For millions of residents of Mushin and Ijeshatedo, two bustling,
sprawling Lagos communities, May 11, 2012 would remain an indelible
date. It was the day a woman, Kikelomo, a practising Christian,
reportedly delivered a baby boy at a spiritual clinic operated by a
white garment church in the area. The baby was said to have glided out
of his mother’s womb with his right hand tightly clutching a
gold-coloured mini-Quran.
The baby has since been christened Abdulwahab Iyanda Aderemi Amin-Olorun Irawo, at an elaborate Islamic ceremony in Mushin. The event was attended by top Islamic clerics from within and outside Lagos.
Expectedly, the strange development has been generating heated debates among Christians, Muslims, adherents of indigenous religions as well as the non-religious. The reporter learnt that the Islamic holy book would have been thrown away after the baby was delivered but for the mum’s insistence that her own mother should be informed about the development before any action was taken.
Since the incident, various reports have been making the rounds concerning the baby and his parents. The mother, Kikelomo Ilori, was described as an unmarried lady who became pregnant for her lover, Abolore Irawo. According to the reports, when the prospective father was told that the affair had resulted into pregnancy, he urged the lady to go for an abortion. She allegedly told reporters who had thronged her temporary abode at her mother’s place on Sonde Street, Ijesatedo that during the pregnancy, she was always visiting the spiritual leader, Senior Rev. Victoria Dada, (whose church would later serve as maternity ward for her) for prayers and counselling because she felt neglected by the man who impregnated her.
“When I refused to abort the pregnancy, he deserted me, saying, ‘that is your own problem,” several reports had quoted her as saying.
I never planned to abort pregnancy But when Daily Sun met with Kikelomo a few days later for more explanations on some emerging controversies on her child, the story had been considerably altered. By then, she had relocated from Ijesatedo to what she called her matrimonial home in Aderibigbe Street, Masha, Surulere. First, she denied that she was an unmarried lady. According to the young woman, her name was not Kikelomo Ilori but Kikelomo Irawo. She said she was only at her mother’s place temporarily, insisting that she had now moved to her husband’s place.
Reacting to reports that she was just a girlfriend to the father of her baby, she retorted: “If a man and a woman will get married, won’t they start from being friends?”
She was also reported to have attempted to abort the pregnancy when her lover deserted her. According to the reports published in several Nigerian dailies and online media, she was even shocked when she discovered the baby was intact despite attempts to terminate her pregnancy. “When I discovered that the baby was still growing, I rushed back to the nurse who injected me after explaining the problem. She was surprised that the baby was still intact. I asked her to give a ‘D and C,’ but she refused. She said the blood had already formed and that it would be like killing somebody. When it was nine months, the baby didn’t come. When it was eleven months, I told my friend, who took me to Morning Star Church, there I delivered the baby,” a national daily quoted Kikelomo as saying.
In a chat with our reporter, however, Kikelomo insisted that she never attempted to terminate the pregnancy. She said those saying she took drugs to abort the baby were just on a flight of fancy.
We got no money The new mum and her famous baby were said to have received some substantial amount of money from an eminent legal luminary and former Attorney General of Nigeria and the Lagos State government. But Kikelomo said those are also lies from the pit of hell.
Since the baby’s birth, everyone has been trooping to Sonde Street, Ijeshatedo to catch a glimpse of Kikelomo and her ‘miracle child.’ The house has become a tourist’s attraction with different people crowding there daily to congratulate the mum, offer prayers for the child or to give the baby some gifts.
When the reporter visited the place early in the week, Kikelomo’s mum, popularly called Say Mama by neighbours, was enraged after discovering the caller was a journalist. She told the reporter that the family would no longer grant any interview on the baby. “You journalists are just writing false stories about the baby and our family. I picked up a Yoruba paper today and they were writing nonsense. They said prominent Nigerians gave us millions of naira but we haven’t received anything,” the elderly woman said.
The reporter assured her that the reports would be fair to her family, assuring her that there would be no falsehood in his story. After a while, the elderly woman said the baby and her mother were no longer with her.
“They have gone to the palace of the Oba of Mushin, Chief Fatai Irawo. Go there and interview them, but I don’t know if they will give you audience. But don’t go there today because they won’t attend to you. I will also call them and persuade them to attend to you.”
So, off to Coker Street in Mushin this reporter went the next day. But it was another brick wall that the reporter met at the Oba’s palace. He was told the traditional ruler was in no mood to entertain journalists on the matter. He was also told that the baby and his mother were not in the palace. “The baby and his mother have moved to the father’s place in Masha area of Lagos,” a man who simply identified himself as Ayo told this reporter. “The woman’s husband is a relative of the Oba. He lives in England but he’s around and would likely accede to your request for an interview because he is enlightened,” he said as he gave the reporter the couple’s address.
Naturally, the reporter hailed a commercial motorbike, better known as okada and to Masha he went. The building is an unpainted yet magnificent storey building on Aderibigbe Street. After several knocks on the gate and no response, the reporter and another colleague were joined by two elderly women, one of whom had a striking resemblance with Kikelomo. The two women called out from outside the gate, and Kikelomo appeared on the balcony upstairs, cuddling Abdulwahab. As the women went inside, the reporter quickly went upstairs with them.
Much falsehood being spread Once in the family’s large and expensively furnished living room, Kikelomo became suspicious. Once she got to know that her unknown visitor was a reporter, she became hostile. She said she wouldn’t speak, accusing reporters of spreading rumours about her and using her baby’s pictures to make money.
She was persuaded by the reporter and the two ladies. She later succumbed, warning, however, that she must not be misquoted as her husband had asked her not to talk to reporters anymore. She said though the prominent people mentioned in some dailies had not given the family any money, ordinary people have been bringing gifts for her boy. “Almost everyone who has called to see the baby brought gifts for him. If you give him a gift, he would pray for you,” she said smiling. She said it was true that the baby held a miniature Quran wrapped in a plain nylon at birth, adding that the holy book had bloodstains at the edges even though the Quran itself wasn’t soiled. She said the Quran was taken to the Chief Imam of Lagos who eventually unwrapped and confirmed it as the Holy Quran. She said no part of the holy book was missing. She said her husband has stored the Quran in his safe for safekeeping when the reporter called.
She regretted that journalists also wrote damaging reports about the woman in whose church she delivered her baby, saying the church leader almost expelled her from the church. She told the reporter that the woman wasn’t in town but emphasised that the cleric had decided against granting any interviews again since she was being misquoted.
Kikelomo said she wasn’t a member of the church, though she had been a member of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. She said she only went to Rev Dada’s church to be delivered of her baby. Has she now become a Muslim, you asked. She merely smiled. The two ladies answered for her, saying since the birth of the miracle baby, Kikelomo had automatically become one. She didn’t fault the women.
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