Reflections Without Mirror : Emere (Ogbanje) Familiar Spirit: Part 2
To understand the piece , please continue from part one that was published on 16.09.2023
She met my father at Oremeji agugu Ibadan. My father always travelled to lagos every weekend and always returned on Sunday night. He would always stopped to buy provisions like Bournvita, Bread, Butter, and some essential needs for the family. According to her, she had been observing him for a few weeks and concluded in her mind that this man was a family man whoo took care of his family and if she could be born into that family, she would be well taken care of. She, therefore, decided to follow him home. Unbeknown to my father, someone was following him, whether in body or in spirit, I do not know. She claimed to follow him home, and when she saw that my mother was pregnant, she transferred herself into her womb. She was a beautiful girl and she told us this story when she was around 5 or 6 years old. She was a beloved child of the family. Everyone loved her, and I still have her beautiful figure etched in my memory after decades of her death.
There was a day she took ill, and my mother took her to Oluyoro Hospital Ibadan. In front of my mother was a young man who told the registrar that he brought his wife that was sick though no lady was with him and he gave the name of his wife as ‘Cecilia’ which happened to be the name of that my sister . The young man excused himself from the line and left, so my mother was the next to register my sister, and she advanced forward to register her name. The registrar was about to cross the name of ‘ Cecilia’ out (since the young man has left without producing his ‘wife’) when my mother said there was no need to cross the name since incidentally it was the same name of her daughter and so they just added the surname. When my mother returned from the hospital and narrated the story , I told everyone that it was just a coincidence until the later events made me change my mind.
On the morning that my sister would die, a neighbour told us a dream that she had. In her dream she met my sister in full traditional clothes of Ofi and she asked her where she was going, my sister answered her in that dream that, that day was her wedding day and she was going there, she looked radiant and was happy.
She died on the same day , in front of all of us, though she was a bit ill that morning. She came outside and collapsed. We tried our best to revive her, and all the neighbours joined and made necessary efforts to revive her but our beloved ‘ Cecilia’ did not return. She had a date with her destiny , and she was probably getting married on that day to the young man that my mother had met at the hospital some 6 months ago. He was probably waiting for her at the other end for the spiritual marriage.
You would recall that I recited an oracle about the Emeres that were stealing Orunmila’ s money in Part One of this piece. Some things are like fables when we read or heard about them, but they were actually real and lives event.
My dad was keeping most of his money in the house then, at that time there was no Internet banking or bank transfer. You can only go to the bank and deposit your money or collect it and so many people usually keep their money in their house. My father discovered that some of his money were missing where he kept them. Though, not much were taken, say, like N20 or N40 out of one thousand. N20 was the highest denomination then. He questioned everyone in the house, and we all denied it . He actually knew no one would take his money , we would rather ask than take it. So we devised a way to discover what was responsible, we kept the money in my brother’s cupboard while my father held the key. On the second day, another 20 Naira was missing . It was not the missing money that troubled my dad, but what troubled him most was that the rest of the money became useless , that is, he would not know what he did with the rest. He was making money but nothing to show for it. My brother and I are born again Christians , so we advised him that we should see a man of God to discuss the issue. We booked an appointment for him with Rev. Solomon Adebara. We went to see him together, and he prayed fervently for him. We knew the theft was not ordinary.
We returned home after the prayer session and within 3 weeks of that prayer, my Dad bought a Peugeot 505 car, one of the best cars of that time. This was made possible because from that day of the prayer, his money was not missing anymore and so the rest of the money and the subsequent ones were useful and achievement followed suit. Though, unlike the case of Orunmila who offered sacrifice to appease the Emeres as was the custom of that time , we did not make sacrifice to appease the Emere celestial beings who were responsible for the taking and spoiling money for us but we prayed and rebuked them. God answered prayers, and he is still in the business of answering prayers.
There are so many mysteries around us and what we know is what we know; we do not know everything. This piece was written for people to learn that the ‘Emeres’, Demonic forces, and the principality are still very much around wreaking havoc in the lives of the people.
Niyi Aborisade is a lawyer, a Human Rights Activist and a historian.
