Kamogelo Olaitan
A man who fathered five sets of twins is raising his kids alone after his wife’s parents took her home complaining that she was giving birth to too many twins.
Ayopo Ogunleye, from the Ado-odo area of Ogun state in Nigeria, told BBC Yoruba that his wife left him many years ago.
“Her parents complained that she was having too many twins and she went back to their house,” Ogunleye said.
The father is left to raise seven children, after losing the first set of twins as infants, and a boy from the last set.
Ogunleye said he had not expected twins the first time his wife fell pregnant and was surprised when he got a call from the hospital.
“I asked if it was a boy or girl, and they said I had twins. It was a dream come true for me,” he said.
As a boy he had prayed to have twins.
In Yoruba culture it is believed that twins, known as “ibeji”, have to be followed by a single birth which is known as “idowu”.
But for Ogunleye it didn’t work out that way.
“Second time, twins. Third time twins. Fourth and fifth time, twins!” he said.
“I don’t eat or do anything special or differently from others to have twins.”
It is financially physically tough to raise so many children, but Ogunleye is ready to take it further. He would like to have more children and hasn’t ruled out marrying again.
“Children are blessings from God,” he said.
The Yoruba community in western Nigeria, has one of the highest rates of twin births in the world.
