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Mystery behind multiple births delivery in world twin capital exposed

The secret behind multiple births the world over, remains a mystery that many have found really difficult to unravel no matter how hard they tried.

While some believe it has to do with certain compositions, both genetic and hereditary, there is another school of thought which believes the conception of multiple births is down to specific kinds of food that are being consumed by individuals; that is the school of thought this mission sought to unravel.

Located about 82 kilometres north of Lagos, Igbo Ora in Oyo state is regarded as the twin capital of the world, not because it was founded by twins, but because of the unprecedented assembly of twins in the town (the largest in the world).

We expected to see twins roaming the streets. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

During the trip to the town, the idea conceived by NAIJ.com’s crew was that there would be twins walking on every side of the road and they would be easily accessible, they were disappointed.

In fact, there was no sign of twins walking on the road leading to the community, however, one thing made it certain that we were in the right place; the statue of a woman with two children, one on her back and the other on her hand.

The statue of Iya Ibeji at the entrance to the town was the only assurance that we were in the right place. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

With the statue, there was this nostalgia about the possibility of really meeting a lot of individuals who were given birth to on the same day. So, we marched on into the community which almost has more hunters and farmers than artisans.

The trip was made easier for our crew as a certain motorcyclist identified as Musa Tijani, whom we met at the park, served as our tour guide; he was very knowledgeable about happenings in the community.

Usually, before anything can be done in such a community or town, the people meet with the paramount ruler for his blessings and more importantly, his permission to gain access to any part of the community for questioning and other findings.

A mysterious baobab tree also proved that Igbo Ora is truly the ancestral home of twins in the world. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

But before moving into the households for questioning, we were introduced to a certain pair of baobab trees which we learnt were the only ones which could be found standing side-by-side in the entire community.

These trees, NAIJ.com crew gathered, were strategically located directly opposite the palace because of its huge significance to the people of Igbo Ora.

“So you think it is just ordinary that these the palace was spotted opposite the trees? The trees are not ordinary plants,” said one of the people in the area.

From there, our correspondent headed to the palace of the Olu of Igbo Ora who was not on seat, but his personal assistant, Dieko Olaoloye, was on ground to allow our team visit everywhere they planned to check out.

We had to pay homage at the palace of the Olu of Igbo Ora before continuing with the trip. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

But before going further into the town for further findings, NAIJ.com journalist who went to seek his permission, asked him a few questions about the multiple births in the town. And like every other person who had spoken about the reasons they had multiple births, he explained that their food is about the major reason they have the largest assembly of twins in the world.

According to him: “the presence of multiple births in this town is just a way God is showcasing our community to the world.

“It is majorly because of the food that we eat here; Amala (yam flour) and Ilasa soup that we give birth to twins in a large number.”

He further added that there would be a festival of twins in the town on a date which he noted would be determined by the state governor.

“Personally, I cannot tell you when this festival will hold, but one thing I know is the fact that the state government added it to the 2017 budget, so we believe this festival will start this year," he said.

Our correspondent therefore went in search of the Ilasa soup and Amala. We did not get to eat it on the first day of the visit (because we got in pretty late) but the food was made available on the next day.

The Ilasa soup is believed to aid the conception of twins. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

The people truly adore the meal. The response we got when we asked around the canteen if it was true that the combination aids the conception of twins, was priceless.

An unidentified lady who came to buy food was randomly asked if she was certain about the conception of twins after consuming the combo and her response, like that of every other person in the community, was EPIC!

“We have twins in our family too,” she said.

“If you take the Amala and Ilasa soup here regularly, I can assure you that your wife will give birth to twins. But you also have to live here and marry our woman,” the pretty, light-skinned lady offered.

The people passionately prepare the soup. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

The curiosity to gather more information about the multiple births in the community was further fueled after this lady’s confession, so we entered the interior parts of the community, to see if we could at least find a pair of twins walking on the streets, we still did not find any.

Our tour guide willingly took us to the home of an elderly set of twins. We met one of them outside bare-chested, confused and would have run inside but for the motorcyclist. He was quick to remind us that they would only attend to us on the grounds that we ‘drop something’ which we eventually did.

Another exciting thing about this community, more than having uncountable multiple births, is the amazing fact that everyone knows the other half of the twins even though most of them are unidentical.

The other half of the elderly man was quickly beckoned on and appearing just a few metres shorter than his Kehinde (meaning the other half that came later), looked distraught at the sight of a microphone and camera.

