Maun, a small town in Ogun State, has a peculiarity: nearly a half of
its 10,000 population are twins.
If you are visiting Maun for the first time, it's important that you
know the surname of the person whom you are looking for. This is
because half of the population either bear the name: Taiwo or Kehinde.
The Yoruba, one of Nigeria's tribes, give special names to twins:
Taiwo (he who first tasted the world) and Kehinde (the one who arrived
last).
But call any of these names on the streets of Maun, a small town in
the Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State, not a few heads would
turn.
Welcome to Maun where strikingly identical persons abound. First
time-visitors find it surprising and amusing.
While twins are not uncommon in Nigeria, it is rare to find a town
with half its population being multiple births.
One of them is Mr. David Dosa who was born and bred in Maun. Dosa has
male twins among his children. When the twins began to raise their
families, each of them had a twin each. The twins' immediate younger
sister is Comfort Hungevu. When she got married, she had two sets of
twins successively. Dosa is however not a twin.
There is also the Zinsu family. The couple gave birth to two sets of
twins and each of the twins also gave birth to twins - one of the
twins has also had two sets of twins.
In this rural community dominated by the Egun, it is not uncommon to
see a woman giving birth to a set of twins as many as five times.
Twins marrying twins and giving birth to twins in Maun is a common
thing.
So, how come Maun has such high number of twins? Is the 'secret' a
food that is commonly eaten in the town or is the ability to sire
twins in the genes of the people of Maun? When PUNCH asked Dosa these
questions, he shook his head and answered that there was no secret.
He said, "I have a twin; both of them got married and gave birth to
twins. Their younger sister, Comfort, is currently nursing her second
set of twins. As you can see, (pointing to three sets of twins sitting
on a mat to have their lunch of a local delicacy,tuwoand stew), my
house is full of twins. I am one of those with the highest number in
his family in the land."
Taiwo Zinsu described Maun's high multiple births to providence or
what he described as "gift of God".
He said, "My parents gave birth to two sets of twins. They first had a
child, then twins (male and female) and later twins - I am one of the
second set (a male-male set).
"The male in the first set has given birth to twins twice - male and
female and later male and male. The female in the first set just had
her twins a few weeks ago. God has just blessed us"
Zinsu and his twin brother have yet to marry but he strongly believes
that both of them will have twins as children.
"We are from the Zekanme Compound in Maun - the compound with the
highest record of twins in this community. I will not be surprised if
my twin brother and I give birth to twins when we get married," Zinsu
said.
It is a similar case for the Atene family. Taiwo Atene is one of the
five sets of twins her mother gave birth to. She had also been
delivered of a set of twins. To her, giving birth to twins is a
"common thing."
"My mother had five sets of twins and I'm one of them. It may interest
you to know that I've had a set of twins and some of my siblings have
also had theirs. My step-mother also has two sets of twins," she said.
Taiwo's step-mother, Mrs Bose Atene, is crippled, not literate and
lives in an uncompleted building. But neither poverty nor disability
could stop her from having her own sets of twins.
Atene said, "I have two sets of twins. The first set are about nine
years old; the second about two years old. I didn't eat any special
food. I believe it's God's blessing. My husband's brother also has
twins."
In all, Atene's nuclear family alone has seven sets of twins.
She lamented that she had been unable to cater for her twins after her
husband died a few years ago. She had given the two twins for
adoption.
She said, "I used to sell provisions until my husband died while I was
pregnant with the second set of twins. Because of my condition, I had
to give them out to those who can help me train them. Now, I make mats
and brooms. It's been hard."
In the case of Deborah Eweje, her immediate younger siblings are twins
and she gave birth to two sets of twins.
"I had two twins but the younger set died not long ago. I now have a
set - male and a female. I was followed by a set of twins - two males.
We also have several cases of multiple births in my family," Eweje, a
palm tree farmer, said.
Continue...
ReplyDeleteThe Head, Department of Obstetrician and Gynaecology, University of Ibadan, Professor Ayodele Arowojolu, said the factors for Maun’s high twin rate could be migration and dietary.
He said people would continue to give birth to twins in a community where they don’t marry away from their roots. He also said the type of food the people consume could affect their fertility.
Arowojolu said, “Diet is one thing. And if the people in a community don’t move out, as they grow older, they will start to have twins. If they don’t go out to mix with other people, after a while, they will start having twins. They will continue to exchange genes and twining tendency among themselves.”
Confirming the rate at which twins are born in the community, a matron at the Maun Health Centre, who declined to mention her name because she was not authorised to speak to the press, said the facility recorded an average of five twins out of 10 deliveries at the centre monthly.
She added, “Yes, twins are common here. On the average, we record at least five twin deliveries in this place per month; and about 10 births are recorded every month. And not all of them use the health centre, some use the traditional doctors.”
Despite the fact that twins are common in Maun, triplets are not.
Mr. and Mrs Daniel Pogbe, one of the few couples that had triplets in Maun, lost one of theirs a few weeks ago.
The wife said, “I had triplets but one of them died about two weeks ago. I am not a twin neither is my husband. But we have twins in our families. My mother-in-law, for instance, had two sets of twins.”
The husband, a photographer-turned-farmer, who admitted that triplets were uncommon with the people, said twins were. He brought out a newspaper publication showing the presentation of gifts to parents of triplets – six of them, including the Pogbe family —in the entire local government in 2010.
Maun
Maun, though an Egun community, also has the Anago and the Eyo people.
The community shares land boundary with Ipokia Town and coastal boundary with Badagry, Lagos State. The community is about 30 minutes’ drive from Idi-Iroko, a border town with the Republic of Benin – 20 minutes (through Agosasa) to Ipokia Town, where the tarred road ends. It will take another 10 minutes from Ipokia Town to Maun on a motorcycle. The major access route to the community is a sandy road lined by large palm tree farms on both sides.
Although a car can access Maun, taxis seldom ply the route, except commercial motorcycles, popularly known asokada.
Maun shares water boundary with Badagry in Lagos State. It costs N50 to cross to the Lagos historical town with a ferry.
Maun people are mainly farmers and fishermen. Muslims and Christians are dominant among them, with the minority practising other religions. Their major foods areeko(pap) andtuwo(corn meal) withafosoup spiced with bitter leaf. (Palm kernel).
The Baale (traditional leader) of Maun, Sunday Gbenawu said, “We have been in this town since the 17th Century. There is no development here. We are lacking infrastructure and this has prevented industrialisation. There is no presence of government in this area.”
According to him, Maun has about eight primary schools (both public and private), one public secondary school, while there is no higher institution of learning in the local government area.
The community depends mainly on water from wells and rain. Apart from (the few) government facilities in the area, most of the houses are built with mud.
Gbenawu said the community was without electricity until 2003. However, the last time power was supplied to Maun was three years ago, he said.
“If there is power supply, maybe media enlightenment and awareness campaigns would have reached more of our people. We have many natural resources that are wasting away. Petroleum has been discovered here but it has been left unexplored,” Gbenawu added.
—PUNCH