AMILOADED MEDIA HUB NEWS UPDATE
Adjarhor Obaro, also known as World Wrapper Man, may not be a weird personality, but his interests are mystifying. The strangeness of his “calling” induces a sense of disbelief about what motivates him. From his tweaked cultural attire to experiences and hobbies, the Delta State-born ultra runner takes ownership of your imagination.
His affable disposition leaves you asking why he opted for a life of adventures with its attendant risks. Obaro’s love for the unusual has seen him run across hamlets, villages, towns and cities in Nigeria and Europe several times. In 2015, he spent 22 days running from Lagos to Abuja. Others are Lagos to Makurdi, 900km,40 days, Lagos to Onitsha, 650km,17 days, Lagos to Ughelli 506km,12 days, and Abeokuta to Lagos 102km, three days. When you realise he has got other jaw-dropping races in the works, you get more interested in his story. Obaro, who also aspires to build the largest food library in the world, in this chat, lets you into his exploits.
Background:
I am Adjarhor Obaro. I am from Agbaroto in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. I was born on November 9, 1969. I grew up in Benin. I went to primary school in Benin, secondary school at Government College Ughelli where I cut my teeth in what I am doing today. I was a cadet and have been running since 1985 when I was recruited into the cadet. Cadet activities are like marathons. We did that every Saturday. I am also a photo artist because I studied photography. I am also a chef.
GCU
Above all, I am now an adventurer and a humanitarian. I delve into areas that people are scared of. I recreate a lot. Maybe it’s because of my Arts background because I studied Fine and Applied Arts. I enjoy playing with space. If you give me an empty space, in no time, I will fill it up. When we were in Government College, we tied wrappers every evening. They wanted us to have that cultural inclination whether you are Urhobo or not. As a student of Government College, Ughelli, we tied wrappers every evening when we were going to the dining hall. When we were about to round off, there was one competition that took place and I emerged as the second best because I had a long wrapper.
How did you come up with the adventure aspect of it?
I am a product of grace. When I was born in 1969, my mum was told that I wouldn’t survive. Medically, I am one in a million in Nigeria who were born with a certain medical condition. When I lived in Europe, I didn’t see anyone without it. When I present myself for a medical examination, they usually say, ‘’what’s this, you are not supposed to be alive.’’ I would have been inserted with a plate when I was younger because of fighting, but my mum didn’t allow it. She said God would see me through. When I entered Government College, I always wanted to do things that people would run away from. I don’t know maybe it was because God wanted to use me as an example that the impossible is possible. That is why I said I am a product of grace. I joined the cadet unit, which was very unusual.
How did it grow into what it is now?
When we were on holiday in Benin, I ran from Airport Road to Upper Mission to have breakfast at my friend’s house. I did that every morning. I challenged myself. I never did a 100 metres race or anything related to race in Government College, I only played cricket. Maybe somebody refused to discover me at the time because all I did, nobody saw it. In the early 90s, my dad was invited to an Urhobo event at the University of Benin, UNIBEN, but he didn’t go to the event. He sent me to represent him. My dad is a chief, so he sent me in full regalia. He gave me his wrapper and other things. His driver drove me as if my dad was the person going to the event. When I got to the event, 90 percent of the students were wearing jeans and they were Urhobo boys who came for the event. While observing, I felt like I needed to do something because it felt like a challenge. I said I needed to start wearing wrappers to parties to show people that it is something they can do.
Was it at that point that you became a culture ambassador?
As it were, I was already a cultural ambassador but it wasn’t an official thing. One day, I stumbled on the picture of the late Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, former finance minister of Nigeria, and I saw the wrapper he tied. I said one day I would beat that record.
During COJA GAMES in 2003, I was supposed to showcase my record-breaking wrapper at the event for five minutes. Somebody removed my appearance in one of the meetings. Somebody from another tribe removed it and said I was going to waste their time. I begged to appear for even one minute with the long wrapper because it would have done a lot by promoting our culture and some other things. But they pushed it off. That was when I wrote the Guinness World Record that I have the longest wrapper in the world and I displayed it. NTA aired it, but they didn’t do anything. I was really discouraged during that period.
How did you come about running an ultra marathon?
