REAL PICTURE Of The Strange Fish That Causes Commotion In Ibadan
AKINDELE House, Isale Asaka, Foko, Ibadan, an
erstwhile sleepy and serene community in the
capital city of Oyo State, came alive on Tuesday
and it became a Mecca of sort, when the news of a
miniature mermaid (omo Yemoja) filtered through
the city.
It took a while before the Nigerian Tribune crew
got access to the house, a storey building, and
when it finally did, the head of the family, Alhaji
Raufu A. Salau, said he was sleeping upstairs
when he heard a lot of unusual noise which forced
him to come downstairs.
According to him, “Ramota, his granddaughter,
sells fried and roasted fish in the house and, as
usual, purchased a carton of frozen fish that
morning. She was in the process of cleaning the
fish and separating those to be roasted from the
ones to be fried when she was said to have
screamed out loud and called on neighbours to
come to her aid.”
Salau, a retired civil servant, said he heard people
asking after him but rather than come upstairs to
see him, the lady ran to meet her Shehu, an Islamic
cleric, who followed her home and offered some
prayers in the Islamic way before the neighbours,
who had begun to converge on the scene, could
take the pictures of the strange “fish.” The first
person who took the picture of the strange fish was
said to have had his phone shattered mysteriously.
Alhaja Alirat, a member of the community, told
the Nigerian Tribune that she did not see the
mermaid but the lady who claimed to have seen it,
but declined to speak with the press, told her that
the mermaid, though very small in size initially,
grew bigger and was fish from waist downward
and human being from waist upwards, with
mouth, nose, eyes and long hair, which it was
swinging to cover its eyes when the mammoth
crowd thronged to the scene to look at it.
She also said it was alleged that the mermaid
spoke, begging Ramota, the fish seller, not to
expose it but that Ramota shouted out of fear.
Meanwhile, one Miss Osungbemi, an Osun
worshipper, claimed that the mermaid was on a
mission to uplift Ramota financially.
Rather than shout, she said Ramota ought to have
looked for a big basin filled with water and throw
the mermaid inside, adding that she should have
then called on Osun worshippers who would call
the mermaid by its cognomen and tutor the lady
on how to appease it.
She said Ramota would have become a consultant,
diagnosing and treating people with the aid of the
mermaid, who would be telling her what to do,
even as she claimed that someone in the house
where the mermaid was found must have
worshipped Osun at a point in his or her life.
Some members of the crowd, who did not
volunteer their names, said it was Ramota’s mother
that had worshipped Osun before and that before
the occurrence, she had received messages to visit
the Osun Osogbo grove to worship Osun, but that
she had been complaining that there was no time.
Responding to Osungbemi’s claims, Alhaja Alirat
said “the tradition to which one is born is quite
different from the religion one is practising,”
adding that if one was born into Osun tradition
and one became a Muslim and, at a point in time,
received a message to worship Osun, there was
nothing bad in it.
“It does not affect one’s religion. In fact, it is for
one’s good, as worshipping the Osun would
improve one’s fortune in life and make the person
a better human being. At least, the Holy Book says
we should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” she
said.
All efforts to see the mermaid, however, failed, as
some people claimed that the mermaid had been
moved out of the house while others said it was still
in the house and that Ramota had been taken to
the police station at Mapo.
At the Mapo Police Station, however, the Tribune
crew sighted Ramota, who was with her baby and
her Shehu, the Islamic cleric.
It was certain that the police were yet to sight the
mermaid as of press time.
Different contingent of policemen sent to the house
failed to bring the mermaid out, as the divisional
police officer later directed the press to the state
Police Public Relations Officer, Bisi Ilobanafor.
The PPRO said there was no issue in the mermaid
story as she spoke directly with Ramota, who told
her that she did not see any mermaid, but that it
was people who changed her story.
The PPRO said there were many creatures in the
ocean, adding that what the fish seller saw could
have been one of them but certainly not a
mermaid.
Meanwhile, it was overheard that the mermaid had
been taken to the house of the Aare Musulumi of
Yorubaland, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao, in
Ibadan.
All efforts to get Aare Arisekola-Alao on phone
failed, as he did not pick his call but one of his
aides, who did not want his name in print,
confirmed that it was a big crayfish that was
brought to Aare Arisekola’s gate and not a
mermaid.
He said the people who came around were turned
back, adding that Arisekola-Alao did not see the
crayfish.
A traditionalist, Dr Olowoglass by name, said he
was born into traditional worship over 60 years ago
and had never heard that a mermaid visited
someone in the manner being broadcast around.
