We Met Our Wives As Virgins At 29 — Taiwo And Kehinde Oluwafunso
They are twin brothers married to twin sisters. The 41-year-old twins who are natives of Ibadan, Oyo State, also run Twin Action-Aid, an NGO specifically set up to see to the welfare of twins. They both reveal to Nkarenyi Ukonu what it is like being married to twin sisters.
Have you at any point in your lives ever been separated?
Taiwo: Yes. No thanks to JAMB. I attended Lagos State College of education while Kehinde attended Ibadan Polytechnic. This was for three years. We were affected during that separation period. Even though we were brilliant in school, during that separation, our grades plummeted. For the first two years, I wasn’t myself, it was as if a greater part of me had been taken away. I was able to come out of my depression with the help of one of my female lecturer who encouraged and motivated me. That made me begin to take my studies more seriously and that was how I was able to make my grades, at least to an appreciable extent. But Kehinde was badly affected, he had no one to encourage him so he ended up failing his courses. But we later came back together and attended Lagos State University where we both studied Sociology
How do you deal with a situation where people mistake you for each other?
Kehinde: There was a time we both attended an international conference in South Africa. It was an African-American summit convened by the late Reverend Young Sullivan. I would have been arrested that day. Taiwo did his own registration first and went away then just when I wanted to do my own registration, an American woman came to me to challenge me on why I should register twice when she had already seen me register. I tried to tell her I hadn’t and was about to do so when she beckoned on the security agents, asking them to arrest me for attempting to do double registration. I told her I was a twin and luckily, Taiwo came around and I asked him to come closer to corroborate my statement. At that instance, they were all shell shocked. That incident created an inroad for us into the international market and also because we wore natives; something we do always when we attend any international engagement. Our native attire further scored high points for our country as they also realized that not all Nigerians are fraudsters.
You are both married to twin sisters. Was this deliberate?
Taiwo: No. Both of us had relationships with ladies that were not twins but they didn’t work out. The previous ones we were in before we got married, Kehinde was always at logger head with his girlfriend who couldn’t understand why I was getting more attention than her. My own girlfriend would always accuse me of divulging her secrets to Kehinde which was true by the way, after all he is my twin who should be able to give me good advice. These ladies set us on collision course. We were always having crisis to the extent that for the first time, my twin and I nearly exchanged blows. So these and many more made us marry late, at the age of 37. We searched for ladies to marry even outside the shores of this country but it didn’t work. We later went to God in prayer and fasting, asking for a solution and God expressly approved that we go ahead to marry twin sisters.
How did you meet your wives?
Taiwo: It was by divine arrangement, through our NGO, Twins Action-Aid international. During one of our annual programmes, a day set aside to celebrate the international twins day in Nigeria. They were among the six delegates from Kwara State and when they arrived for registration, Kehinde was the one who first saw them and quickly called me to tell me about them but I wasn’t interested because I was busy preparing for the next day. I remember that he kept disturbing me for us to go see them at the hotel where they were lodged but I was put off and told him to forget it, saying we would see them the following day at the festival ground.
What was it about them since they weren’t the only twin sisters who came for the programme?
Taiwo: Like I said, it was all divinely arranged. They are quiet, gentle and they comported themselves well all through the programme. After the programme, we went round the hotels to thank all the participants for coming and when we got to their hotel, Kehinde said we should use the opportunity to express our feelings to them, that his inner spirit is nudging him that they are the ones. We had planned that I would speak to the female Kehinde while Kehinde would speak to the female Taiwo, making it a cross proposition.
What inspired you to set up your NGO, Twins action- aid?
Taiwo: A few years back, we were both involved in a ghastly motor accident that almost claimed our lives. We were admitted in Igbobi Orthopaedic hospital and while there, a set of abandoned twin babies were brought in. I called Kehinde’s attention to it and even though he was in excruciating pain, he momentarily forgot about his condition and focused on the twins as we both ruminated within ourselves, on the reason why the twins’ mother abandoned them. We were really troubled and we made a promise to God to give our all to the service of humanity if we both walk out of that place hale and hearty. By then, it didn’t even occur to us that twins go through some very traumatic experiences in this part of the world or that they are stigmatised. We later found out that twins are still being neglected, as some parents still see twins as economic saboteurs. This is a social malaise because what would make a woman feel sorry for having a set of twins?
What is the NGO all about?
Taiwo: It is a platform for empowering mothers of twins because they are more affected when it comes to the issue of twins. We have organisations and people who are our patrons and who are well placed who help out in funding this NGO. Of course we monitor the women, to be sure the money is being used judiciously. We also counsel them against street begging, using their twin babies as baits and to also let them know that twin babies bring luck. When we were born, our parents were poor but our coming changed their fortunes. There are 700 million Africans out of which are 16 million twins and 65 per cent of these twins are found in Nigeria and it is a pity to know that most of these twins are from the poorest of the poor. Our phones never stop ringing from poor mothers of twins, triplets, quadruplets etc. whose husbands have abandoned them for producing money drainers as it were - twins
What has been your success rate?
Kehinde: The rate of twin reproduction in Nigeria is on the high side, in fact world over and I must confess, we still have a long way to go. So on a scale of 1 - 10, I won’t allot ourselves a pass mark because we still have a lot of grounds to cover, that is why we want the government to come in. You can imagine that most of the hospitals, both government and private, do not have the equipment to accommodate multiple births especially when they come prematurely. It is a gargantuan project.
Besides the NGO, what else do you do?
Kehinde: We run Runwill and associates. We are also event managers, tour guides, we package vacations in Africa for people. We are also consultants to Governments on cultural issues. We are the Nigerian representatives and co coordinators of Pan African Festival, the most prestigious cultural festival on the continent of Africa today. It is under the auspices of the government of Ghana and African Union. It is based in Ghana.
How do you both relax?
Taiwo: We read a lot. I personally must have read more than 5000 books. If you want to get at me, take books away from me.
What would you both consider to be your greatest achievement in Life?
Kehinde: That we have been able to positively impact twins like us, to lift twins up and make them feel proud.
Taiwo: Getting married to twin sisters. It still amazes me till date. We all live together as one big happy family. Our wives were virgins at 29 when we married them.
Are you implying that in those four years of courtship and abstinence from your wives, you both didn’t feel the urge to go after other women?
Kehinde: No we didn’t, we remained faithful to them because they were worth it.
And your greatest challenge in life?
Taiwo: People. A lot of people doubted us when we started this NGO but today we have earned our credibility through sheer focus and consistency.
source: punchng.com
