John Ibironke, the son of a 68-year-old man from Ondo State, Joseph Ibironke, who claimed to have spent nine years in the United Kingdom and 21 years in the United States before he found himself in Nigeria after a strange illness, tells FATTEH HAMID how he reunited with his father
Who is Joseph Ibironke to you?
My name is John Ibironke, I’m a building contractor. I’m from Igbara Oke, Ondo State. I’m the only son of my mother alive, born to Joseph Ibironke.
Your father said you were a few months old when he left Nigeria. What do you know about his life or as you were told by your mother?
Well, I barely lived seven years with my mother before she got married again to someone else and life was not easy; it was very difficult. I had to start living with my dad’s elder brother, Williams Ibironke, when I was about seven or eight years old. However, while still with her and from the things she told me when I grew older, my father was a man who cared for me and my brother when he was still in Nigeria and we would never have suffered the way we did if he was around.
When did your older brother die?
Of course, I was still young at the time but it was around 1987 that he died as I was told by my mother. I was not old enough at that time.
How old are you?
I’m going to be 43 in a few months.
Did you not try to search for your dad when you grew older?
I did. There’s an adage in Yoruba that says that it is only a bastard who won’t look for his father; a true son will find his father. When I was growing up, my friends and some people in my mother’s family usually called me a fatherless boy which was a very painful abuse and sad for me at the time. So, I decided that I was going to find him. I had always worried my mother that I needed to find my father but she didn’t have the time to do that despite my insistence. It led to a fight between us and her new husband. Later on, I had a long vacation in school, I hustled and gathered money together to travel to Lagos from Ilesa, Osun State. At that time, his brother had already died but I didn’t know.
What happened when you arrived in Lagos?
When I got to Ebute Metta, I went to their house and asked his wife why I wasn’t informed when he died. She said she didn’t know that I was going to come back. I told her that what brought me to Lagos was the fact that I needed to find my father and going to Igbara Oke would be the best shot to finding him and that I needed the address to get there. She gave me the address and I left Lagos for Ilesa after three days in Lagos. After two days in Ilesa, I went home to Igbara Oke searching for my other extended family members with the hope that I’d be able to locate my father because the only link I knew, which was the uncle I lived with, had already died.
How were you received in Igbara Oke?