BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
Joe Okei-Odumakin, widow of the late spokesperson of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, has been delivered of a set of twins – a boy and a girl – in a United States of America hospital.
A statement by the activist said she was delivered of the twins on Wednesday, October 27, 2021.
According to her, she and the babies are in excellent health condition.
The twins are coming 18 years after the last childbirth.
“The ‘miracle’ birth fulfilled the wishes of the late Odumakin towards the end of his sojourn on earth to have another baby to be named after him,” she wrote.
The couple got married in 1997, had their first baby girl in 2000 and the second, a boy, in 2003. While the girl was named after Joe, the boy was named Abraham after the late Afenifere leader, Abraham Adesanya.
In a detailed account, she noted that “after he survived a three-day coma in 2020 and a few months before he succumbed to the illness that eventually but unexpectedly claimed his life, YO, as he is fondly called, developed a strong desire for him and his wife to have another baby.
“Thank God Joe did not dither or procrastinate as she took in just about the time YO took ill and never recovered.
“It was good news that Joe conceived but YO never got to hear the news of his wishes coming to pass as he did not make it out of the ventilator.
“He had, however, prophetically left words concerning what the baby or babies should be called if his wishes materialised.
“YO was so accurate in his predictions that they could be twins (and their sex) that he gave the names of the babies and told his wife how he would raise them.
She concluded that, “while many may interpret this to mean that YO had premonition about his death, it was only a strong desire expressed by him to have babies that he would dot over and who would possibly step into his “aluta” shoes”.
Odumakin had died of COVID-19 complications at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, on April 3, 2021.
He had been sick with COVID-19 for some time but had “underlying issues”.
Despite testing negative after treatment, he did not recover from the complications.
The deceased was a human rights activist who played a vital role in the National Democratic Coalition that fought the Sani Abacha regime after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election.
He was a critic of the All Progressives Congress administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He was an advocate of restructuring and often said it is the only way to avoid disintegration.
Towards the end of 2020, he released a statement on behalf of Afenifere, saying Nigeria was on the brink of collapse.
The statement came in the wake of the spate of insecurity in the country and the fallout of the #EndSARS protests.
Odumakin had noted that Nigeria “had virtually become ungovernable and unless it is restructured and restored to federalism, it will collapse”.
He was the spokesman of Afenifere for over two decades, coordinating the publicity and public relations activities of the group.
