Saturday, December 8, 2012

Akin Ogungbe is dead



Akin  Ogungbe
Akin Ogungbe goes home
Akin Ogungbe 80,   popularly known as Baba Ibeji  his stage name ,bowed to penultimate  week. Our Correspondent ,Taiwo  Abiodun visited Abeokuta his country home to  report his life and times
Sympathizers from all walks of life besieged his  Iberekodo residence in Abeokuta   . While many wore long faces and in grief ,some  buried their chins in their palms. Others too  shook their heads intermittently  for ‘’Baba Ibeji’’.
This time around  Akin Ogungbe   the man who acted ‘’Baba Ibeji ‘’ had died and sympathisers thronged the house to pay condolence visit to the family. In the 70s , Akin Ogungbe  had acted  the role of ‘’Baba Ibeji’’in a Yoruba photo play  magazine Atoka    .The huge crowd was not there to  witness the arrest of Baba Ibeji who had used one of his twins for ritual to raise money for his pilgrimage to Mecca!.This time around  the crowd  had gathered to pay homage  to one of the last titans  of Nigeria’s Alarinjo travelling theatre Ogungbe had for long been  a household name  in the rank of  the late Hubert Ogunde, Moses Adejumo [Baba Sala], Duro Ladipo, Baba Ajimajasan, Baba Mero, Oyin Adejobi ,Ade Love,  among  others. He belonged to the pioneers of Nigerian  stage performance artistes   who branched to the celluloid  film  before the advent of  home videos.
One of the popular stage plays he acted was when he acted the notorious  ‘’Baba Ibeji ‘’ who  used one of his twins for money making ritual and used the proceeds to go to Mecca  to perform the  Lesser Hajj. After his departure ,   the unexpected happened   :  He forgot his key to the room  where the twin  was on his kneels with calabash on his head!. And the bubble burst ! .On his arrival from Mecca   he was nabbed. This story was carried in  the South West  and in series in the popular Yoruba magazine   Atoka   in the 70s . Since then Akin Ogungbe   became more popular and was known as Baba  Ibeji , that later became his stage name .
During an interview with one of his children, Taiwo  ,   denied that it was not a real life story  that her father did it  but  , she responded  ‘’ it is  true  that in real life  Ogungbe had twins  but he did not use any for juju or money making ritual. It was only  acted as a play , said  the living Taiwo, who does not have a twin sister Kehinde again.  Among the films he produced  are  Asiri Baba  Ibeji, Ologbo  Jigolo,  Ireke Onibudo, Lisabi,  Igba Funfun among others.

Tributes
.
Among the earl callers  who went to his home to  pay tributes  are Yoruba artistes such as  Jimoh Aliu, Jide Kosko, ,Dele Odule, and the Ogun state government of Arts and  Tourism who sent representatives.From the Lagos State University came Dr.Akin Sofoluwe  a senior lecturer at the University .
 In his tribute Aliu  wrote :It was very painful when I heard  about the great man’s death . I thank God for a good life spent. We came from Him and to Him we shall go back. Rest   in peace Baba.
Opasanya  Kazeem  Oluwole   in the condolence register  has this to say , Baba Akin Ogungbe you are a gem during your life. You came , saw and conquered , May your soul rest in perfect peace ,Farewell
The Association of Nigeria Theatre Practitioners’  Governor , Ogun state chapter ,Deinde Lateef wrote:  Akinkanju  Alaranbara  Ogbontarigi  ere ori Itage  Akin Ogungbe , Igbehin  yin a dara o, Orun  re rere o ,ki Oluwa se iku ni isimi, ki iwaju dara  ki ehin ma baje o.
Prince Jide Kosoko  another theatre artiste wrote in brief : Eeegun Agba  sunnre o.
On behalf of Ogun state Hon Commissioners  and the governor  Senator Ibikunkle  Amosun, Mrs Yewande  Amosan who came to represent them    wrote : May his soul rest in peace.
Ogungbe, according to family sources was   over 80years . According to Yemi ,  one of his  children, the father was rallied round by in his last days  by  his younger colleagues in the theatre   some Yoruba great artistes  carried the corpse to the mortuary .’’It was    Jide Kosoko, Dele Odule  and  Ebun Oloyede [aka  Ola Iya ] who took the corpse to the mortuary , In fact , they all took care of the old man before he died ‘’  
One of the tenants   that lives in the   late Ogunde’s house , Rahman Yusuf  Adesina  said he was by  his  bedside when the old man passed away. ’’I was there when the old man  peacefully passed away. We called one of his children ,Taiwo who was  present  , and few minutes he passed on . He wanted to talk but could not as he only opened his mouth but could not talk , until he passed on. I was   not afraid  of his corpse because he was a very nice man and was accommodating . He did not disturbed anybody and never   behaved like a landlord . May  his soul rest in perfect  peace.