First, any race that is above 42-kilometre is an ultra marathon. In 2012, I felt like I needed to do something. I started doing humanitarian work in Europe. As an ordained missionary in Redeemed Christian Church, I went to Europe as a missionary. But before then I had lived in Romania. Most of the time, I worked with homeless people and was always on the streets moving from town to town preaching the gospel and working with these people. I was like I needed to do something to draw attention. Within me, I asked how I would raise funds for those people. I settled for charity. It is easy to raise money in Europe when doing those kinds of things. I decided to start running. To that end, I started attending marathons.
From Europe to Nigeria
I said I wanted to be the first person to do this, maybe people will start following me. That was how I started running with a wrapper. The dream to run from Europe to Nigeria was aborted because I was seriously discouraged. People said all manners of negative things. When I came back to Nigeria in 2013, I was like Nigeria is a big country, I want to run from Sokoto to Calabar. The same negative people came again. One day, I was in my grill working, and they said one guy was running from Lagos to Abuja for Buhari. I said who is this guy? So I did some research and I noticed that he was not an athlete or anything. I said, ‘isn’t this the journey I wanted to embark on and people were discouraging me? Well, if the guy could do this, I could do it before he got to Abuja. I decided to take another route. That was how I conceived the idea of running from Lagos to Abuja in 2015. I did it in 22 days.
Can you tell us how marathon races work?
The first step I took was from the National Stadium in Lagos. After a ceremony was held, I left Lagos around 2:30 or 3:00 pm. Before you knew it, I was already in Ojota, then Berger. I spent the first night in Magboro, and the second night in Sagamu. People were seeing me on the road. I took the route for security reasons. I ran on the highway and took the opposite direction for safety. If somebody or a vehicle was coming, I could see it.
I moved from Sagamu to Odogbolu and Itele. I was just going like that and people were seeing me on the way. Another thing I did was stop at every police station I met. Our security people are not conscious. I would come into a police station to say I wanted to inform them I was around and they would refuse. I would tell them it was for historical purposes. That trip was a faith run. I spoke with God and what I was doing on that trip was for Nigeria. That was the significance of going on that trip. Every morning, by 6 am, I raised the Nigerian flag and dropped it back at 6 pm, just like they do in the barracks. Anytime I carried that flag up in 2015 while running, I was always praying for Nigeria.
Was there a point you felt like quitting when running from Lagos to Abuja?
Countless times. That was during my first trip. Mentally, I was not prepared. There was a night I had an accident. There was a lady that came from nowhere and started talking to me. She walked with me for like five kilometres and we were going back and forth before she finally left and I slept. While I slept, a trailer ran over the backpack I used as my headrest and smashed my power bank, iPad and phone. Till today, how I survived, I don’t know. Looking at it from a spiritual angle, the lady wanted to wear me off because she stressed me that night.
This is not a dream, it happened physically. I had three strange happenings on that trip. When that incident happened, people became worried because I was off communication for three days. They were like I had been killed on the way. I was attacked in Itele. While I was looking for a hotel, I saw one signboard where hotel was written. While reading the signboard, I put my phone to speak to the marathon’s base manager in Lagos. Before I knew it, a vehicle, golf, parked at my front. I started explaining what I was seeing to the base manager. I told him two guys and a lady from a car whose number plate was covered was approaching me.
Before I could speak any further, they hit me with a stick, but I ran and I was chased. However, I outran them. When I ran to the other side of the road, they couldn’t cross. All of a sudden I ran into men of the Customs Service and explained what happened to them. When those people who attacked me saw it, they ran back.
Luckily, I had the guy on camera so I showed the customs people. We tried to trace it, but they couldn’t locate anybody. The next day as I was going, I stopped somewhere and some “agbero” hosted me. Their chairman asked if I had seen any bad thing in the course of the race, I told him of my ordeal the day before. I showed them his picture and they said he was a herbalist from one village. Two years later when I did Lagos to Abuja again, I asked after the man and they said he was dead.
