OGBOJU ODE NINU IGBO IRUNMOLE

Fagunwa's first book was written in a bush, they thought he was a ghøst, his body was found with cap on his head 3 days after

A long interesting read👇

Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa wrote “Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irumole”, while serving as the Headmaster of St. Andrew’s Practising School, Oyo, from 1930 and 1939. In the course of writing the book, Fagunwa like a mystic, had to look for a bush path. He left Oyo town and moved towards Ibadan road and created a path, through a bush, to a very big tree, which was so huge, that one could not see sun-rays under the tree. He brought a small table, a chair and books underneath the tree, to begin writing his first novel.

He later realized that posite the bush path he created, there was a woman selling yam in a kiosk. He did not know that the woman was suspecting that he was not a human being. He used to come out of the bush to buy yam and returned there. The woman then contacted some hunters and villagers to search the bush. Fortunately, the period they came was when he had gone to buy yam, otherwise they would have searched the place and could have kïllēd him. He was returning to the bush after buying yam when those men stopped him.

They asked him where he was going and where he came from. He told them the story about himself. They asked: ”you say you are writing a book, is it in the bush that writers work?” They followed him inside the bush and behold, they saw a chair and table and books on the table. They asked him where he originated from, he told them that he was the Headmaster of St. Andrew’s Practicing School, Oyo, that was how they spared him.

When he finished writing the book and finding a publisher, he made £25 from which he prepared for the wedding to his first wife, bought a brand new bicycle, gramo phone with some records, iron bed, mattress and so many other things. He also hired a vehicle from Lagos, to bring him to Oyo with his luggage.

When he got to Oyo, his fiancée, surprised, asked him where he got money to buy these treasured items; and that was how the encouragement and inspiration to write further books started.

DEMISE

Fagunwa did not disappear as had been previously reported. He was returning from a business trip in Northern Nigeria, slept in Bida, and, the following morning, left because there was a river Wuya on the way, that had no bridge.

There, they had to take a ferry, conveying people and vehicles across the river. At the river bank, he told his driver, James, an Ibadan man, to wait, while he followed one path by the bank of the river. The driver shortly after Fagunwa left him, started hearing splashes of water, only to realize that Fagunwa had slipped by the river bank into the river.

Fagunwa’s body was discovered three days after. There was no scratch on his body when he was discovered the third day. He was found fresh, erect and was also still holding his eye glasses. His wrist watch and other accessories were intact. He still had his cap on his head. He still had his shoes on and also his complete agbada.

Fagunwa’s remains were buried at the cemetery of the St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Oke-Igbo- his home town on the 10th of December, 1963. His body did not disappear as was being speculated. He was from a Christian home.

Credit: Vanguard