Alate

Alate was Eminefo's great grandson. He can simply be described as a man of wits. He earned his name from his petty trading. He would often travel to the West to buy provisions, which he came to Ogori to sell in retail. Later in life he became a farmer. He owned a large farm at Okpokete where he cultivated food crops.

Alate was always happy to receive visitors in the farm; and one unique feature about his time in the farm was the regular pounding of yam. He had a mortar there and he would gather green vegetables, squeeze oil from fresh palm fruits and make a tasty soup. The soup is enriched with rat or rabbit meat, or fish from dredged streams and sometimes enhanced with mushrooms. If this was not sufficient reason for regular visitors to his farm, it must be his wits or a combination of both.

An evening with him at the frontage of his home was another thing anyone would not like to miss. Usually, he sat or lay in his easy concave chair outside his doorstep with people chatting. In the group would be Aani (Lawani) Ogbofa, Oba, Falana, and other men folk from surrounding compounds. Alate would make jokes about various issues. His own interpretation of common phenomena made his listeners laughed until tears dripped down their faces.

This attitude of interpreting things his own way was extended to his practice of religion. He became a prominent member of the Aladura church and later was appointed Baba-Egbe (grand patron). Alate never wasted any opportunity to ask for the respect that was due him when he conversed with people. He would always remind them that it was not for nothing that he was appointed the Baba-Egbe of the Aladura Church. To emphasize how famous he was, he would list the names of the important dignitaries that attended the official installation ceremony as well as the large crowd that witnessed it. The manner in which he said these things conveyed a lot of amusement.

Alate had children, but they never came home except Arowolo, the youngest whose mother lived in Okene. Arowolo also later left for Lagos where he was pursuing his ambition of becoming a musician. Alate died in the 1990s.

To the Unforgetables