He said the president of traditionalists told him
that he had seen the purported mermaid and
could not say whether it was a mermaid or not.
erstwhile sleepy and serene community in the
capital city of Oyo State, came alive on Tuesday
and it became a Mecca of sort, when the news of a
miniature mermaid (omo Yemoja) filtered through
the city.
It took a while before the Nigerian Tribune crew
got access to the house, a storey building, and
when it finally did, the head of the family, Alhaji
Raufu A. Salau, said he was sleeping upstairs
when he heard a lot of unusual noise which forced
him to come downstairs.
According to him, “Ramota, his granddaughter,
sells fried and roasted fish in the house and, as
usual, purchased a carton of frozen fish that
morning. She was in the process of cleaning the
fish and separating those to be roasted from the
ones to be fried when she was said to have
screamed out loud and called on neighbours to
come to her aid.”
Salau, a retired civil servant, said he heard people
asking after him but rather than come upstairs to
see him, the lady ran to meet her Shehu, an Islamic
cleric, who followed her home and offered some
prayers in the Islamic way before the neighbours,
who had begun to converge on the scene, could
take the pictures of the strange “fish.” The first
person who took the picture of the strange fish was
said to have had his phone shattered mysteriously.
Alhaja Alirat, a member of the community, told
the Nigerian Tribune that she did not see the
mermaid but the lady who claimed to have seen it,
but declined to speak with the press, told her that
the mermaid, though very small in size initially,
grew bigger and was fish from waist downward
and human being from waist upwards, with
mouth, nose, eyes and long hair, which it was
swinging to cover its eyes when the mammoth
crowd thronged to the scene to look at it.
She also said it was alleged that the mermaid
spoke, begging Ramota, the fish seller, not to
expose it but that Ramota shouted out of fear.
Meanwhile, one Miss Osungbemi, an Osun
worshipper, claimed that the mermaid was on a
mission to uplift Ramota financially.
Rather than shout, she said Ramota ought to have
looked for a big basin filled with water and throw
the mermaid inside, adding that she should have
then called on Osun worshippers who would call
the mermaid by its cognomen and tutor the lady
on how to appease it.
She said Ramota would have become a consultant,
diagnosing and treating people with the aid of the
mermaid, who would be telling her what to do,
even as she claimed that someone in the house
where the mermaid was found must have
worshipped Osun at a point in his or her life.
Some members of the crowd, who did not
volunteer their names, said it was Ramota’s mother
that had worshipped Osun before and that before
the occurrence, she had received messages to visit
the Osun Osogbo grove to worship Osun, but that
she had been complaining that there was no time.
Responding to Osungbemi’s claims, Alhaja Alirat
said “the tradition to which one is born is quite
different from the religion one is practising,”
adding that if one was born into Osun tradition
and one became a Muslim and, at a point in time,
received a message to worship Osun, there was
nothing bad in it.
“It does not affect one’s religion. In fact, it is for
one’s good, as worshipping the Osun would
improve one’s fortune in life and make the person
a better human being. At least, the Holy Book says
we should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” she
said.
All efforts to see the mermaid, however, failed, as
some people claimed that the mermaid had been
moved out of the house while others said it was still
in the house and that Ramota had been taken to
the police station at Mapo.
At the Mapo Police Station, however, the Tribune
crew sighted Ramota, who was with her baby and
her Shehu, the Islamic cleric.
It was certain that the police were yet to sight the
mermaid as of press time.
Different contingent of policemen sent to the house
failed to bring the mermaid out, as the divisional
police officer later directed the press to the state
Police Public Relations Officer, Bisi Ilobanafor.
The PPRO said there was no issue in the mermaid
story as she spoke directly with Ramota, who told
her that she did not see any mermaid, but that it
was people who changed her story.
The PPRO said there were many creatures in the
ocean, adding that what the fish seller saw could
have been one of them but certainly not a
mermaid.
Meanwhile, it was overheard that the mermaid had
been taken to the house of the Aare Musulumi of
Yorubaland, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao, in
Ibadan.
All efforts to get Aare Arisekola-Alao on phone
failed, as he did not pick his call but one of his
aides, who did not want his name in print,
confirmed that it was a big crayfish that was
brought to Aare Arisekola’s gate and not a
mermaid.
He said the people who came around were turned
back, adding that Arisekola-Alao did not see the
crayfish.
A traditionalist, Dr Olowoglass by name, said he
was born into traditional worship over 60 years ago
and had never heard that a mermaid visited
someone in the manner being broadcast around.
He said the president of traditionalists told him
that he had seen the purported mermaid and
could not say whether it was a mermaid or not.
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