A neighbour  in the vicinity, Oladele  Omooyebande described the  deceased as a man too young to   die, ‘’ it is too early for  the man to die. We are going to miss him, here was a man who would not despise anybody .If he wanted to eat he would call everybody to his table .He was close to everybody , and he explained  things to all not minding whether you are his son or not ‘’,
Omooyebande said  the deceased’s  name Akintola Christopher Ogungbe  connotes many things , ‘’he was a Christian , a Moslem and a traditionalist  as he bears the three names .He went to Mecca and came back  and we all believed he was also a Muslim.
Genesis of his acting career
According to his younger brother , Claudius Olaseinde Ogungbe,77,  ‘’  When we stopped  our education at Standard six , my mother left him with our grandmother  and he went to learn  carpentry  skill  but I veered into  tailoring .At a time he used to go and  watch Baba GT Onimole as an apprentice , he left in the year 1953, but Ayinla Olumegbon left in 1950.In 1953 he started his own group. We cannot remember his peers   now . The late Hubert Ogunde was his senior then but Ogunde started  from here , he was a teacher from this Abeokuta . His contemporaries are Ayinla Olumegbon, He was ranked among the Aderupoko, Papalolo,  Oyin Adejobi, Ade Love  and   many    others. They were many then but nobody was doing it for money ., the profession was out of interest.
  According to him , Ogungbe’s  first play was titled  A terrible Life , then his Group was called  Oluwa lo see musical Party later he changed it  to Oguns Concert Party and eventually  changed the name  to Ogungbe Travelling Theatre .
His brother corroborated Ogungbe’s  daughter assertion that  his role  as ‘’Baba Ibeji’’  was also a role play and was far from reality made him popular ,in the play  he used his  twin son for money making , he said ‘’ the man  that acted as  a twin used for  money  ritual later became a popular musician in lkeja , and the other that acted as  his twin brother is Oso Fadeyi[ the first  Fadeyi  Oloro] he was Taiye and in Ado Ekiti today. In real life the late Ogungbe had about three set of twins , one of his wives  had twins twice’’.  .
Talking about their upbringing  , he continued ‘’While I bear Claudius my deceased brother was  Christopher Akintola  Ogungbe, our family name is Ogungbe but we were born into a Christian home we went to United African Methodist Church at No 40,Eleja, John street, Ereko  Lagos , in Abeokuta here we go to  Anglican church., later one Alfa Shehu Jabaru, who was  his in law sent a lot of artistes to Mecca ,so my late brother also seized the opportunity and went to Mecca too.
Despite his age , Ogungbe  was still acting and directing till he died .’’ He acted as Agba Awo ‘’,
Had 50 Children and 20 wives
Yemi   ,  one of the   children of the late Ogungbe said ‘’my  father had over 50 children , with about 20 wives .  I am in number eighth  position  in the family and we know one  another .Today  many of us are also into acting , I  also act and produce Yoruba films like my dad.  The reason why he  had so many wives and children is  that in those days no parents would allow their wards or children to go on stage and be acting and my father needed them so he went out having them as wives and having children  in order to assist them on stage. Corroborating Yemi’s point,   Taiwo Ogungbe one of  the  children said he was not born when her father started acting .She said  ‘’ I am over 50years , I had not been born when my father started acting. I  used  performed with him on stage too  while I acted as ‘’Baba Ibeji’s wife  in the play where he used one of his twins for juju and was caught  but it is not in real life as many people thought . It was  just a play to teach morals .’’
  According to Taiwo , she was not on the payroll of the old man  ‘’but he used to give me feeding allowance but not salary , for I am one of his children , so he needed not to be giving me money at all..Some of  his wives I know are   Erelu, Iya Ibadan, Mummy Temmy, Iya Oshogbo, Funke , Afusat, Iya Aduke   and many others .
Asked whether they know one another  Taiwo replied to the affirmative  ,’’Yes of course . But while  some are married and  now in their respective matrimonial homes , some are outside the country  , aside from the ones at home now the rest are scattered all over the country .But because  I am living in the town  that made  me to  be the first to be called when  my father died .
