My life as a Graveyard attendant

    Life as a graveyard attendant has been uneasy and full of nightmares, according to Oloyede he has seen a lot in the cemetery and discovered that life is full of mystery.He spoke  on his experience of how he found himself doing the odd job and many other  interesting things. He spoke with  Taiwo Abiodun                                               

 His look was dull .His eyes were blood shot. His dressing was casual , though he was in Yoruba buba and soro native dress. He wore a forlorn look as no one could tell   what   he was ruminating over. Once in a while he would look round the   office, scratched his head and smiled though a false one, he would again take a look at the holes in his lace and picked strands of thread. The office is filthy as it is  unkempt ,in fact it emits foul odour .The roofing sheets of the office had been blown off by the wind .In fact the remaining iron sheets had become rusty. What of the office? Nothing spectacular could be seen except their working tools; jiggers, ropes, spades,  

bricklayers’  knives with some   earth   glued on them .The environment was silent no wonder the usage of the language ‘’as silent as the graveyard’’ is being used to describe the silence nature of a cemetery. Some of the graves have caved-in,   the leaves are green and bushy while the environment was quiet and silent and one could hear the sound of a drop of a pin .A young man who looked disturbed wore a long face came in and after spending few minutes with the graveyard attendant left with tears in his eyes. According to investigation, he came to prepare for the burial of   a –three day old baby. , the   baby had died as a result of infection she contracted immediately after birth. 

          Welcome to the office of grave diggers’   attendants.’’ I am the head of Ojokoro cemetery  in  Ikorodu local government  here and I have been here since   November 6  1988, I was posted here by Ikorodu Local government ’’.he spoke in a frightened coarse voice as he adjusted his seat .In front of him was a register where the names of the dead are buried ,the  cover of  the   register had turned brown while its almost full with names.

“Rasheed Oloyede is my name and I started this job 19years ago, I went into the profession by accident because it was not my first profession.’ He told The Nation.’Asked to tell the story of how he eventually came to be a graveyard digger, the man looked up as if searching for answer from the ceiling, he then said in emotion laden voice’” I was working as   a welder until 1988 when a mysterious fire gutted my shop and consumed all my welding instruments which then rendered me useless and made me to be jobless yet I had to fend for myself, pay my children school fees and maintain my family. When I was told there was an interview going on in the local government for various jobs I then I applied until I was called to come here as a supervisor of the grave diggers and I was posted to 

to Ikorodu local government’’

Talking about his first experience as a new comer then at the grave site, again the man looked up in a mysterious manner and  said ‘Ha   it was traumatic ,gory and unforgettable ..It was full of nightmares and I will never forget till my dying day.’’

   Giving an account of his working   experience   and what he has seen in his life as a practical life   experience at the cemetery, he said before burying some people strange things do happen in some dug graves, giving an example he said in one of his encounters he and his workers used to meet strange things in the grave, according to him they once met a mortar with a grindstone in the   grave.’ one day my workers were digging the grave when they found a mortar and a grindstone in the grave .The materials were new and shining and they have never been used before ,we were surprised and then kept the items for all to see’’ asked  what he was going to use them for  , the man laughed and said ‘it is kept there[pointing]in a corner and nobody dare  use it we cannot take it home ,  you know it is very strange and everybody is afraid to take it home”.

Another strange thing that happened at the cemetery   that surprised them are bottles of Aromatic Schnapps found in a newly dug grave. ‘’We were surprised in fact   we are surprised with what we always see and experienced here, it is no joke at all.

Again another thing we are still battling with is how the mysterious things  happen almost all the time here .He continued we  see with surprise the materials we used to dig the grave and the ropes used to release the coffin into the dug hole disappear many times after digging the grave .His  words ;’’A times  we look  for the materials used for the releasing the coffin into the grave but with total bewilderment we are always again baffled that these materials will suddenly disappear from the grave and found its way back to the office , I mean the rope, digger, spade among other things’’.

Asked whether it is true that some of these dead ones wake up at night, this  , the man confessed that he is not sure  since nobody stays overnight,’ ”when  it is time to close we will close and go home , nobody sleeps here, so I do not know about what you are talking. I believe when a man is dead he is dead.

.At the cemetery are different types there is a section for the   Christians, the Muslims and pagans, each has its own area where they are buried.

Looked   confirmed that many do come to the cemetery to offer prayers and even do rituals to appease the dead, he gave an example of how a man came to the cemetery to look for his fathers grave. According to Oloyede  the fairly old man said he had been dreaming seeing his father in the dream telling him to go and cover him as the rain was beating him .’When the man came he started looking for a tree his father asked him to look for  at the cemetery until he saw a big  hole where rain had been dropping into ,and this  is where his father was buried, the man then went to look for a bricklayer who blocked the place and plastered it.’’. Oloyede said.

The cemetery is divided into three sections and this also determines the kind of religion one practises before he/she dies as one cannot just come to the place to dump corpses or bury corpses without telling the religion it belonged.

 He however pointed out the separate graves to this reporter, according to him there is a space for the   Christians ,the Muslims and the pagans. Now all these land have filled up with graves, no space to bury any corpse again.

Olojede seems not to be bothered about human being again as his experience has showed that life is vanity, according to him old men   have been brought there to be buried same thing to the younger ones, his words’ they have brought   a day -old kid here for burial, they have brought pregnant women here for burial, they have brought a newly wedded   couple to bury, they have danced to the graves of the aged ones with fanfare and they have cried their hearts here to bury corpses of children. So I have seen the good   ,  the  bad and the ugly. There is nothing in this   life  , we only need to be doing good, that is all’’, he said.

But has he seen ghosts before? The Nation asked, but with a smile the graveyard caretaker responded and said ’no’, .We do not sleep here so we could not have known. I belief when a man is dead he is dead and dead man do not bite

Olojede admits that the job is hazardous and people give uncomplimentary remarks to the workers because of the nefarious activities of few of them .The man who has spent many years as the attendant said he is always baffled the way the rich and the poor invade the cemeteries seeking for human parts, I do not know what the world has turned to , for many people you never expected  would come here to demand for all different parts of human beings .A man  once  came to tell me that  he needed human hands and I told him I do not do such thing .Later he told me that I was a fool and that I  will not be rich in life. In fact we face embarrassment and see how the so called men of God and people of high calibre people in the town are coming here to beg for all these things.

But has he ever been challenged by  security officials or reprimanded?asked The Nation,the man said in total disbelief that he was once trailed to Ikorodu roundabout by a police officer  from the cemetery and was asked to open his polythene bag he was carrying,’ When he challenged me and asked me what I had in my bag I was firstly furious and I opened my bag to show him the medicinal leaves I plucked from the cemetery to boil for my feverish condition and he was relieved as he said he had heard about nefarious activities going on at the cemetery’’.

‘’Sir, do you pray for your children to take after you in this job?’Oloyede responded shouting‘’ Never!, never!,I am doing this job because I have no option ,when I retire I will go and rest. Come, oga what type of reporter are you?You asked too many questions ,this is enough ,thank you’’.