Chief D. O. Fagunwa: His life, story and the myth surrounding him
Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa MBE (1903 – 9 December 1963), popularly known as D. O. Fagunwa, was a Nigerian author who pioneered the Yoruba literature. He was born in Oke-Igbo, Ondo State. Holder of the chieftaincy title, Bogunbolu of Okeigbo, Fagunwa, in his days, wrote many novels which dealt on folktale traditions and idioms, including supernatural elements. Hakeem Gbadamosi visited his home in Okeigbo to unravel the complexity on the circulated myth about the great writer’s death.
“My husband was buried in this town, his corpse was brought to his family house in Okeigbo and was buried in the church, St. Lukes Anglican Church cemetery on December 10, 1963. The records are there in the church. His resting place is still there, so the myth about his body disappearing was only an imagination of some people. My husband was a good Christian.”
These were the words of the widow of the late great Yoruba writer, Daniel OlorunfemiFagunwa, Mrs Elizabeth Adebanke Fagunwa while speaking on the circulated myth about the foremost and renowned author of Yoruba literature, Daniel .O Fagunwa disappearing from his grave after his death some 50 years ago. With this affirmation, Mrs. Fagunwa thus cleared the air over the myth that beclouded the circumstances surrounding the death of D.O Fagunwa.
The widow while giving reminiscences of the death of her husband, said the author never had any premonition about his death and confirmed that her husband actually drowned in a river in Niger State known as Wuya River while returning to Ibadan from a book tour of Northern Nigeria and his body was found at the bank of the river the third day.
Mrs. Fagunwa recalled that her late husband was appointed as the representative of the Heinemann publishers in Nigeria after having written about four books which were published by the publishing company. She said her husband’s mission to the northern part was to discover more writers for the publishing company before he met his untimely death.
Her words “My husband was the person who initiated the establishment of Heinemann publishing company in Nigeria. Heinemann published his last official book. I called it official because he was writing one which he couldn’t complete, so I regarded “AdituOlodumare” as his last official work. Now Heinemann published “Aditu Olodumare” and through that, the company decided to come to Nigeria so that they could have many writers and authors from Nigeria and published their books and my husband was appointed as the manager of the company in Nigeria.”
She said D. O .Fagunwa travelled around the country advertising Heinemann books to schools and also searching for great writers like him. Describing his last moments, she said, “He went to the northern part of the country and left home on November 16, 1963; he travelled to the north and was away until that fateful day December 7, when he wanted to come back home where we lived in Ibadan, Oke Ado in Ajanla Street. When he was coming back, he stayed the last night on earth at Bida in a hotel
She explained further that according to his late husband’s driver who was with him when he died, Fagunwa and the driver were waiting to be ferried across the river in the early hours of that fateful day. And that while they were still waiting for the ferry’s sailor at the river’s bank, the late author decided to take a walk and unfortunately, got drowned in the process.
The octogenarian widow continued, “The driver who took him to the north, James, a native of Ibadan said they were the first to get to the river bank that day so that their car will be the first to be ferried. He said they left their hotel at about 5am and the people to ferry them didn’t come until around 6am. So when they got there, Fagunwa decided to take a walk around before the people would be ready.
“So while he was strolling, and it was not yet daybreak , he (James) said he just heard a sound in the water and looked at the direction and his master was nowhere to be found. So he ran there and before he got there, he had spotted a canoe which had turned upside down; so he guessed that it was not unlikely that Fagunwa had a slip as he walked too close to the bank of the river.
He said the canoe turned upside down and covered him, he shouted for help and people came to rescue him but Fagunwa was nowhere to be found until the third day. While the people were still searching for Fagunwa in the river, message was sent to Ibadan about the ugly incident.
The wife still believed her husband would be brought home alive because according to her, the late writer was a great swimmer. But to her surprise, her husband never came home alive. Mrs. Fagunwa said this made her to subscribe to a Yoruba adage that says “ Iku ogun ninpa akinkanju, iku odoni pa omuwe.” (The brave dies in the battlefield while a greater swimmer is killed by drowning) as Fagunwa corpse was found floating on the third at the very spot where he got drowned some 72 hours earlier. But there was another mystery.
Fagunwa was found in the river with his cloth and cap intact and his pair of glasses in his hand. His wife said, “What surprised us is that he had his shoes on, with his cloth on, intact, and the cap, and had his pair of glasses in his hand. This was told by people who saw him at the river and people who saw his corpse when he was brought home.” Asked if the family suspected any foul play, she waved her hands and said “No, no and no.
It was natural. But if it were now, we might suspect that maybe somebody pushed him but in those days, there was safety. No kidnapping; murder wasn’t as bad as this, and the country wasn’t bad as this in terms of security. So it was natural.”
Mrs Fagunwa, however, debunked the myth over the disappearance of her husband’s corpse. She said the writer was buried at the St. Luke’s Church cemetery, in Okeigbo and said the family will always be ready to allow the remains of the late writer to be exhumed to let ‘the doubting Thomases’ believe that D. O. Fagunwa was interred and did not disappear as being speculated. Mrs. Fagunwa also revealed that the writer was from a Christian home and would not have anything to do with cult practices.
She said though most of his writings laid much emphasis on demons and fairies, all the characters in Fagunwa’s books were products of his imagination.
She said, “D. O. Fagunwa did not believe in native medicine; he was a Christian to the core and from a Christian home, his father was the Baba Ijo (Church’s patriarch) of St. Luke’s Church Okeigbo and the mother also became the Iya Ijo (Church matriarch) of the church too. He didn’t believe in belonging to any cult. He believed in his God but his books as you said, are based on fairies known in Yoruba as ‘Iwin’, and demons; you are right
“I am happy you are in Okeigbo now. Okeigbo was surrounded by hills and forest and the town has extensive land, though there were not as many villages as we have now in those days. They have villages and at weekend school children would go to their parents in the farms after school lapse on Friday. Some of them would go to farms which was about six to twelve miles away from the town. They normally visited the farms during weekends to help their parents in the farm and at night they will hear the sound of animals, birds and so many others.
So from those things that he saw, he had his inspiration and he started writing. What he wrote was what one will expect when going into the thick forest, strange things and as I said earlier, he was highly gifted and many of the things he wrote were made up stories but there are some from stories passed down, So he got his inspiration from there too.
The Octogenarian who will be 81 in September said she met her husband in Okeigbo where they both hailed from and fell in love with him and later got married, though the late Fagunwa had been married to his first wife then.
When asked why she decided not to remarry after the death of her husband especially when she was still young, barely 31 when she lost her husband, Mrs. Fagunwa smiled, saying there could never be any man like D. O. Fagunwa again her life. What else can I get from any other man?
He was always there to shower me with love and affection; he made me laugh because he’s humorous. He pampered me with love, he was always there even when I didn’t need him, always providing a shoulder for me, encouraging me, Fagunwa meant love to me.
The only honour that I think I can give to him is to forget another marriage and to God be the glory, I have been able to do that for the last 50 years. She, however, said if there were chances to come back to the world and marry again, she would choose Fagunwa.
At the Fagunwa family house in Sawo compound, Okeigbo, one of his nieces, Esther Ogunrinde, eulogised the late writer. Madam Ogunrinde described Fagunwa as man of the people and as a man after the welfare of his people. She said Okeigbo would have developed more than this if he were alive because he valued education more than anything.
“The woman, however, appreciated the late Fagunwa’s wife for being the link between all family members.
Fagunwa died many years ago but his contribution towards the development of the hilly town will not be forgotten in a hurry as his name is synonymous with the mentioning of the town, Okeigbo,” she said, looking ahead in deep contemplation.