Ogungbe’s Struggling days
Latoni  Ogungbe,  the deceased’s  younger brother [half brother] who also doubled as   his driver for over 20 years said the road to stardom was not easy as many thought .He recounted  series of  difficulties they encountered while working with him.  His words ’’I am now in my 60s.We are from the same father , our  father had over 30 children , but Ogungbe my late brother  had over  40 children . I  worked with him and was driving  Bedford lorry in the 60s, we  also  used  Austin lorry  , after that  I can not recollect other    types  of vehicles  we used  . Whenever we reached a town  we would drive round the town and be shouting ,announcing on top of our voices  ‘’ This  is  Ogungbe’s night  [La le oni Ogungbe] , come and watch Ogungbe’s play,’’ some would sit on top of the vehicle  driving about and announcing  the programme  for the night in the town halls , schools and other places, we would  be announcing  with our megaphones’’
‘’We have visited  many towns and had bad and good experiences. From Abeokuta we would go to  Owo, Akure, Ilesha, Oyo, Ibadan, Ede. One day  I decided to leave them at  Igbara Oke in Ondo state when  the suffering then was so much. At times we would spend days without food , for there was no money to buy food and  no money to spend .No  water to drink   . Many times we  would be begging for food ,  begging for knickers , shirts  to wear .  in fact I did not  inform anybody when I ran back from   Igbara Oke , and came back to Abeokuta . Not that we were not making some money but it was not enough  to pay the bills
Close shave with death
They had cheated death many times , according to the Driver , ‘’One day we were coming from Ilesha but on getting to  the round about our vehicle somersaulted and  it faced where we were coming from again! We had an accident  and landed  in a ditch, for days   we were eating from the food our brothers took along.
Another episode  was  when I went to paste  our posters in Sokoto, in the Northern area  announcing our play . I was mixing the starch , and pasting these posters  on the walls when  suddenly  some Hausa men came  to me and asked in their  language whether  it was cholera that I  brought for them , but I did not understand what they were saying  yet I kept on  nodding my head  and saying yes , yes,  yes. They beat me up to the extent that I  fell into a coma  and was rescued by  the Yoruba living there. They   took  me to  one of the mosques there and  hide me  for they were ready to kill me .Later I spent three months in the hospital. The Yoruba people  in Sokoto came out to protest and   threatened to return  to their towns .It was a serious issue.  When Ogungbe camsse the play was  cancelled  .’’
According to his younger brother, Claudius , his brother   once escaped assassination ‘’One evening we were in a town I would not like to mention when some armed men with guns came to invite him that the monarch of the  town wanted to see him , but we told them that  it is a taboo for us to go out at night in our town .We insisted that we would not go with them. The following day  we went to see the monarch who denied sending  for us, I will not mention the  town to avoid embarrassment ,but it was close to death ‘’
Lost prominent children and wife
Yemi said the late Ogungbe was not a happy man before his demise as some of his children died  before his own demise  .He said ‘’ I remember that my older brother Layi Ogungbe,  Idowu Ogungbe ,  Mowumi Ogungbe, and  one of his wives Erelu  ,   died before his eyes , these  are some of the problems  he had .He was not also happy with  the pirates who did not let him enjoy the fruit of his labour, he however added that ‘’ in the end the state government honoured him by giving him a house , this showed that he was appreciated by the state government  for his good works’’.
Costumes
The late Ogungbe had over 30  beaded crowns , many beaded walking sticks and other art works used for his  work. According to  Claudius Ogungbe ,the late Ogungbe loved art works that he did not joke with them, he spent fortune on these art works
Bayo Sodunke , one of those trained  by the late artiste said ‘’ I am from Abeokuta ,  I was with Baba Ogungbe since my primary school days ,  that was when there was no  video film then. It was  only  television stage plays  then. We would travel to  Ede, Ibadan, Oshogbo , Iwo,  doing shows .I remembered one day while on our way the brake  of the vehicle failed  while the driver wanted to jump down the late Ogungbe advised him not to , until the Bedford lorry eventually stop on its own’’
Comrade Victor Asaolu who is  the  National president of ANTP said they wanted a  team to form a committee for the burial ,’’ the burial is for everybody  to participate , the family cannot handle it alone without  the support of the state government  while the ANTP too has a role to play, so I implored all to cooperate and join hands to give the fallen hero a befitting burial’’.
Dr  Akinsola Sofoluwe  , described Ogungbe as a genius, he said ‘’ I  joined  the  NTA  on  Jan 2,   1976,as a producer with WNBS ,his group was one of those I  firstly  handled, with  Baba Sala, Oyin Adejobi,  Ajimajasan , Aderupoko and Papalolo were members , it is a pity that he is dead ,What one needs is  discipline , and he had it , and was focussed .He was not after money. You  don’t need to aim at money ,money, money , money always .Ogungbe was among the first to start the stage theatre.
The  burial rites ,according to the family will take place from February 6,7 and 8, 2013.