- Say selling newspapers has given us prestige
They are fraternal or nonidentical twins but they have suffered a fate that should normally have befallen an identical set, who usually develop from the same egg, born to the same mother and look almost alike physically.
Surprisingly, these non-identical twins, although born to the same mother, do not share the same physical appearance. But a twist of fate has bound the two men tightly together.
One night, many years ago, the 46-year-old twin brothers and newspaper agents, Kehinde Michael Popoola and Taiwo David Popoola, were suddenly and mysteriously struck by blindness, which has since left them to live their lives in total darkness.
Speaking on how the two of them mysteriously lost their sight, Kehinde told our correspondent, “It happened about 10 years after I started my work as a vendor. I was feeling sick one day and I thought it was malaria. I managed to go to work that day and when I returned home, I felt even weaker. When I switched on the electricity bulb in my room, instead of seeing the fluorescent colour, I started seeing a green colour.
“I began to wonder how the bulb had turned to green. It was mysterious and since I thought it was malaria, I started taking malaria drugs until I suddenly discovered that I couldn’t see again. I didn’t visit the hospital then because I thought it was malaria and that it was what I could handle. It was a shock and I am still wondering how one could become blind overnight. I can only walk without aid in those places I had become familiar with before this mysterious incident, but not long distance.”
Taiwo’s account of the mysterious incident was corroborated by his twin brother, who confirmed that they both lost their sight at the same time.
“It happened in the night. We have been coping through the people who are around us. They assist us a lot,” he added.
But instead of resigning to their fate and trying the easier way most people in their condition usually take to make a living, the now blind twin brothers resolved to continue with their newspaper agents’ business, inspite of their new debilitating physical disability. They’ve refused to succumb to their mysterious predicament.
I was feeling sick one day and I thought it was malaria. I managed to go to work that day and when I returned home, I felt even weaker. When I switched on the electricity bulb in my room, instead of seeing the fluorescent colour, I started seeing a green colour. I began to wonder how the bulb had turned to green
Explaining how they go about their daily business despite their blindness, Kehinde said, “When newspapers are brought to the depot, we always woke up before 5am and we set out to Gbaemu, our newspaper depot in Osogbo, to wait and receive our own supply. Newspaper agency business is a wonderful job and it gives one the opportunity to know and meet prominent personalities in the society, including traditional rulers, politicians, lawyers and other rich people in the society. In fact, this work is so fascinating to the extent that no one can cheat or oppress you and you are privileged as a newspaper agent to gain entry to places where others may not be able to, due to your job as a newspaper agent. You can interact with anyone because newspaper agency work is a unique endeavor.
“When I was living in a rented apartment that was close to the depot, a commercial motorcyclist always came to pick me to work every morning, but since I relocated to my new site, which is a bit far from the depot, my children assist me to the roadside, where I will board a commercial shuttle bus (Korope) to work. Once I get to the depot, my apprentices will assist me to alight and at the close of work in the night, an okada man (commercial motorcyclist) takes me home.”
Surprisingly, identifying the different denominations of the Nigerian currency has not posed any difficulty to the blind twin brothers, who claimed that they had never been cheated by anyone since they lost their sight because of the foolproof methods they had designed in checking such untoward occurrence.
“In fact, with the wisdom that God gave me, if an apprentice is counting or checking copies of newspapers and one is missing, I will tell the person that one is missing and it will turn out to be true. Even they (apprentices) are always surprised whenever I discover that things are missing or are not the way they used to be. I thank God for this grace and it may surprise you that after sales, I count my money by myself and I know whether they are accurate or not. Anyone giving me money will tell me the amount he or she is giving me and I will count to confirm. But what I do is that I don’t add the money I collect from someone I do not trust with the money I already have in my pocket. I only add your money if you are a trustworthy person.
“My fellow agents understand me and they assist me in identifying the denominations that people give me and even when my colleagues or apprentices are not around me, I explain my condition to anyone around in order for them to help me crosscheck the money customers give me. ,” Kehinde said.
On Taiwo’s part, he stressed that they had never made mistakes in their dealings with their customers, when it comes to handling cash.
