Looking at the two sets of twins my first daughter delivered in a period of three years, three boys and a girl, joy filters in one’s heart. Recalling that a very close relation of mine had ridiculed her for not having babies seven years after marriage, one is overwhelmed with appreciation to God, the Giver of children, and can sing heartedly, “This kind God o! I never see your kind o…” I wonder, however, what my mum would have done, if she was alive to see twins in her granddaughter’s family! Her prayers, I recall with pathos, had always ended, “Just one baby at a time until they fill the house”. To her and to everybody in my community in those days, delivering twins was a terrible abomination.
During my primary school days in the village, there were no twins. In our church, there were none. I never saw them in our market places. Each time I travelled to Port Harcourt and Aba on holidays, I did not also see them. I felt that as my mother was praying that twins would not be born in our family, so were other families praying against that ‘evil’. It was after many years that a lady gave birth to twins and only God knows the type of sacrifices that might have been made to appease the gods. From the grapevine, we heard that shock, grief, and pain struggled to find expression in a lady in that compound, as her twins were allegedly strangled to death a few years before these twins were born, and they were not killed! I suspected that twins were being born but murdered.
When I came to Lagos in 1974, I saw twins everywhere. My God! A family living below my flat had them and there was celebration! In 1980, on my flight from New York to Lagos, two Yoruba men of my age, wearing the same type of dress and doing things together, were with us. I was told that they were twins. It made much impression on me and I could even wish that I was one! I wished also that I could have one, but then, how could I, since they said that only a twin can bear one. My consideration was premised on the fact that I might have been one, but my Kehinde or Taye was killed as per my mother’s prayer of having only a baby at a time!
As if God wanted to kill any hidden bias I might still be nursing, He made a twin to be living at the next building to my house. The man and his twin brother were doing their businesses together. Both of them, born-again Christians, belonged to Deeper Life Bible Church. The twins had identical backgrounds of the good, the bad and the ugly things they were doing before their new birth. From them, my wife and I learnt much about twins and the blessings of having them. We would always see and feel the presence of the two brothers, Peter and Paul. One day, the enemy struck. It was a terrible sickness. His US medical trip could not help. My family was the only people outside their family members, allowed to be seeing and praying for him. After dragging for some time, our beloved brother left us and went to heaven.
Three years ago, in Ogun State, I came across another set of twins, Taiwo and Kehinde. They brought refreshment to my spirit about the world of twins. Like the Eko twins above, they do their businesses together. They have an edge over and above the Eko ones, by living and eating together. This means, four people, the twins and their spouses, transforming to unity! Like the Eko twins, their only difference is in their names, which is important for legal requirement and indeed, for all types of documentations. In the way they relate, left for them, they would not mind bearing the same name!
Twins love each other when they are in swaddling clothes, but with age, differences may spring forth between them. In the Bible, Jacob and Esau were twins and when Jacob noticed the weakness in his brother, with the assistance of their mother, he exploited it. The water, been spilt and could not be gathered, the bloom was then gone from the marital rose! It was divine wisdom that led the Ogun State twins to agree to be living and dining together. It is not a case of each wife cooking and bringing her food to the dining table; the food is cooked in the same pot and eaten on the same table! Glory!
The right of the firstborn, in many places in Nigeria, was in the past, the same as it was in Israel. It was ‘win and take all’. Today, in some places, he still inherits their father’s house. His younger brothers will move out of the compound to build their own houses. It is therefore, a great privilege to be the first born. Esau and Jacob, though twins, with struggles, Esau seemingly came out first. The struggle, even in exercising the right of firstborn, was prominent.
Someone may fuel the crisis between brothers, sisters, couples, partners, et cetera. They use lies as their instrument. “James, so, you people have bought that house at last?” One fellow injects the poison in the heart of a partner. “House? Nothing like that,” James replies. “So, John bought it for himself?” He asks, looking pale and placid before adding, “Anyway, don’t quote me. It’s common knowledge”. If James yields to this, the intruder will be making it regularly and will be ruling the roost. Many people, sadly, will buy it. In anger, James may not even clarify with his twin brother, but will rather start to scheme also how to manoeuver him. Though there is no iota of truth in the allegation, the mind has been poisoned, weakening the tie that binds them.
This explains why the decision of the Ogun twins to own everything together is divine wisdom and sound, absolutely. This is reinforced by the fact that they and their spouses are born-again Christians and they worship in the same Church. None of them will allow the devil to spin his silken web of deceit around them, nor will they do anything that will bring God’s name to ridicule. Their daily family devotion is of tremendous importance in building their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their children, as well, benefit immensely from it. As KC, my second son, told our Church congregation, when he was invited to minster, that what influenced him was not our teaching but our lives, so will their children testify!
The beauty of it all is that these twins went to school, and were serious in their academics. This is a strong professional foundation for tomorrow, instead of leaning on their parents’ wealth. They are veterinary doctors. One of their wives is a medical doctor and the other is a pharmacist. Each of the twins heads a branch of their company, and is committed seriously to the daily operations and its success. The twins of my daughter will have much to learn from these great men.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi:
0802 3002-471; [email protected]