In Benin, some youths in one community attacked me. Because they thought I had money, they ransacked me. But I had to explain who I am to them. I went to the village head to explain, he did nothing. I continued my journey. When I left Okenne. One early morning, I was running in the opposite direction of the road before getting to Lokoja. I saw a guy riding a bicycle with a torch light on the other side of the road, I greeted him but he didn’t respond. The guy disappeared. Immediately the guy and the bicycle disappeared, I had goosebumps all over my body and started running. I got to Lokoja in the morning. When I got there, I explained what I saw to some people, they said what I saw was a ghost. After that, the trip to Abuja was okay.
Were you not discouraged?
No. I used that trip to draw attention to Government College Ughelli, the NGO I worked for, Beach Samaritan, and my dream to create the biggest food library. Those are the causes I drew attention to, even though people were saying I was supporting Buhari. In fact, some said I was supporting Jonathan. I also saw one broadcast in Ogun State that I was supporting the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP. I told them I was not a politician and I wasn’t running for Buhari.
Do you get some sort of reward on completion?
Life goes on. In most cases, few people host me. They would want to hear my story. When I ran from Lagos to Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria carried the story. They met me on the way. While they were interviewing me, a trailer stopped, the driver came down and was asking if I was going crazy. He said he saw me at Ibafo and now in Abuja. The man gave me N500. After every race, the first thing I do is a medical check-up. I look for a secluded place before coming back into the system.
In 2015, it was Lagos to Abuja. In 2016, Abeokuta to Lagos. I have a friend who is partially blind and he was running across America. There is a race they do across America, you can run from one end to another between 3,000 and 5,000. He was running from Boston to New York. That period, I was encouraging him. To display encouragement, I said I would run too so I ran from Abeokuta to Lagos and it took me two days. However, they held a ceremony for me. I also used it to draw attention to blindness in Nigeria. I have done Lagos to Government College Ughelli in Delta, to draw attention to the school. It took me 12 days.
I run day and night, but nights are the best time to run. It’s cooler, less traffic and less distraction. I could get anywhere and sleep. Lagos to Abuja took me 22 days. I went from Lagos to Onitsha in 18 days. That was in partnership with the Nigerian Copyright Commission to draw attention to piracy. In 2017, I went from Lagos to Makurdi, Benue State, in 40 days. It was to draw attention to the flood. I went to Makurdi on a humanitarian trip and was like ok, what can I do because I didn’t have cash. I used my race to draw attention. It was supposed to be 35 days and not 40, but I was sick in Okenne and was hospitalized for five days. After five days, I continued the journey even when I was told to abandon it. I have never abandoned a race in the middle. Lagos to Makurdi would have been what I would have abandoned.
I was expecting enthusiasm from the Benue people when I was running that race, but at the beginning of the race, the enthusiasm was not there because they didn’t understand what I was doing. That is why I feel like I am ahead of my time in Nigeria because people don’t understand what I am doing. If people really understand, there is a lot that can come out of what I am doing. Before running, I plan a race. However, a race doesn’t go the way it is planned. It is a different ball game.
Have you had any form of support?
No. Apart from individuals, friends who believe in the dream. When we did the first Wrapper Marathon in Delta, this guy in the fashion industry, Mudi, supported me. He paid for all the wrappers we used. The Ibru Foundation provided all the logistics. Apart from that, no corporate support.
Is it that you don’t seek support?
I do. We are in a clime where it is not everything you say. I write letters, without getting a reply. Initially, I felt people don’t understand what is happening and it’s going to be sad that when I go to another clime they will embrace what I am doing.
The truth is I came back to Nigeria with a mindset that it can still be done. I didn’t want to give up on the country. If not, there was no reason to come back. I was living well abroad. I got a house as a gift from somebody as a missionary. I got a car too as a gift. I had all the comfort I needed, but I felt I needed to return and do something for my country. I want to do something. That’s what dragged me back here.
It’s just like the country doesn’t appreciate what I am doing. A white man will come to Nigeria and will be celebrated for doing the same thing that I am doing. For me, people don’t care. I am not looking for that kind of recognition, but I am doing what I am doing to encourage the next generation. I am almost passing my prime. I know it’s a price I am paying. This thing will become a big business in the future, but somebody has to pay the price and that is what I am doing now. I am laying the foundation. One day, this thing will gain attention. It could be someone in government or the private sector who would say, ‘’you know what? I am giving you money for research into races. Just do anything you want to do.’’
(Vanguard)
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