The popular place known as St. Paul’s Anglican Church located in Okengwe, Okene Local Government Area in Kogi State is a microscopic location that has bred many great men and women. More to the trainings and discipline that was a trademark of this vast compound some years back is also the mountainous rocks surrounding the whole of Okengwe as well as Obehira. The architectural design of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Okengwe which is mainly of arc will make one think he is already in one of the many cathedrals found in Jerusalem.
One of the famous families close to St. Paul’s Anglican Church Compound towards the western end is the Baiyes family. As a little boy, I was privileged to know late Chief Julius Medina Baiye who I was made to understand was a great headmaster during his heydays. I only got to know him briefly when he was already retired and well stricken with age. Baba was a lanky and tall man. He was a keyboardist and I still remember how he will stroll down to the church in the evenings to play the keyboard with his long and neat fingers. He was also fond of using his mouth to make a sound as if it was the keyboard that was playing. Can I ever forget that his small lemon green table watch that he normally carry along with him to the church?
Late Chief J.M. Baiye was a complete “church boy” till he died. He never missed services and his sitting position in one of the front pews never got cold not until he could no longer come to church because of his age and brief sickness. Some of his children took after him to be relevant in the work of God. Late Lawrence Ojo Baiye like his father was a keyboardist but God added unto him the grace of composing songs. He waxed many songs for the choir of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Okengwe before he was called unto glory. The other Baiyes like: Elizabeth Oyiza, Iyabo (Nee: Chatta) Nathaniel, Felicia Oluwawemimo (Nee: Ozigi), Mabel (Nee: Suberu) Samson, Eunice and the likes were all members of the choir at one point in time. It is good to note that many of them are still moving on powerfully in God’s work and also in their various fields of endeavour.
Worthy of note is the help the late Pastor Benjamin Kayode Baiye rendered to us students. I will have to say it with much gratitude that it was him that made a person like me and other students who were studying Agricultural Science to know and see physically what a tractor is and its components. Then you will see tractors like John Deere and David Brown together with the accompanying ploughing tool parked in front of the Baiyes house. Seeing physically what a tractor is helped to brush my brain and also to be at home with Agricultural Science as a subject.
One other big name that cannot be left out from the Baiyes family is Mama Anakara. Some fondly called her Onyi Iyabo (Iyabo, now a big mother to us happened to be one of her daughters). Mama Anakara real name was Ma. Irene Baiye. She was the one that successfully created long queues just like the type found in filling stations during fuel scarcity in front of her husband’s house on daily basis because of one particular business she was into that people had to come from far and near to patronize. She was into baking of akara, a food made from peeled and grinded beans that is fried with red oil or groundnut. Mama Anakara fried her own akara with red oil and this made many people to fall in love with her akara.
It can take about five minutes to walk from my father’s house close to the church before getting to the Baiyes abode but the inviting aroma of Mama Anakara successfully travelled round the windows and doors of her customers which lived across the length and breadth of Okengwe down to Obehira. Mama Anakara was a professional in her trade. People ate her akara with pap, bread and garri. I know people who till today are yet to recover from the sweetness of her akara. If wishes were horses, such people would have fought death to a standstill to make sure Ma. Irene Baiye remain alive just to continue frying akara for them to eat to their fill. The popular Yoruba song titled “Iya-Alakara” eulogising the akara seller must have been written in honour of Ma. Irene Baiye.
Mama Rachael Eneyiamire Rekiya Baiye, who has now gone to be with the Lord in heaven and the one this piece revolves around is another big name from the Baiyes family. Like other dexterous wives of Chief J.M. Baiye, she also was not a lazy bone neither was she ready to embrace idleness. They belonged to a generation and a class that understood the saying that, “an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.” This is one big lesson that girls, ladies and women of our present day should learn quickly. She, like other wives of Baba Baiye worked hard to eke out a living in support of their husband. They were a perfect example of women who existed to be a helping hand to their husbands and not ready to pant after the mundane things of life that will fade away with time.
Mama Rachael Eneyiamire Rekiya Baiye was able to gain popularity mainly among primary school students within Okengwe and Obehira axis because of her specialized way of making her popcorn. Mama Rachael’s popularity which bestowed on her the name Mama Oni-guguru propleed her the more to specially prepare her popcorn and pour the well popped corn with sugar inside a wooden box with a little glass opening made by a carpenter revealing the contents to would be buyers which are mainly students. There was also an addition of well fried groundnut to eat alongside the popcorn.
Mama Rachael Eneyiamire Rekiya Baiye breathed her last on the 20th of February, 2024 at the age of 95. She remained strong and fervent in the Christian faith and a member of Ilosiwaju Band of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Okengwe till she died. Mama Rachael was one of the women that never toyed with the Church’s morning prayers that starts from 5:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. She as well as other devoted women will go to church early in the morning with their “ahi-ha”, an instrument of music.
Also, it will be good I point it out here that the morning prayer session is mainly attended by women. They were able to come up with an idea of visiting any church member whose son or daughter was getting married on a Friday which is the day of the wedding eve to pray for the family and give out their widows mite in support of the wedding. Mama Rachael Eneyiamire Rekiya Baiye was also a frontier of this godly act which helped to cement the good relationship among members of the church.
In the words of Mother Theresa, “Giving is a gift. If you see anyone who does not know how to lend a helping hand to the needy, you are to pity such a person for not having one of the greatest qualities found in God.” Based on this, it will not be out of place to say that the popcorn Mama Rachael Eneyiamire Rekiya Baiye gifted out to people was far more than the one she sold to make profit. Part of the ministry God also committed into her hands was the gift of visiting people to pray with them. I cannot count how many times Mama Oni-guguru visited our house and each time she will offer prayers before she takes her leave. This is one other aspect that is presently lacking in Christendom. May God return us to the old time religion that our parents embraced. Amen.
The departure of this loving mother and grandmother of ours cannot be explained in words. She was indeed a gift to her family, neighbours, the church and the community at large. I am still wondering if Mama Oni-guguru ever quarrelled with anyone. Her disciplinary nature made her to run towards us with a cane at the St. Paul’s Anglican Church field where we were playing ball one day and the training resulted into a fight. None of us could wait for her cane when we saw her coming. That was how the training ended that day. She was able to halt a fight among youths that may likely have escalated beyond human imagination.
I want to specially console Sammie Ochu Baiye, Eunice Ozavize Ohidah, Felicia Oluwemimo Ozigi and all of the Baiyes family. It is my profound prayers that God Almighty will grant Mama Oni-guguru eternal rest in heaven. May we be worthy enough to have her in warm embrace on that glorious morning. Amen.