Orlando Owoh was arrested because of Dele Giwa’s album — Orimipe Owomoyela

By TAiwo Abiodun
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How Orlando  was arrested for cocaine.

I was there at  the time of his arrest. I had just graduated from School of Aviation where I specialized in Ticketing , Reservation  and  Cargo Handling  and it was three days after my graduation when  the law enforcement  officers came. They came to raid, everybody was running helter-skelter. They came from three stations: Moloney, Alagbon and Agege, and my father was sleeping when they arrived. There was noise.  They arrested all of us and packed  us into  the living room.  They  went to wake up my father with  severe beatings and in all honesty they did not know it was Orlando  and when they put us together and then  asked who is Orlando, my father showed up. They said they were sorry, and they said that  they could not identify him.

”They came for him  because of the record he waxed on Dele Giwa who was brutally killed with a parcel bomb. They knew Orlando was smoking ganja and he even waxed records (Ganja 1, Ganja 2), everybody knew him for that. Their annoyance  was that they did not disturb him smoking his ganja but he went ahead to  wax a record on Dele Giwa, that was the main reason why they came.  They took him away.  But  as I told you people came to our  house, and our house was like Fela’s house or Fela’s shrine.

‘He was arrested because of the album he waxed for Dele Giwa, he waxed the record that it was  letter bomb that killed Dele Giwa  which everybody knew. There was a song Orlando sang, Kini ka ri ka ma gbodo soro, oro yi si mbo….oro yi si nbo wa dija …

”When these policemen saw me, Orlando’s wives and aunty Shade (Nee Olagundoye) and they  asked  who she was, she told them she  was the last wife  of Orlando  and they also  asked who I was and I  introduced myself too. They left aunty Shade and myself and said they  would leave us behind to  take care of the  house ….. it was a very long story”.

But they said they saw cocaine there?

”Yes, they saw cocaine, but this  is what happened :when everybody was running helter-skelter they saw little quantity in the front of my father’s house, but you know whoever they  found in his house is liable. Orlando smoked Igbo, he smoked cigarette  but   then  the time they came he had since  stopped it.

 Doctor before Doctor.

”Policemen used to come to our house to smoke Igbo, soldiers used to come, Pastors, Judges and Lawyers used to come. My father sang the reality, not that he fabricated it. It was the reality of what happened in the world of ganja.”

”We were in court one day expecting Orlando to be released, but they said the then Head of State called them that instead of taking his case to court he  should be taken to the Tribunal , we all waited but.. then he was taken from Tribunal to Kirikiri. Usually they should have  taken him to Alagbon.  The Judge in charge then adjourned the case until God came to discharge and acquit him.”

What Orlando told  me about  women.

Orimipe said Orlando counseled him  on  marriage.  His words: “My father called me one day and said ‘Orimipe, I want to give you a good advice, don’t have harem of wives and don’t have one wife. It is poverty (Osi) that makes a man to have one wife and it is a cursed person or person with bad head (Oloriburuku) that makes a man to  have harem of wives. Don’t have harem of wives and don’t have one wife’, he counseled me. I went to ask my mother the meaning of what he said. My mother  defended the  philosophy and said   that it is  poverty  that makes a man to  have one wife while a man with many wives is cursed.

”Then my journey in life landed me into it. I did not marry when  I was in Nigeria and when I came to Chicago, here in America I married a lady. The lady gave me a child, he is my carbon copy. Later in life we quarreled  and we parted ways and I remarried. One day Orlando’s words came into my mind . Today I cannot say that  I have one  wife, no, because two women had children for me.  And I don’t have harem of wives as he strongly advised me against it. So I am in the middle as  he  wanted me to be in the middle” .

Meaning of my name ‘Orimipe’

Asked to tell the meaning of his middle name, Orimipe, the man burst into laughter and  asked this reporter to pronounce the name again, ‘Orimipe’. He then said “A pe mora eni la npe temidire ( You  attribute good things to yourself). My father said ‘whose head is not correct?, who would say his own head is not correct?’.   He said when I was born he was at the war front  where  they were shelling bombs, he said he was in danger zone and was bitter but when they announced my birth to him it became a mixture or combination of good and bad , bitter  and sweet, he then told them that ‘as at now my head is correct right now’, Orimipe .That was how the name came out. Whoever knows his head is not correct should now say so”.

Troubles my father faced when alive.

Orimipe said his father , Orlando faced a lot of challenges ,”His problems were many, when I was young  he  told me stories. The Alagbon problem is one of them. As  I knew he  had gone  to the hospital and detoxified drug from his system and  was not doing it again.  When they came they entered my room and searched for drug but  they  found nothing.  It is true he had done such thing before but he had stopped, and flushed it out from his system. He was sleeping when they raided, you will remember the song he waxed “Oju orun ni mo wa mo ngba siesta mi lo, igbaju ni won fi ji mi loju orun o, nitori gbaana”, it is true he was sleeping when they came. But when they  came  they rough handled everybody and were beating all, his case was like, that of Jesus Christ among his disciples you will not know him, until he is introduced. When Orlando was with his people or among his Band  members  if you don’t know him you will be asking  for Orlando and he will quietly leave and it could be Baba Osenepen or my brother Elvis or Baba Musese  or anybody  who  would then ask who they were looking for and if it is an important thing we would then call Orlando.

