It was April 9th sometime in the mid 80s and my parents had just arrived from the Clinic in their Brown Peugeot 504. I was just three years old and they have arrived with this little piece of beauty wrapped in a White Swaddle. Is it awkward I remember these details? Then the Naming ceremony, I have some faint recollection too as I remember they had those tent outside. My reign as the last born had just come to an end and now I have a dark skinned younger brother. Akinola was born.

My younger brother of whom I love dearly would be the first person to teach me responsibility. We are just 3yrs apart but I don’t know if it was the love I had for him or the strictness of my parents that used him to teach me that much responsibility at a young age despite I had three other older siblings. Myself and Akin would eventually go to the same elementary school and a few events stood out with me. Growing up, Akin appeared to be the studious guy in the family. He was the only one my dad would commend for not needing reminder to read his books. In the days when we were muslims and we had those Imams come to the house to pray for my family and they had a bowl on the floor where my parents put in some money, Only Akin had the guts to ask the Imams what they did with the money. When we became christians, while the rest of us would listen to secular songs, Akin was the one keen on those gospel songs we found boring in those days and as we grew older, before Bible App became a thing, every time I needed to remember a bible verse, Akin was my go to. All I needed to do was to remind him of a story around the verse I was thinking of.

But Akin wasn’t all sweet. There were days I struggled with the level of responsibility my parents placed on myself and Toke (my immediate older sister) for Akin. For example, cleaning up for Akin after he pooped. Why should that be my own responsibility? I was also but a child. Those days, we the last three kids (Toke, myself and Akin) attended the same elementary school and required our dad to drop us off every morning while we joined the school bus home after school but my two older brothers attended a different school so they would have left for their school earlier. The modus operandi was such that we (the last three) got ready before my dad and while waiting for Dad to be ready, that is when Akin sneaks to the washroom to poop. When he is done, he begins to call for assistance to clean up and that meant myself and Toke alternated that responsibility. I hated that task but I had no choice so I would have given him one heck of a side-eye howbeit, do what I needed to do.

I wasn’t just responsible for him, I also stole some of his Biscuits (Cookies) until I was caught. My mom made a big deal of it but I was just but a child. Writing this, I had to laugh out remembering one of those incidents when I was caught stealing one of his biscuits(cookies). Maybe that is why I still don’t like Biscuits today. Had too much for a lifetime. Toke (my older sister) was going to graduate from our elementary school to go to college and I was left alone with my younger brother. I think that was when my level of responsibility for him got heightened up. I remember beating up a neighbour who tried to bully him. I had seen the movie “Never too young to die” and when a neighbour tried to bully my younger brother at the car park in front of Block 207, I tried taking out every skill I had seen in that movie on him.

On one occasion, despite my dad had paid for School Bus to take us back home, after school, we never liked the school bus as we would be parked like Sardines in that Bus so I would often reserve some cash to take the public transport. One of those days, I was at the Bus Stop with my younger brother waiting for the next bus when one of those Busses parked a lil bit ahead of where we stood. The conductor came down and was shouting my name. These were the days of kidnapping kids in Lagos for money rituals and not ransom. I tightly grabbed my younger brother’s hand and held him close. The Bus conductor kept calling my name but I wasn’t going to move an inch. Unknown to me was that our mom was in the Bus and she had seen us so she pleaded with the Bus driver to stop and requested the Bus Conductor to call us. I was bent on not answering until our mom came down from the bus herself. We got home that day and she felt proud despite we had broken a rule by refusing to join the School Bus. Do I still wonder why Demi would walk to his school himself at the age of 5 (20mins walk for an adult)? Not exactly!

I graduated from Private Elementary school to land myself in a somewhat Concentration Camp (pretending to be an High school) called COMLAG. By the time I got into JS3, Akin had gained admission to Federal Government College Ogbomosho. While I wasn’t a senior student yet, I had a few Juniors I could exert seniority on and I remember on one of those days, I told myself, treat these Juniors nicely because your younger brother is in another school far from home and hopefully some seniors would treat him well too.

Toke, Myself and Akin would eventually land in Obafemi Awolowo University again. Myself and Toke had been in OAU a few years before Akin joined to study Law and one of the things that intrigued me was how carefree he was with the things I felt mattered. Akin once paid a Bike man N45 for bike ride that should cost N5. He just wasn’t bothered about a lot of things. Maybe the Last born syndrome. Some of his friends became my friends. He maintained his childhood passion for God and you could see that in his involvement in the things of God. While we attended the same Christian fellowship, he was the more committed one. I have always wanted to operate as a Secret Service in Church.

Post OAU, myself and Akin would stay together in Surulere briefly. Sure we had our differences but one thing I could tell is that we are from the same stock. He knows me. One evening, Akin had eaten something that irritated his stomach and threw up in the washroom, I was going to go help him clean up but Akin knows how squeamish I could be and he kept asking I should leave it. I respected that but how dare me not do what needs to be done. Though we are just 3yrs apart, this dude comes very close to the love I have for my sons. He is surely one of the few folks, I can say I have known all his life and I have loved from day 1.

It is another complete orbit around the sun and while some move in leap and bounds and I am happy for them but I am grateful for every millimetre of distance you have covered towards your Destiny and I know you are walking your own path. Guys don’t say this often to each other but I love you like that first day Mom and Dad brought you home.

Happy Birthday bro!