My Mum Turns 70: Melo Ni Mo Ma Ro Nipa Abiyamo Iyabode?

 

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode (how much will I broadcast about a mother incarnate Iyabode), who was bequeathed to mother earth on 13th February 1955? My siblings and I may not be throwing a 70th birthday party for our loving mum because of her grief over the recent loss of her younger brother, Dr. Ademola Akinmola (a medical doctor), whose painful passing in a ghastly road traffic mishap on 26th August 2024 remains a sore wound for ma’a mi (my mother – in Yoruba language), Mrs Iyabode Moromoke Lillian Ademujimi (nee Akinmola). Be that as it may, my pen needs neither a sound of music nor clinging plates & cutlery to expressly and openly celebrate and acknowledge the relentless, selfless and priceless disposition of my mum to her husband and three offspring - my humble self (her first male), Toun (her second child & only female) and Toyosi (her second male & last child). Ma’ami is the first child of her late father, Pa Israel Adenodi Akinmola, who departed this world on 27th October 2005 and her mother, Mrs Florence Omouliola Akinmola, whom she lost at a tender age of 11 (on 12th July 1966).

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? My mum did the majority of daily school drop-off and pick up sessions of my siblings and I at St Louis Nursery & Primary School Akure to allow her husband dash to his income-generating venture – Hope Hospital & Maternity, Idanre as early as 6am everyday for his morning ward rounds and other medical services. I recall a day you had come for the three of us after school hours and on our way home in your brown-coloured Volkswagen Passat salon car, you suddenly lost control of the wheels and crashed into a drain somewhere around the intersection between Arakale road and Oke-Aro road in Akure. Thankfully, none was hurt. I was about 8 years old at the time. Against that odd, and many others, you shielded us like mother hen to and from our elementary school at Isinkan, Akure, Ondo State.

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? Despite her several episodes of exacerbation of bronchial asthma (an extrinsic form of the chronic respiratory ailment that she developed about almost 39 years ago), which tormented her early & middle stages of marriage and motherhood, my super-caring mother never waned in ensuring that the husband of her youth and old age, Dr Kola Ademujimi, was in consonance with his addicted cuisine – iyan (pounded yam) – at a weekly frequency of 3 to 4. Even after she had developed a disc prolapse from tyring to lift a heavy object while executing her chores as a diligent wife & mother sometimes in the late 1980s, y’emi (my mother – in Idanre dialect) Iyabo would ensure that she met b’ami (my father – in Idanre dialect) Kola’s ultra-appetite for iyan by leveraging on the physical strength of others (family members residing with us) to put the mortar and pestle to use for pounding the cooked yam.

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? Ma’ami’s Obe ila alasepo (okro soup cooked “together” with oil & other condiments) and her eran igbe (bush meat) topping were not exclusively the favourite menu of her family but that of members of Klub 20 Akure and Love brothers club Idanre who always looked forward to her magical okro soup at meetings hosted by my father - a member of both social associations.

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? While I was at Kings’ College, Lagos for my secondary education and Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun state, for my medical training, you sometimes gave me some ‘top-up’ funds to complement the pocket money my dad usually disbursed. I remember when you juggled your teaching career at various Ondo State public secondary schools with your entrepreneurship drive as a rice merchant, sachet water producer and a wife & mother. You followed up on our school assignments and laid a solid foundation for good character in each of us through daily bible readings & prayer sessions at morning prayers in the house.

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? Ma’ami did well to ensure her two boys learnt how to self-conduct house chores (car-washing, house-cleaning). And mummy, please don’t mind the few dissenting voices who accuse you of pampering Toyosi and I in kitchen matters. At least, Toyosi now cooks all types of delicious meals in his United States base while I can at least boil egg, yam and noodles. Above all, Toun turned out a master chef on behalf of the three of us. 

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? When I brought home Bunmi as my intended wife about 19 years ago, you prayerfully accepted her and fostered a gradual mother-daughter relationship that has blossomed beyond the usual relationship of “in-law” since we tied the knots in September 2011. Whenever I walk into your bedroom in your Ijapo Estate house and see Bunmi sit or lay on your bed while you both ‘gist’, I’m always thankful for the mother you have allowed her to see in you, knowing that several mothers-in-law and their respective daughters-in-law share cat-and-mouse relationships.

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? Today, your grandchildren (Jomiloju Akingbesote, Towobola Ademujimi, Jenrayo Akingbesote and Farakanla Ademujimi) are accustomed to grandpa & grandma’s bed, grandma’s black soup delicacy with pounded yam and grandma’s car drop-off and pick-up services when the need for you to stand in the gap for us regarding “school runs” arises. What an all-round blessing of a mother and grandmother you are till date!

                                                                               

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode? People may never know that you do not just love good music and spontaneously, effortlessly, rhythmically respond to it by dancing but amid egregious & creative dancers, you are a class act. It appears, however, that your jewellery-hating, turban-loving, dance-discouraging Christian place of worship appears to have made that enviable skill of yours redundant. For your birthday today, please permit me to sing the chorus of a ‘secular’ song by one of my favourite Nigerian artistes, Sean Tizzle, titled Abiamo -

Bowo mi ba tide                         (when my money arrives)
Iya mi jo wa je                             (my mother please come and partake)
Ko foro mi shere                         (she doesn’t joke with my matter)
Iya mi jo ma bo                           (my mother please come)
Ko wa gbadura fun mi              (to pray for me)
Mo shi fila lori                             (I took my cap off my head)
Tete gbadura fun mi ehhh     (make haste to pray for me ehhh)

Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode, other than to end with a heartfelt wish of happy birthday to my fearless, non-pretending, homely, private, ‘emeritus’ mother, and virtuous wife of the Otunba Ajiroba of Idanre kingdom, who is a trained teacher, education administrator and an extraordinary woman of God? May God bequeath you with long life and good health as you continue to provide your matriarch role to your children & grandchildren, and your leadership responsibility to your younger sister, Mrs Funke Kayode; immediate family of your late younger brother, Mr Olu Akinmola; and all your stepsiblings. Ye’mi Iyabo, abiyamo tooto, a s’eyi s’amodun l’oruko Jesu.

Dr. Adetolu Ademujimi is a Medical Doctor, Health Finance Specialist, Author, Reformer, Coach, Public Policy expert and social entrepreneur who can be reached in Abuja via adetoluademujimi@gmail.com