The Nation
Before August 18, 1945, killing twin babies was an acceptable practice among the Ilaje people in present day Ilaje Local Government Area. Up until then, new born twins were killed the very day they were born because they were thought to be capable of bringing misfortune to the entire community.
The babies were either slaughtered or thrown into the river because it was believed that the mother must have been visited by evil spirits or she cheated on her husband. Alternatively, she must have committed a taboo against the land. The penalty in either cases was to kill the babies to forestall any evil occurrence against the community.
Besides the killing of the twins, the ‘unfortunate’ mother was made to face series of punishments as well as perform some sacrifice to appease the spirits.
The fight to end the killing of twins in Ilaje began in 1940 when some members of the community converted from their traditional religions to Christianity. The new believers, who became known as the ‘Apostles’ began the campaign against the age long practice and made efforts for the people to see twin children as the creation of God.
It was a war between the Apostles and the powerful Oro cult group in Ilaje. The Oro cult was responsible for the killing of twins and for cleansing the land of the evil the twins purported brought on it.
Many members of the Apostles were said to have been maimed, persecuted, and sent to jail by the Oro cult leadership until a pronouncement by the British colonial authority in 1945 that declared it a crime to kill twins in the land.
Last week, Ilaje leaders rolled out the drums to celebrate what they termed freedom of the twins.
