It is said that 20 children do not play together for 20 years. But this was before the advent of social media. Today, people have been able to reconnect with childhood friends through the social media. However, even before the advent of social media, some people have been able to play for decades without losing the initial connection at any point.
This is the story of two friends who are closer than brothers; Deacons Abraham Adedokun Olorode and Isaac Adetunji Adedeji. These two friends have maintained a relationship that delved into communal living for over 55 years.
The duo has a strange and interesting story that has joined two families together beyond the normal bond of friendship; they do business together, operate a joint account, wear the same clothes, shop for their homes from a common purse, build houses of same design in the same compound and bring up their children together as twins. Their wives are also not left out of the relationship.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, the youngest of the friends, Deacon Olorode who is 13 years younger than Deacon Adedeji and manages their joint businesses; cement store, block industry and block of shops, stated that when they were younger, their wives also joined their businesses and were running a joint venture and they never had any disagreement as everyone takes care of each child without sentiments or division.
Though the friends are both from the same area from the same town, Olele in Okeho, Oke Ogun zone of Oyo state, they never knew each other while growing up and only met when they had both started working in Ibadan and already married.
“Though we are from the same area, we never knew each other when we were young; we met when we were both living around Alusekere compound in Popo area of Ibadan, I was a cement seller and there was an open space behind my shop, he was a bricklayer and block maker, so he approached me to help him talk to my landlord to give him the space to operate his block making factory and I did. So when he moved his business to the space behind my shop, we became friends and I can’t even explain how we merged our business.
“We just found out that our businesses have become one and we were doing everything together, we never took decisions alone and whatever any of the household needs is provided from our joint account. Because he is older, I mange the businesses and our wives also run their own businesses together; they were doing the same trade and operating the same account too.
And almost 60 years since they started and as old men, nothing has changed in the dynamics of their friendship; Deacon Olorode still manages all the businesses, they still attend the same church they had been attending since they started; The Blood of Jesus Apostolic Church, they still wear the same clothes and still live in the identical houses built in the same compound with their wives now that all the children have gone to be on their own and have their own families.
Theirs is an interesting but extraordinary story of love, commitment, understanding and trust that defies interference. Challenges rather than tear them apart further thickens the knot of their bond. Narrating an experience that almost made them bankrupt in the early 80’s, deacon Olorode stated that the experience rather sealed their bond more.
“In the early 80’s, we fell victim to fraudsters who said they will sell us four trailers of cement at a rather cheap rate, we borrowed money from friends and family to join to what we had to meet the obligation but after payment, we discovered that we had been duped and there was no option than to sell our almost completed house. We went to our pastor, Apostle J.T. Durojaye, he is now late and he prayed and told us not to sell our house that God will make a way.
“He told us further that we were friends ordained by God and we should continue to relate the way we were doing. I didn’t take him serious because he never spoke of our major issue which was paying our debts; he only said we should not sell our houses because God will solve our problem, he said we are ore meji ti oluwa wi, that is two friends ordained by God and told us we will get the confirmation. So we left and I still wasn’t convinced.
“But on our way, people we never knew started calling us ore meji, ore meji, that is two friends and even when we got home, people that never called us that started calling us by that name, so we started completing it for them, once they say ore meji, we will add, ti oluwa wi. And like he said, the problem just got solved miraculously and we paid our debts,” Deacon Olorode said.
And what do they think is responsible for their lasting bond? Olorode stated that it is trust, sincerity and above all contentment. “We are contented with what we have and consequently never look for what is not missing. We do not live beyond our means or pursue irrelevant materialism. Above all, we are truthful to ourselves and we follow biblical laws which have made life easier for us,” Deacon Olorode stated.
He advised young people not to be too much in love with money as this is the root of all problems. “They should not be too much in love with money, they should not love money more than God, they should love each other because love supersedes everything, they should be content and not allow women and unhealthy love of money destroy them,” Deacon Olorode said.
Deacons Abraham Adedokun Olorode and Isaac Adetunji Adedeji are examples of friends that stick closer than brothers and have continue to do so for almost six decades.
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