But after much persuasion and promises, they both agreed to talk to us. They were excited about the prospects of sharing their experience as twins to people who considered them mysterious because they were born same day.

These elderly twins believe they cannot betray each other. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

Kehinde, being the more outspoken of the pair, stated emphatically that he was more than happy to have come with another individual on the same day, noting specifically that “he is my best friend and I am more than comfortable with that.

“I don’t need to go in search of another friend (who may harm me even if I didn’t offend him), but I trust my other half, he will never do any harm to me. We love and trust each other.”

Other members of the same clan also trooped out with their twin children to meet our correspondent and although they were no longer fascinated about seeing twins, it made the whole episode more exciting and interesting.

Judging by what we saw in that part of the community, it was certain that so many people had visited to make inquiries about the secrets of multiple births which the people majorly attributed to their consumption of the Amala and Ilasa combo.

This woman wanted us to see her set of twins too. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

So, we decided to visit the market where this food was being sold. On entering the market, the first set of goods we saw happened to be the Ilasa leaves being displayed by the women who were shouting on top of their voices: “E ra Ilasa, E b’ibeji o!” this is translated to mean: “buy Ilasa and give birth to twins”.

The Tobowo market, arguably the biggest in Igbo Ora, was a typical market in a Yorubaland, most of the traders were women. The men were the motorists, loading and offloading goods from their trucks.

E ra Ilasa, Eb'ibeji o... the market woman beckoned. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

Even the very young ones among the people in the market were mostly females, the men apparently had other businesses to deal with and were therefore not seen in the market square screaming on top of their voices to convince buyers to check out their wares.

From the market square, we had to pay a visit to the school, Igbo Ora High School, and unlike our experience in other places, the students easily called out their colleagues who were twins to talk to us.

Most of the traders were women. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

Although we got there quite late, we were still early enough to find about seven pairs from different classes and age grade. The gathering of these twins from the school proved beyond reasonable doubts that the twins from Igbo Ora are actually more unidentical than the reverse.

Oseni Francis, the school principal who said he could not identify any of the twins at the snap of his fingers, was quick to remind our team that their women are the ones with the “ability to conceive twins” more than the men, although he did not attribute this to the intake of the local food only.

The twins that we saw were mostly unidentical. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

According to him: “There’s no family in this place where you won’t find twins. Like me, my father was Taiwo and my paternal grandmother was also a twin.

“It is the women who have the ability maybe because they have multiple eggs.”

Another set of unidentical twins... Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

After the visit to the market, Mr Tijani convinced our crew that there’s a particular shrine where the people go to worship the god that ensures the continuous conception of twins in the community.

“I sabi the man wey dey for the shrine o. If I take you there, you go see the place wey dem dey worship the god,” he had said in pidgin.

Reluctantly, we agreed to visit the shrine and there was no telling the number of people who would have gone there to pay homage to the ‘god’ of twins for easy conception.

Arguably one of the few pairs that looked quite identical. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

The place was full of life. Some women were seen working in the compound with trees providing shades. There were three different shrines built within the same compound, one for ogun (the god of iron), one for the twins and another for the people, but the chief priest was not present during the visit.

His son, Ojeniyi Adekunle Kazeem, was however on ground to attend to us.

He was more than capable of answering all our questions regardless of the form they came in.

These guys are aspiring to become lawyers. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

He looked unhappy that we 'seemingly' underrated him so we just changed the tone of the conversation and asked him about the shrine, then he stated that “Baba ku, Baba ku” which in English, means “There is another father even if father dies” and explained to us that he could also act for his father.

Asked why they have to worship a god to aid the conception of twins, he noted with pride, that the ‘Torun Alaafia’ (that is the god they worship) asked them to always make certain sacrifices which they must not refrain from doing whatsoever.

Ojeniyi boasted that he could act in his father's stead. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

“This is not because twins will no longer come if we don’t do it, but because we just need to pay homage to the god that helps preserve our tradition and culture in the part of the world.

“There’s also the god of iron and others that we worship here, and this is because there are specific roles which they play in the protection of the people’s lives and properties,” Ojeniyi patiently explained to our correspondent.

This shrine is said to help keep the lineage of multiple births conception in Igbo Ora. Photo: Emmanuel Osodi.

From our conversation also, we discovered that even he had two sets of twins, although one of the first pair died some time after their delivery.

One constant thing about Igbo Ora has to be the fact that the people are proud of their heritage but the mystery behind the multiple births remains as many are still of the thought that the food intake as well as their constant worship of a certain ‘god’ are not enough to make them have such a large gathering of twins.