A deranged man from the Katsina Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, Gwanyem Ajavar, aka Charlie Orio, died recently and was given a grand funeral. The chief mourner, Shom Gema, speaks to JOHN CHARLES about the unusual funeral
What is your name and where are you from?
My name is Shom Gema, a.k.a. Enjoyment Orshitile. I am from Katsina Ala Local Government Area of Benue State.
What is your relationship with the late Mr Gwanyem Ajavar, aka Charlie Orio?
We came from the same clan in Katsina Ala Local Government Area. We are from the same Shitile clan.
Is it true that he was mentally challenged?
Yes, he was like that from birth, according to my findings. He was born with that abnormality. He grew up wild and left his village to the nearby village of Mucha. After staying there for a while he moved to Abaji community near Katsina Ala town and later migrated to Katsina Ala town and settled there and he had been in Katsina Ala for almost 20 years before his death.
What about his parents?
He lost his parents a long time ago. He was the only male child of his parents until his death. He had a brother, who was a policeman but was killed last year along the Katsina Ala/ Zaki Biam highway by bandits. He has a sister who is at the village now.
How long have you known him?
I have known him for more than 25 years now and he used to come to where we hang out to socialise. He was such a jovial and harmless person which made him very popular in Katsina Ala town. There was nobody that would come to Katsina Ala town and stay for three days and not know him despite the fact that he was crippled and was always crawling around the town.
Was he also born crippled?
He was not born crippled. About four years ago, he was knocked down in the night by a hit-and-run driver. That was how he became paralysed.
He died recently and was given a grand funeral. Why did the family decide to do that?
When he died, I thought that because of his status as nobody, he should not be thrown away just like that. I said to myself that I had to do something for him, because he had been with us for a long time; he was very jovial and harmless. I thought we should do something to give him the last respect.
So, I started the move and met with people, went back to the village and explained how I took him to the hospital and how he died and told them that we should give him a grand burial and when they fixed a date for the burial, which they communicated to me.
Thereafter, some people and groups, like the National Union of Road Transport Workers, whose motor park he normally slept contributed money towards the burial. I also met with other persons, including the chairman of the local government and many others, who also donated money for the funeral.
How much was spent to on his funeral?
I cannot tell the exact amount because as I was organising from my own end, the NURTW people were also making arrangements from their own end. For instance, the drinks and food served were supplied of by one engineer.
Can you give a rough estimate of the amount spent?
Well, in all, we might have spent about N300, 000.
Was a cow slaughtered?
No, we didn’t slaughter cow. Two goats were killed at the village and during the wake in Katsina Ala town, our people, Shitile mothers, also killed a goat to entertain themselves.
Is it true that some dignitaries attended the funeral?
It is true. So many people attended the funeral, including the local government chairman who was present during the Christian wake. Traditional rulers, representatives of Igbo community, the Divisional Police Officer of Katsina Ala and many others attended both the wake and the burial.
When the Katsina-Ala DPO was giving his speech, he said he didn’t expect the kind of funeral we gave to the madman and said people should learn a lesson from it.
It was actually a grand funeral because more than 10 vehicles accompanied the ambulance that conveyed his corpse to the village.
The photos used on his obituary poster were those in which he was naked and dirty on the street, while another showed him with bottles of beer. Why were those kinds of photos chosen?
It was a junior brother who owns a computer shop in Katsina Ala town that did the poster as his own contribution towards the burial. The problem was that the man always walked around naked and the poster designer had to work heavily on those pictures before we had what we used.
Several times, people had offered him clothes and shoes to wear even before he became paralysed but as soon as he received them, he threw them away. People were giving him clothes but he threw them away rather than wear them. And if you gave him food or meat he would not take it, he preferred taking beer. He didn’t like local gin (ogogoro) but he could take 10 bottles of beer in a day.
Was he married?
I told you that he was born with an abnormality, so he did not marry.
How old was he?
He was 45 years old.
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