“I separate the denominations in my pockets to ensure that I don’t make any mistake. As you can see, in my left pocket I have N1000 notes and I don’t go there unless it’s necessary. The same thing goes for the other pockets. I arrange the notes according to the amount. I have never been cheated because I am always cautious,” he said.
For the blind twin brothers, the newspaper agency business has brought them “a lot of prestige” so much so that they would want their children to venture into the same trade.
Blessed with sons and daughters, these popular enigmatic twins known by all regular newspaper readers in Osogbo, Osun State, started as newspaper vendors, when they were 14 years old.
According to the twin brothers, who spoke in separate interviews with our correspondent at their different newsstands at Gbaemu and Oja Oba areas in Osogbo, they ventured into the selling of newspapers immediate they finished their primary school education in 1984 in Osogbo.
Taiwo and Kehinde are both married but the latter’s wife left him few years ago, before the mysterious disease that struck the two brothers with blindness. Now, Kehinde said he desired to remarry and have more children.
“I had only one wife and two children, but I still want to marry and give birth to more children, because my wife no longer stays with me. Even before I lost my sight, she just left home one day and told me she was going to find a job; 10 years has passed now, I have not set my eyes on her. She has two female children for me; the older one is 27 years old while the younger one is 15. They have both finished secondary school and are now seeking admission to tertiary institutions. I still want to get married and give birth to more children. Myself and Taiwo started as newspaper vendors in 1984 and now we are newspaper agents, although we still sell newspapers to customers. Taiwo, however, expressed regret that all the efforts they had made in finding a cure for their blindness had been unsuccessful.
“God has really helped us to move in ensuring that we cure this strange ailment but all to no avail. We have been to Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital in Osogbo; we have also been referred to a hospital in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, and we were taken to the National Hospital in Abuja through the support of a customer, who later became a minister during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, but they all said our sight couldn’t even be restored through operations.
“We then started visiting churches for spiritual assistance, yet, our situation is not better. We will continue to pray to God until he restores our sights, because if the problems could be resolved through operations, we would have done it through the assistance we got from people. But the doctors said there was no cure for it. We believe in God, that he will heal us because where human efforts end, God’s wonders begin. We attend The Apostolic Church and we will not cease to pray to God for healing,” he said.
The brothers, however, said that they would never exploit their physical challenge to solicit for alms from members of the public, especially since God had blessed them with their involvement in the newspaper trade.
“It is as if God knew that we would go blind, maybe that is why he made us newspaper agents. We cannot beg. Instead, we have even been assisting people, including those who can see. We know a lot of influential and wealthy people like kings, ministers and commissioners but we never beg them for money. Though some of them give us something at times, it’s voluntary. Most people don’t know we have this problem when they see us from a far distance; some even say that we are arrogant and cannot greet them, but when they approach us and they complain, we will explain our predicament to them.
“Since everyone appreciates support, we will still welcome any assistance from well-meaning Nigerians because we have the talent for music and our personal houses have yet to be fully completed. It’s our desire to give the best education to our children and we will appreciate any assistance from people,” Kehinde said.
Commenting on the decline in the rate at which people buy newspapers nowadays, he said, “I weep inside me over this trend. People don’t buy newspapers as they used to. . The economic condition of the nation has affected this. Things are costly. Government should look into this and ensure that cost of printing materials are not too expensive. Also, the advancement in technology in terms of the phones and other gadgets contributes to shortfall in the purchase of newspaper. Some prefer to read the news online, but they forget that reading online cannot be interesting and impactful as reading the print. Before, we were selling hundreds of copies daily, but now, it’s hard to even sell 10 sometimes. Although it depends on the popularity of the newspaper.” Kehinde said that inspite of his condition, he had devised means to get the latest news and keep himself abreast of developments in the country and across the globe.
“Despite my condition, I still read newspaper. Although not by myself, I call on my children or apprentice to read it to me. Selling newspapers has given me access to so many places where most people cannot gain access to. I have trained a lot of people, who have even graduated from tertiary institutions. Selling newspapers has given us prestige. Even if I come to this world again, I still want to sell newspapers but I want to be richer,” he said.
