened. He would say this and backed it up with prayers.”

According to Mama Akande, on the eight day, the baby was named Okikiola because he had become extremely popular among the people in that part of Ogbomoso. Her words: “Eight days after we found him, we christened him Okikiola. The royal father, Oba Soun of Ogbomoso, sponsored the ceremony and it was well-attended by all indigenes of the town. People from other towns as well as some influential men had already indicated interest in taking care of him. We still expected the baby’s mother to come but no one showed up.

When we later concluded that it must have been our papa who had revisited us as baby, we started taking good care of him. We took him to the maternity home regularly and gave him food and drugs all the time. But sadly enough, 40 days after we found him, as we were preparing for the 41-day prayers of Papa, Okikiola passed on one fateful evening. He was not even ill; he just closed his eyes and went cold. We buried him immediately. His death was very painful because I had thought that he had come to replace papa. Unfortunately, Okiokiola is gone.”



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/citysun/2011/aug/10/citysun-10-08-2011-001.html