How was his spirit when arrested.

”Nobody would leave his house and stay  in another place and be comfortable , West, East, North and South  home is the best. His case was like the  Parrot the  enemies dipped its feathers into the  palm oil in order  to be stained  but  the palm oil added beauty to its features and  it came out more beautiful.  With the Alagbon’s case God turned his case to the best.  God had a purpose and wanted to keep him for a while. At last, he  was freed at the Supreme Court”.

 Whenever you remember  the man at the helm of affairs of the country  then  how do you feel.

“At my age I cannot lie, I am not happy with him , though if I see him there is nothing I can do, God knows everything .He (Orlando) came out alive,he was discharged and acquitted and for the main fact that he ( the  head of ….) planned such thing was not a good thing . He was called President then , he was a military man and called himself President, he did all these. It was like going into the Lion’s den and he came out .Each time I remember this I feel bad,  I have forgiven him ,I have forgiven him.”

Ogedengbe/Oladimeji  504 car

Reminded about the car impounded by Orlando’s friend when he defaulted, Orimipe said  ”They were all friends then ,the story is true but it was sad. Whenever something happened to him God  wanted to bless him and let his glory shine. When he was bluffed about the car, Orlando went to buy that type of same Brand, color and  the number of the first car was 1111 and  the second one was 4111, it was a Peugeot 504 then. Baba Die The Matter was there then he also assisted my  father, he knew about it. God will just raise Orlando’s glory when something bad happened to him. Orlando purchased the  car  from his friend, a car dealer and because he defaulted to pay as at the time he should, the car  was seized. It was a Peugeot 504 with the registration number 1111 while he bought another new one and of same brand, colour and registered number 4111. God was very kind to Orlando. That was when he sang ” Ogedengbe.. O gbe mi lori esin…..”

My brother died at 52

Orimipe said he was sad when he heard the news of  the death of his  half-brother  about two years ago. In his words, he said ”I cried when I heard the news of the death of my brother, Sunday. Her mother is my father’s wife and she is also my mother. I feel for Sunday’s mother, it is painful that her son, Sunday died .But what ought to  be done should be done.  Sunday was very close to me same thing with all other younger ones. They are all married and in their matrimonial homes now.

Asked  his  best music among Orlando’s albums, Orimipe   sang A mbe laye, alaiye nsaye lo , ti a ba tun kuro nibe..mo ti se won ti mo le see ( crying)

My father was a  millionaire.

”I would say he was a millionaire, my father did not believe until you have N10 million before he could help you .He never begged till he died. Orlando’s house was free, what he would not   accept is robbery. He would not eat alone, you will eat from same plate ,that is what  I learnt from him that is what we call a rich man and  that you have millions, that is what we call eniyan laso mi (human beings provide the body of a more protective covering than clothes ever will ).That is why the honour and dignity  he had was more than money”

Appears in my dream.

“Yes, several times ,he used to appear in my dream and that is why I said he should be resting, when it is time we would do the needful’

Where are Orlando’s band members?

“His members are still alive. I have two brothers singing at home, Daisi and Duro. I don’t know why they did not get along with them I am still  trying to  make effort to do that. Even if they  don’t play for us  again  we should call them and celebrate them in remembrance of our father”.

DIE THE MATTER AND APATA

“Apart from being my father’s friends, they are those I also know as my fathers. Anywhere I am, if I am broke, they would give me money. It is what they give their children they also give me.I remember when  Kabiyesi Apata insisted that I must go back to school when I was about to write my final year exam in secondary school, Apata stood up and asked what I was doing at home, and he  said ‘Orlando come ‘, and he counted some  money and  handed over to Chief Osennepen who in turn gave me and asked me to go back to school. These fathers assisted me. Chief Osenepen was my father’s manager and his right hand man. Anywhere u see Orlando you would see him same with Musese. We all did a lot during the Alagbon episode, he was the PRO , he did great things.

Shade the last wife of baba.

“She was my father’s wife, and the respect I gave my mother was what I  gave her. Now let me tell you this story ,if you have the opportunity ask  if you can go to these people ask whether it is true or false.

Shade ( Nee Olagundoye)

“One day I was at home with Baba Osenenpen, aunty Shade who was  my father’s wife, Mummy Niyi-(aunty Funke ), Aunty Muibat [mummy Tope ] these four people with my brother , Elvis and his wife , we were many in a room, Osenepen was asked to call me, and I came and my father was lying down, and he said ‘if anything happen to  me, if I die .. , these are my wives which one would you  take care of ?’. I responded ” God forbid, we will all be in this house and they will all take care of their children.” Baba Chief then praised me, but my father said what he meant was which among them will I marry ? And I said ‘ha , it is forbidden a son does not have relationship with his mother, eewo.” I said your wife is your wife, she cannot be my wife, that  would be ……. I   said no. I thought he was going to say I was stubborn and that I might send them away when he is gone, but he said and meant another thing.”

The Ojos’ Orlando’s album.